Nike, the world’s premier brand in sports equipment and apparel, has announced the endorsement deal of Jian “Uzi” Zihao, a League of Legends player of Royal Never Give Up (RNG). This is Nike’s first-ever eSports endorsement deal.
Zihao, Chinese actor Bai Jingting, and NBA basketball legend LeBron James will together promote James’ “Dribble &” marketing campaign in support of his upcoming documentary series “Shut Up and Dribble”. In the ad, Zihao appears wearing a black T-shirt with the text “Dribble & Carry”, with the key word “Carry” (a term used in League of Legends to mean a single player pushing his or her team to victory) only appearing on Zihao’s jersey.
Zihao is widely known as one of the best League of Legends players. Zihao has a considerable fan following in China. Chinese media CCTV has even made a documentary about Zihao’s esports career. He participated in the Jakarta Asian Games and won the golden medal for China’s national League of Legends team.
Chinese esports organisations have been signing many non-endemic deals in recent months, with Mercedes-Benz and KFC having each signed a one-year sponsorship deal with RNG.
Source: Esports Observer
By Niji Narayan
Niji Narayan has been in the writing industry for well over a decade or so. He prides himself as one of the few survivors left in the world who have actually mastered the impossible art of copy editing. Niji graduated in Physics and obtained his Master’s degree in Communication and Journalism. He has always interested in sports writing and travel writing. He has written for numerous websites and his in-depth analytical articles top sports magazines like Cricket Today and Sports Today. He reports gaming industry headlines from all around the globe.