Ascend Esports launched a digital campaign, in partnership with Red Dot Marketing in August, in an effort to empower female gamers and creators across the UAE.
The newly launched esports hub in Dubai successfully concluded its inaugural Valorant Female Tournament, for which it launched an entirely digital campaign to drive registrations and participation.
The result gathered more than 65 registrations, exceeding the Ascend’s target of 40 and delivered 237K in impressions and 141K in reach through social campaigns over a run-time of 17-20 days.
“Our goal has always been to nurture talent from the ground up,” said Ashis Jami, Founder & CEO, Ascend Esports. “This tournament showed us that the community is there, waiting for opportunities.”
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To tap into this community, Red Dot Marketing & Research mined insights specific to Ascend’s target audience, which included first-time gamers, and women in esports.
“Our team conducted primary research, including interviews with Madiha Naz, the region’s first female League of Legends player, and several casual female gamers,” said Raj Sagar, Founder & Creative Director, Red Dot Marketing & Research.
Their insights revealed recurring challenges: lack of opportunities, absence of safe spaces, exposure to sexism, and limited visibility of other female gamers due to weak community structures.
To tackle this, Red Dot and Ascend positioned the tournament at the grassroots level, opening participation to semi-pro, casual, and first-time female players. The team also targeted the parents of teenagers, to encourage broader awareness and support.
“We also reviewed previous UAE tournaments (rarely more than one or two) and explored discussions on platforms like Reddit, where we found virtually no spaces catering to semi-casual or amateur female players,” Sagar said. “Collectively, these insights highlighted a clear gap in grassroots opportunities for women in esports.”
Therefore, four content-pillars shaped the campaign strategy:
- First-timers – lowering barriers to entry by removing registration fees.
- Safe gaming – highlighting Ascend’s partnership with Kidas to detect and address misconduct.
- Community growth – reinforcing that this tournament was not for professionals but a welcoming space for casual players.
- Motivation – leveraging the prize pool to drive sign-ups.
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The campaign’s execution “combined organic and paid social media, press outreach, collaborations with blogs, and brand partnerships,” Sagar said. “Notably, Comicave joined as a prize sponsor, strengthening the overall pool and appeal,” he added.
The campaign’s rollout included video content featuring Madiha Naz, graphic-based posts and stories and video ads across Meta and TikTok, press outreach, collaborations with blogs, and brand partnerships
According to Ascend, the campaign validated demand for women-centric esports in the UAE. “Beyond the tournament, Ascend has welcomed more female gamers on a casual basis, and participants have been offered ongoing coaching opportunities via our Ascend Esports Academy,” Jami said.
Building on this proof of concept, Ascend is already planning additional female-focused tournaments across other gaming titles, laying the foundation for a sustainable and inclusive ecosystem.
“Our community online has seen a growth of female followers too which should help support our future initiatives to make female gaming more accessible to the community,” Jami concluded.
