With the current Covid-19 pandemic, most of the news that we get on a daily basis tend to be unpleasant and anxiety-inducing, and we are ever so glad (and blessed, too) to receive news of our finalist nomination at the MARKies Awards 2020 organised by Marketing Interactive!

We are nominated in not just one category, but two! Our bright happy logo found its way to the Most Creative and Most Effective Use of Sports/Esports Marketing segments, and we are ever so glad that we got to be part of ONE Esports Dota 2 World Pro Invitational back in December 2019 (the project that propelled us to get the nominations). We’ve never really talked much about our involvement in the project, because we were all so caught up by working on the next project, and the next, and the next… And so we thought, why not take a trip down memory lane to fully embrace this experience, as well as the gratitude in getting this nomination from Marketing Interactive itself!

Here’s a recap of this fun project, from the perspective of our PR Executive, Nisha:

It was my very first event since joining DIFY. I still remember how awestruck I was when I walked into the venue and saw the whole set up. Our job scope was to handle the media for all the 3 days of the main event, as well as to facilitate media interviews and organise a media conference. For every journalist, we have to give a tour on the venue, let them know where they can find us, what are the set of rules (like movement, taking flash pics), as well as send regular updates and attend to their needs. I was new to gaming as well, so initially I was very anxious about the whole thing. But as they said, you derive your energy from your surrounding and I was fortunate to have a supportive PR team from both our client’s end (ONE Esports) as well as from our own DIFY team too!

While I was not too sure how the gameplay works, the enthusiasm and interest buzzing around in the media room backstage made me look forward to every single match during the 3 days. I got to meet so many journalists and even got to build great bonds with most of them, which I am really thankful for! This event truly gave me an opportunity to understand the the style of each different journalist, as well as the beat of the publications they represent.

The media interviews were the most hectic part and to be honest, we adopted different strategies throughout the event as we wanted to ensure the seamless flow of the interviews. We decided to step up when we realise our initial plan wasn’t working, and went the extra step of getting all relevant parties ready up to 1 hour before the scheduled activity (in this case, the interview!) The new plan was more tedious of course, but the new arrangement allowed the media more time which get them more content… Basically it’s a win-win for everybody ;)

I remember I was really proud of our team especially when we scaled up the media room! Journalists were all stationed in the room with their supplies, snacks provided by ONE Esports, meals prepared by us and some other light refreshment for the comfort and convenience for all of them. We had all of them right where we needed them to be, and we could even work out new content like pushing for and scheduling interviews with castor Tobiwan, who was specially invited for this event.

I feel so nostalgic looking back on this project. It was a great team work and I’m so grateful for all the team members for making this a wholesome experience from start to finish! I would love to do it all over again, despite how tiring it was physically (hahaha). By the end of it, I am glad that everything went well and the journalists were happy with the overall event; we even took pictures with some of them for keepsakes! :)

Because of this event and the effort that team DIFY put in, I have better rapport with the publications and I am sure they are waiting for the next one as much as I am looking forward to it!

I am glad that this project got us nominated for MARKies Awards 2020 and even though it may only be a nomination as a finalist, it feels like we have already won.

Indeed, all tiring projects that we have ever worked on so far linger on our minds the most, and we are glad that the team in charge of ONE Esports’ had a great time while working hard. It’s all about working hard and playing hard(er)!

It is an honour to be nominated as a finalist for our work done with ONE Esports and no matter the outcome, we do feel that we have already won something — a nod of acknowledgement from the industry and an unparalleled sense of accomplishment for the team. Till then!