FaZe Clan is A powerhouse that is doing the unthinkable for esports organizations: going public as a Nasdaq-listed company. Later this year, you can diversify your portfolio by adding “FAZE.”
When FaZe Clan members participate in eSports tournaments and competitions call-of-duty On Twitch, the company’s not-so-secret secret lies in its high frequency of brand deals.Beyond obvious collaborations like headsets and gaming keyboards, FaZe Clan recently helped sell everything from Nissan To McDonald’s Crispy Chicken Sandwich.
proverb There’s a reason the group was declared one of the top marketers for 2021. It seems that every marketing executive trying to better connect with Gen Z has asked their assistants to try and strike a deal. Here is just a small sample of FaZe Clan collaborators: DraftKings, Totino’s Pizza Rolls, HyperX, Takashi Murakami, Disney, the National Football League and DoorDash.
“Historically, music has been a driver of youth culture,” FaZe Clan CEO Lee Trink told proverb 2021. “But right now, gaming is youth culture.” Hearing that sentiment from someone who leads an esports media company is exaggerated and unsurprising, but he’s not wrong.
Trinker rose to prominence during his tenure as president of Capitol Records, and he was joined by others who built careers in the music industry. Interscope Records co-founder Jimmy Iovine not only invested in FaZe Clan, but also helped lead a 2020 funding round. Artists like Offset are also getting involved. The group’s new president and chief operating officer, Zach Katz, was poached from the music industry. Even Snoop Dogg got involved and turned into FaZe Snoop.
FaZe Clan’s 90+ members are divided into two categories: content creators and professional gamers. Many content creators, like FaZe Deestroying and FaZe Rug, have a cultural repertoire that their competitors lack. Even so, the group is no stranger to controversy. A former member sued FaZe Clan over contract disagreements, and a current member denied the LGBTQ community on social media in June, but neither stopped the company from turning charismatic gamers into influencers and thus attracting lucrative players. The ability of the brand to trade.
Months after grabbing the cover Sports Illustrated In 2021, the group announced plans for a SPAC merger that would value it at $1 billion. The unicorn’s horns may disappear before the company goes public, though. sports business magazine An amended filing by FaZe Clan with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission puts it under $1 billion, the report said.
Even a well-funded marketing machine, doing everything possible to capitalize on youth culture (and parents’ wallets), will struggle to navigate a turbulent 2022 economy. As creator-focused startups cut jobs and sponsorships become trivial for influencers, the luster of this once-booming industry has begun to fade.
With the threat of a recession looming, entrepreneurs on LinkedIn encouraged each other by spreading lists of companies formed during the recession. Microsoft, Venmo and Airbnb did it – why can’t you? By going public during a potential downturn, FaZe Clan’s situation has become more difficult to navigate. The company could be an inspirational investment story or an exaggerated cautionary tale.
