THE GUARD ESPORTS

Sports powerhouse Kroenke Sports & Entertainment enters esports.

CLIENT:

services:

kroenke Sports

& entertainment

creative direction

brand strategy

branding & design

Merchandise & apparel

Content

OUTLINE:

Kroenke Sports & Entertainment wanted to create a powerhouse esports brand to sit alongside their star-studded roster of professional sports teams.

CLIENT:

services:

KROENKE SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENT

creative direction

brand strategy

branding & design

Merchandise & apparel

Content

OUTLINE:

Kroenke Sports & Entertainment wanted to create a powerhouse esports brand to sit alongside their star-studded roster of professional sports teams.

FlyQuest approached Hyperdrive to lead a full reimagining

of its brand identity ahead of the 2025 competitive season.

01: BRIEF

The mission: create a new home of esports and gaming in Los Angeles.

KSE is one of the largest sports companies in the world. Having already entered esports with Activision franchises in Call of Duty (LA Guerrillas) and Overwatch (LA Gladiators), KSE was seeking to establish a gaming parent brand for these two franchise teams to sit under.

In addition to these two franchise teams, the parent brand should be able to operate independently, with it's own rosters in VALORANT and other titles.

02: STRATEGY

The proposed width of the new brand identity meant we had a number of goals:

Create a first-in-class home for esports for KSE in Los Angeles.

Develop a brand to live alongside rosters of sports & esports teams.

Create a unique identity to champion the views of KSE.

Develop and execute a clear brand strategy.

03: EXPLORATION & ANALYSIS

Our competitive analysis taught us most gaming audiences strongly relate with brands they feel they can belong to.

The gaming landscape can be often exclusive and at worst, toxic, so we wanted to create a brand that would champion the values of inclusion:

Belonging

Unity

Storytelling

04: BRAND CREATION

The Guard was born.

The brand delivered across all of our goals. Acting as both a singular and plural word, The Guard represents both the individual and the team.

The Guard is the name for a group of warriors, meaning it could encapsulate both existing franchise teams - the LA Gladiators & LA Guerrillas, which are both types of warriors, and maintain the consistent tricode nomination for all three teams: LAG.

The Guard satisfies the criteria of representing individual teams, players or creators. The singular definition of a guard is a warrior chosen for excellence.

The Guard is a name for a collective, meaning it is something players, creator and fans alike can belong to. It is easy to pronounce, stands out among other esports teams and is familiar to both gaming and traditional sports audiences.

LOGOMARK

The logomark represents both forms of the word.

The helmet represents the individual; meaning it can represent individual teams and creators.

The castle represents the team; the home for all of esports and existing franchise teams.

The vertical split represents the dichotomy of the word and the duality of the identity.

LOGOTYPE

The logotype conveys unity though it's structure; the characters are closely banded together.

Edged serifs cut into the world to represent the Modern Medieval creative identity that permeates the identity.

Hidden in the negative space in the A is an arrowhead, another nod to the Modern Medieval identity and a marker of the ascension of the brand.

BRAND IDENTITY & THEMES

The Guard exists at a dichotomy; the individual and the team; the helmet and the castle; the warrior and the group.

The identity of the brand would also need to exist at a dichotomy:

Modern Medieval

Applying a Modern Medieval theme would allow us to carve a niche in a highly saturated market. By plahying off these opposing themes, we would be able to create a truly unique brand identity and capture the attention of the audience.

Our other brand themes build off our desire to uplift our community, and tell the stories of our players, teams, creators and brand

Storytelling

Unity

The Hero's Journey

ROYAL PURPLE

HEX: #60269E

RGB: 96 38 158

CMYK: 77% 97% 0% 0%

WHITE

HEX: #ffffff

RGB: 255 255 255

CMYK: 0% 0% 0% 0%

RICH FOGRA

HEX: #051A27

RGB: 5 25 39

CMYK: 89% 73% 57% 71%

VICTORY GOLD

HEX: #C4A15F

RGB: 196 161 95

CMYK: 24% 34% 73% 1%

COLOR PALETTE & TYPOGRAPHY

Because the LA Gladiators and LA Guerrillas both used purple, we knew that it had to be our primary color in order to generate consistency between the brands.

We paired the purple with a deep navy and white for contrast, plus a gold to represent our competitive teams - a color associated with top performance, victory, and the city of Los Angeles.

To further build on the Modern Medieval brand theme, we paired a modern, impactful typeface with a medieval style typeface.

