Today we’d like to introduce you to Felix LaHaye.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
My journey has been an interesting one, marked by significant shifts and constant evolution. I started as a performing artist, signing my first recording contract at the age of 19. This early experience in the creative world ignited my passion for artistic expression and paved the way for my entrepreneurial ventures.
One of the pivotal moments in my career came in 2012 when I co-founded InstaBrand (now known as Open Influence). I was among the first to recognize the potential of influencer marketing by buying the first paid-for post on Instagram, leading to me co-found InstaBrand (now known as Open Influence). Under my leadership, Open Influence expanded its footprint, opening offices across cities in five different countries and contributed to the birth of a now multi-billion dollar industry.
Since 2018, I’ve served as the founder and CEO of United Esports, the leading esports and gaming marketing company in America. Gaming is by far the most important form of culture and entertainment, in terms of revenue and participation, for Gen-Z and United Esports specializes in providing strategic positioning and creative marketing solutions for brands looking to engage with them authentically.
Presently, I’m deeply involved in three facets of the gaming world: Media and Marketing, Esports Bars through Kappa Meltdown Esports Bars, and Asian market-focused esports investments. Currently, Kappa Meltdown has 20 locations around the world. Additionally, I have ownership stakes in esports teams such as Talon Esports, which compete in popular gaming titles like League of Legends, Valorant, Dota 2, Arena of Valor, and Rainbow Six Siege.
My academic background includes a Bachelor of Science degree in managerial economics and political science from the London School of Economics (LSE), as well as a Master of Science in Strategy from LSE.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
That is one of my favorite stories. It is ten years old, but it is still great. The idea that success in a vacuum is pointless. And that when your primary focus is patting yourself on the back, you are doomed to fail.
In the very early days of InstaBrand, we made a campaign for a fashion brand that today would cost at least $150,000, and we sold it for barely $2500. And it was fantastic. Everyone loved it. A ton of influencers posted about it, and it got amazing traction. When we arrived at our post-campaign meeting with the brand, I expected them to roll out the red carpet for how well we had done for them. We showed them all of the amazing photos that people had posted wearing the brand, but we did not have any physical data to show that it was successful and no hard metrics for our success; in the end, we just had a bunch of nice pictures. They chewed us out and told us that we wasted their money. It was a very good lesson.
Regardless of how disruptive, innovative, or successful your idea is, if you are going to win, be prepared to show that you’ve won. Funny enough that brand now frequently overpays for their influencer campaigns, with limited return, and pats themselves on the back thinking they are doing great.
Katie
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about United Esports?
At United Esports, we specialize in providing holistic 360 degree strategic positioning and creative marketing solutions for brands looking to authentically engage with the Gen-Z audience through gaming and esports. What sets United Esports apart is our distinctive market positioning and our ability to provide something truly unique that brings value to the gaming audience. As an esports marketing company, our primary objective is to create marketing strategies that are not only efficient but also highly effective within the gaming space.
There’s a lot of great advertising in gaming, and the most difficult thing to nail down is creating content that gamers are going to want to engage with. Most ad content often risks being ignored or skipped by this audience unless it is on par with, or even better, than the organic content they are looking to consume. This is where we excel – creating content that truly captures their love and attention.
Furthermore, our senior leadership team brings a wealth of experience from the entertainment industry, spanning music, TV, and film. This not only equips us with exceptional production capabilities but also a deep understanding of the psychographics of our target audience. It’s this unique combination that truly sets us apart and makes us exceptionally effective in our approach.
One of the accomplishments I’m most proud of is being the first to recognize the marketing power of women in gaming, a previously untapped market representing close to 50% of young gamers worldwide. We leveraged our access to tens of millions of American gaming fans, which resulted in the highest-performing campaign of 2020 and 2022 for Tampax, which led the brand to the highest ad recall lift in recent history.
Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
Over the next 5-10 years, I see the gaming and esports industry continuing to grow and becoming even more intertwined with popular culture. It’s like the MTV of the 1980s for today’s youth. The industry will continue to evolve, and the lines between gaming, entertainment, and advertising will blur further. Brands will recognize the value of targeting specific age groups through gaming and esports, and the engagement opportunities will expand.
The global esports and games streaming industry is expected to see significant growth, driven by subscription spend to streaming platforms and advertising spending over streams. Esports will continue to attract a massive and engaged global audience, making it an ideal medium for brand exposure and engagement.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.unitedesports.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/unitedesports/?hl=en
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/unitedesports/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/UnitedEsportsUS
