Exclusive interview: How Lamborghini is using DreamHack to connect with the next generation

Wasif Ahmed Published 12/07/2026

ESL FACEIT Group (EFG) continues to expand its brand, putting on more and more massive esports events and bringing on board huge partners in the process.

One of the company’s most impressive collaborations to date has been their recent partnership with the Italian luxury automotive brand Automobili Lamborghini.

During the Global Esports Industry Week (GEIW) 2026, we had the opportunity to speak with the VP of Brand Partnership Development at EFG, Andreas Jernberg, and learn more about the partnership.

Lamborghini is a luxury automotive brand. Some people may think that gamers aren’t really the demographic to target. How did that collaboration come about?

Jernberg: Something that Lamborghini as a brand itself has acknowledged is basically that they know Gen Z and Gen Alpha are the customers of tomorrow. They knew where they wanted to go, but maybe not how to get there.

Also, with the relevance and the events that we are doing, we started with some discussions. We did a few test cases, and everything comes down to how to target the audience.

Thinking about customers of tomorrow, which means 10 to 15 years from now. That takes a lot of… you need to encourage the market. They need to talk about relevancy with them, with the markets, with the generations. And that’s not a one-off. So that’s where they start overall.

With this partnership right now, what sort of KPIs are you looking for?

It’s not about one KPI. It’s also about brand awareness. Everyone knows that when it comes to the gaming audience, it’s about speaking their language or being close to them as a community.

And Lamborghini is a luxury brand. The first time I interacted with a car, at least for me, I’m not a car guy myself, it was through a game. I saw the cars in the video games. That’s why I know that Monza is a racing track. It’s not because I’m seeing that in a newspaper somewhere. I see that through the games.

Therefore, they [Lamborghini] want to get closer to it. Engagement is, of course, very important, and then there is cultural relevancy from a long-term perspective. I would say that’s the main KPI from a Lamborghini perspective. But then together, of course, getting the audience to get closer to the car from an engagement relevance perspective is also very important.

How are they going about it within the gaming community? Because some brands just put the logo and it doesn’t translate.

From a DreamHack as a product perspective, it has never been about putting a logo somewhere. It’s all about engaging the brand within the festival, not putting a brand at the festival.

So, the engagement, what we’re doing together with them is also allowing creators to come close to them. We are letting everyone touch and feel the car. It’s not about coming there and buying the car. It’s about feeling the leather, feeling how it is to sit in a car and engage the community in their way. I think that’s what we’re trying to achieve.

Image credit: ESL FACEIT Group

With DreamHack having so many components to the festival itself, is it still a gaming festival, or is it moving towards a youth festival?

I think gaming is getting closer to a youth festival overall. I think gaming, as the biggest culture in the world, is getting broader and broader. I’ve been doing DreamHacks for 21 years now in some form and shape. What DreamHack was 21 years ago is not what DreamHack is today, but it’s not what gaming is today either.

As long as it’s broadening, the communities are increasing. Of course, we also need to get closer to that, and we also need to change, because the world is changing.

For us, it will always be very community and gaming driven. That’s the core value for us. And that will always be what we are aiming for. But of course, if you’re seeing music, traditional sports, or tabletop games; everything comes into gaming in a natural way.

Therefore, we also need to change because a lot of trends, as everyone knows now, are changing fast.

Lamborghini is a luxury brand. Does that sort of prove that gaming events’ status with sponsors is sort of on par with music events and traditional sports events?

Yes, I think so. I’ve seen that working with so many different types of categories, especially non-endemics, that you see that gaming is one of the biggest ones out there right now and it’s growing.

You see more and more brands that are normally in traditional sports moving over to DreamHack to be more engaged with the audience. You’re getting very close to them, especially from a festival perspective. So, I think that we are on par in terms of the relevance of brands engaging with these communities over time.

Featured image credit: Automobili Lamborghini

Wasif Ahmed

About Wasif Ahmed

Wasif Ahmed is the Lead Esports Editor for WIN.gg. He has been covering esports for nearly eight years, although his gaming journey started much earlier, when he was just four years old and was introduced to Road Rash on a dusty PC. Hit him up on X to talk about esports, why partnership models are the best fit for esports games, or if Halo 7 has finally been announced.

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