Subway and global esports company Guild Esports are celebrating their first year of a successful brand partnership. The EMEA-wide partnership engages Gen Z consumers with esports and gaming activations. So far, the collaboration has generated nearly 9000 posts and streams, and over 1800 hours of exposure time, and more coming from Subway and Guild, soon.

Just over a year ago, Subway launched a two-year EMEA-wide brand partnership with Guild Esports, the global esports business co-founded by football star, David Beckham.

As esports continues to grow across the world, with an audience of over 450 million in 2021, expected to rise to 570 million by 2024 (according to market research firm Newzoo), this market is a way for Subway to connect with Gen Z consumers.

But there’s more to Subway’s partnership with Guild than esports alone. It also helps Subway to promote its belief in nutritious food, choice, and variety, to an audience that doesn’t always eat as healthily as they could.

David Beckham set up Guild Esports to take a holistic view of its players’ wellbeing – not only advancing skills in gaming, but also taking care of good nutrition, physical and mental wellbeing. With over 80% of gamers eating or drinking while playing (Newzoo), Guild hopes to promote a healthy relationship between gamers and food. And this aligns with Subway’s values of helping consumers make better and healthier choices.

“It’s great to have Subway on board to help us educate gamers and esports players. We are currently working closely with Subway’s nutritionist to further develop our Health and Nutrition section on our Academy platform, aiming to equip young players with the tools and knowledge needed to improve their relationship with food. The lessons will cover everything from healthy habits around nutrition, improving relationships with food and the benefits and dangers of common nutrition supplements in esports. Keep an eye out on our Academy and Guild social channels for more game-changing content,” Luke Hall, Nutritionist at Guild Esports, said.

“One year on, our partnership with Guild has become a powerful asset across EMEA. We’ve turned it into a far-reaching and multi-dimensional asset with many opportunities for our franchisees to engage local consumers. Esports is a new area for Subway, and we are enjoying the journey. And as Guild is an esports organisation which talks so passionately about nutrition, they offer us a unique and well-rounded partnership,” Louise Wardle, the EMEA VP of marketing for Subway, said.

“It has been great to work with Subway as our brand has grown and we’ve built the range and reach of our activities. We are also excited about the future direction of Guild Academy which has a huge focus on the holistic wellbeing of gamers and are pleased to be working so closely with Subway on the development of our Health and Nutrition section. One year on, it’s been quite a journey and we are now set for our next burst of growth. So, look out for more exciting activity with Subway in EMEA in 2022 and beyond,” Michelle Tierney, CCO at Guild Esports, said.