HEADING

NEUGEN

SUBHEADING

MBF ROYAL

COPY

Proxima Nova

#STANDGUARD

BRAND ASSETS

In order to tell the stories we wanted, we needed a brand conduit. Something to represent the brand, players, teams and creators.

So we created 'The Guard' - a character to act as a brand conduit - beyond a mascot - something not seen before in the esports industry.

The helmet of the character was built directly from the logo to strengthen brand affinity and awareness.

We were confident the character would resonate with our audience, and it would give us a unique approach to competitive coverage.

In addition to the use of a character, our competitive analysis demonstrated the impact of a pattern or texture. We chose a marble to represent the brand on all assets, adaptable for each team or vertical.

The final piece was our slogan - our tagline:

#StandGuard

A rallying cry. An action. A call for unity.

LOGOMARK

The logomark represents both forms of the word.

The helmet represents the individual; meaning it can represent individual teams and creators.

The castle represents the team; the home for all of esports and existing franchise teams.

The vertical split represents the dichotomy of the word and the duality of the identity.

LOGOTYPE

The logotype conveys unity though it's structure; the characters are closely banded together.

Edged serifs cut into the world to represent the Modern Medieval creative identity that permeates the identity.

Hidden in the negative space in the A is an arrowhead, another nod to the Modern Medieval identity and a marker of the ascension of the brand.

BRAND IDENTITY & THEMES

The Guard exists at a dichotomy; the individual and the team; the helmet and the castle; the warrior and the group.

The identity of the brand would also need to exist at a dichotomy:

Modern Medieval

Our other brand themes build off our desire to uplift our community, and tell the stories of our players, teams, creators and brand

Storytelling

Unity

The Hero's Journey

ROYAL PURPLE

HEX: #60269E

RGB: 96 38 158

CMYK: 77% 97% 0% 0%

SEA FOAM

HEX: #EEF7E2

RGB: 238 247 226

CMYK: 7% 0% 14% 0%

PINE GREEN

HEX: #296150

RGB: 41 97 80

CMYK: 90% 38% 73% 28%

SKY BLUE

HEX: #CEE3F4

RGB: 206 227 244

CMYK: 19% 3% 0% 0%

COLOR PALETTE & TYPOGRAPHY

Because the LA Gladiators and LA Guerrillas both used purple, we knew that it had to be our primary color in order to generate consistency between the brands.

We paired the purple with a deep navy and white for contrast, plus a gold to represent our competitive teams - a color associated with top performance, victory, and the city of Los Angeles.

To further build on the Modern Medieval brand theme, we paired a modern, impactful typeface with a medieval style typeface.

HEADING

NEUGEN

SUBHEADING

MBF

ROYAL

COPY

Proxima Nova

#STANDGUARD

BRAND ASSETS

In order to tell the stories we wanted, we needed a brand conduit. Something to represent the brand, players, teams and creators.

So we created 'The Guard' - a character to act as a brand conduit - beyond a mascot - something not seen before in the esports industry.

The helmet of the character was built directly from the logo to strengthen brand affinity and awareness.

We were confident the character would resonate with our audience, and it would give us a unique approach to competitive coverage.

The final piece was our slogan - our tagline:

#StandGuard

A rallying cry. An action. A call for unity.

LOGOMARK

The logomark represents both forms of the word.

The helmet represents the individual; meaning it can represent individual teams and creators.

The castle represents the team; the home for all of esports and existing franchise teams.

The vertical split represents the dichotomy of the word and the duality of the identity.

LOGOTYPE

The logotype conveys unity though it's structure; the characters are closely banded together.

Edged serifs cut into the world to represent the Modern Medieval creative identity that permeates the identity.

Hidden in the negative space in the A is an arrowhead, another nod to the Modern Medieval identity and a marker of the ascension of the brand.

BRAND IDENTITY & THEMES

The Guard exists at a dichotomy; the individual and the team; the helmet and the castle; the warrior and the group.

The identity of the brand would also need to exist at a dichotomy:

Modern Medieval

Our other brand themes build off our desire to uplift our community, and tell the stories of our players, teams, creators and brand

Storytelling

Unity

The Hero's Journey

ROYAL PURPLE

HEX: #60269E

RGB: 96 38 158

CMYK: 77% 97% 0% 0%

WHITE

HEX: #ffffff

RGB: 255 255 255

CMYK: 0% 0% 0% 0%

RICH FOGRA

HEX: #051A27

RGB: 5 25 39

CMYK: 89% 73% 57% 71%

VICTORY GOLD

HEX: #C4A15F

RGB: 196 161 95

CMYK: 24% 34% 73% 1%

COLOR PALETTE & TYPOGRAPHY

Because the LA Gladiators and LA Guerrillas both used purple, we knew that it had to be our primary color in order to generate consistency between the brands.

