Lagardère Sports has announced its first eSports partnership. The leading global sports marketing agency is now the exclusive marketing partner of the Unicorns of Love (UoL).

Lagardère Sports will support the League of Legends team primarily with sponsor acquisitions, product development and expansion of digital channels. In addition, the market leader will assist the UoL in the development and distribution of media rights, and work closely with the eSports team to develop further growth opportunities.

The market entry into eSports is the next logical step for Lagardère Sports. The agency wants to intensify its knowledge, expertise and network that it has accumulated in the marketing of sports rights holders all over the world, and transfer it and the booming eSports market.

Robert Müller von Vultejus, Managing Director Lagardère Sports Germany, said: "We are very happy to enter the eSports market by signing up with the Unicorns of Love. We believe that the areas of traditional sport and eSports will ideally complement and benefit from each other. The Unicorns of Love stand out with their extravagant appearance, a strong and growing fanbase as well as their target group-accurate communication skills. We see great potential that the Unicorns of Love can become one of the leading brands in eSports."

Jos Mallant, CEO of Unicorns of Love, added: "We believe this partnership with Lagardère Sports will greatly establish Unicorns of Love as an organisation and take us to the next level. This is the start of a new area where well established classic sport sponsoring enters the very young eSports market. We are really excited about the next steps to come, 2017 will be pink!"

Robert Müller von Vultejus complemented: "We see ourselves as a mediator between the old and the new sports world, we want to connect the dots, create new opportunities, and above all place eSports on the deserved stage of global sports next to football."