HP OMEN featured on SABC News in Q1, in a story all about the growth of esports as a legitimate sporting activity in South Africa, and how the players are the “athletes of the future”.

With HP OMEN branding displayed prominently throughout, the story spoke about how gaming is becoming so popular and widespread that the Olympic Committee is looking at adopting esports as an Olympic event, and how the games themselves transcend age, gender, and race, because online, you are nothing but a collection of pixels, differentiated by your skill.

It also highlighted how South Africa is a slight disadvantage due to the country’s distance from the rest of the world and the “latency” that causes, but overall the message was a positive one. And as millions of dollars are available in prize pools for online gaming tournaments, gamers have the opportunity to make money doing what they love.

While neither HP nor OMEN were mentioned in the piece, the OMEN branding was on display at various points in the clip, creating a subtle connection in the viewer’s mind between esports and the HP OMEN brand.

As SABC News broadcasts are on all free-to-air channels in the country, they reach more South Africans than news channels featured on pay-to-view TV services. This results in comprehensive countrywide coverage and thus widespread awareness of the brand.