We paired the purple with a deep navy and white for contrast, plus a gold to represent our competitive teams - a color associated with top performance, victory, and the city of Los Angeles.

To further build on the Modern Medieval brand theme, we paired a modern, impactful typeface with a medieval style typeface.

HEADING

NEUGEN

SUBHEADING

MBF ROYAL

COPY

Proxima Nova

#STANDGUARD

BRAND ASSETS

In order to tell the stories we wanted, we needed a brand conduit. Something to represent the brand, players, teams and creators.

So we created 'The Guard' - a character to act as a brand conduit - beyond a mascot - something not seen before in the esports industry.

The helmet of the character was built directly from the logo to strengthen brand affinity and awareness.

We were confident the character would resonate with our audience, and it would give us a unique approach to competitive coverage.

The final piece was our slogan - our tagline:

#StandGuard

A rallying cry. An action. A call for unity.

05: BRAND strategy & implementation

05: BRAND strategy

& implementation

MATCH POSTERS

Our strategy included dramatic, compelling match posters to drive hype for our matches. It also allowed us to tell the story of our competitive team and their opponents.

This strategy was extremely effective as not only did it build hype for The Guard fans, but fans of other teams were excited to see how their team would be represented on a poster when they played The Guard.

3d videos

Alongside our 3D match posters, we knew 3D videos were cultural currency, so we heavily invested in producing industry leading videos that told the story of the teams through their in-game characters - representing the journey the players were on as a simultaneous journey the characters were on in The Guard cinematic universe.

The result was millions of views across all platforms - with creative and quality commendations across esports, gaming and wider entertainment.

THE GUARD CHARACTER

To target the VALORANT community specifically, we launched the brand with a partnership with one of the largest endemic VALORANT podcasts and personalities - platchat.

We created a sponsored segment where our character 'The Guard from The Guard' would reign terror on the show, and cause mayhem. The character resonated with the audience extremely well, and the character lived on in skit form after the collaboration had ended. The audience even came up with their own memes and sayings such as 'The Guard from The Guard sends his regards'.

JERSEY & MERCHANDISE

The team jerey was directly inspired by the logo. We aimed to create a unique silhouette that is immediately recognizable to the audience, and is consistent to the overall brand and themes.

Our goal was for the jersey to be function, wearable and fashionable.

The result was a vertical split design, representative of the logo and the dichotomies on which the brand sits.

VISUAL IDENTITY

The finalized visual identity is unique, iconic and consistent with the brand. It is flexible across all titles and gaming universes, and extends across all forms of physical and digital media.

06: IMPACT & RESULTS

CULTURAL FEEDBACK

The results were staggering.

The Guard went from an unknown organization to a household name inside one year.

In the space of one year, The Guard had amassed over 10 million video views, had over 100 thousand followers across social media and was already outperforming the original franchise teams in apparel and merchandise sales.

The brand was built to resonate with VALORANT specifically. Coupled with the team success, The Guard was able to launch itself to the forefront of esports and gaming.

FAN CONNECTION

The Guard was a brand that felt like it belonged to the community. Rather than mimicking traditional sports aesthetics or relying on surface-level “gamer” tropes, it tapped into the emerging lifestyle layer of esports - stunning visuals, emotionally driven storytelling, and a tone that resonated with younger, culturally-aware fans.

FAN CONNECTION

COMMERCIAL SUCCESS

The swift rise to visibility created strong brand equity.

The VALORANT roster became a competitive and marketable asset, which increased the commercial value in Riot’s ecosystem.

The match posters were even serialized and created a whole new revenue stream for the brand.

CONTENT PERFORMANCE

We produced some of the highest-performing social content in VALORANT esports. Their content was minimal, refined, and emotionally resonant - it didn’t chase clout, it built consistency.

We leaned into community voice, and created videos and graphics that fans wanted to repost — not just like. Our content wasn’t just watched, it was felt.

CULTURAL ALIGNMENT

The Guard was the right team at the right time.

It was not just a competitive roster, it tapped into the cultural wave of pop-culture gaming and bridged the gap between esports, gaming, traditional sports and entertainment.

CULTURAL ALIGNMENT

Fans, creators, and commentators praised the return to FlyQuest’s “true identity.”

Sustainable design and recycled materials became a differentiator in esports apparel, pushing the conversation around brand values.