Leading esports brand hires former global marketing head from Red Bull to critical senior role.

G2 esports, one of the world’s leading entertainment and esports brands, has appointed Mei-Ling Rider to the position of Marketing Director.

Rider re-locates to Berlin to join G2 from her previous position as Global Head of Media and Audience Marketing at Red Bull, where she was based at the brand’s global headquarters in Salzburg, Austria.

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Mei-Ling brings over 15 years’ experience in marketing, media and audience insight to G2 and prior to Red Bull, held senior roles at consumer brands such as Sony and MTV and with major media publishers including Metro, The Telegraph Group and VICE Media.

As G2’s first-ever Marketing Director, Rider joins at a pivotal moment in G2’s growth. Since being founded in 2015 by legendary League of Legends player-turned-team owner, Carlos ‘ocelote’ Rodriguez, G2 has built a global fanbase of over 25 millions fans, 90% of which sit in the 18-34 demographic that is so prized by brands.

G2 counts BMW, Philips, Logitech, Red Bull, Mastercard and Twitch amongst its commercial partners and Rider will be central to efforts to build a strong pipeline of further future opportunities. Esports is being seen as an increasingly viable marketing channel by mainstream, consumer brands looking to engage a loyal, passionate youth audience

In 2019, G2 became the most watched esports team of all time during the 2019 League of Legends World Final. Throughout 2019, 2.5 billion minutes of G2 content was viewed on Twitch, there were 1.5 billion impressions on G2’s social media channels and 93 million total social media engagements.

Rider’s main focus will be to help G2 replicate its commercial success across EMEA into the North American market as the brand looks to expand its US operations.  She will bring extensive experience of delivering multi-territory strategies in previous roles as Sony, Red Bull and VICE to her new position.

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Mei-Ling Rider comments, ‘I am thrilled to join G2 Esports at such an exciting time, not only in the business’ development but within the esports industry as a whole. Over the past five years, Carlos and his team have built a stand-out brand in the industry that has a loyal fanbase in excess of 25 million fans. Ultimately G2 is really leading the way in delivering ongoing entertainment to these super engaged, super loyal audiences.

The success that the G2 teams experience within competitions has been replicated commercially and I join at a time where G2 can boast a whole host of household name brands as commercial partners. I look forward to contributing to the next phase of the G2 story, namely setting us up to succeed against some ambitious growth targets in the US market. I can’t wait to get started.’

Carlos Rodriguez, CEO of G2 esports comments ‘The appointment of Mei is a major milestone for our business. She brings with her a wealth of marketing and brand experience. At G2, commercial partnerships and our US expansion plans are what keeps pushing forward and I am beyond excited that we have brought in such a talented, rock star marketeer to support us over the next critical phase of our expansion.’