April 24, 2012

Bet365 copyists need more than a good ad

Bet365 and Ray Winstone revolutionised TV advertising for sports betting. In 2011 the rest of the industry tried to copy its success. But advertising is not the sole success factor.

A disembodied Ray Winstone and a pioneering use of live odds has proven a potent combination for Bet365, allowing it to steal a march on its rivals in the increasingly lucrative in-play market.

The TV campaign, originally launched in 2009 for the Cheltenham races, has evolved from Winstone walking out on a pitch to generate excitement about the 50 in-play markets on offer, to the tough-guy actor receiving a hologram makeover and appearing to fans in a variety of settings, at home, down the pub and at the game. Appearing at half time, he offers the latest live odds in a friendly, almost off-hand tone.

Key to the ad’s success is use of Winstone’s history of playing gentlemen gangsters. He exudes the essence of the gambling man, while tapping into the multimedia, mobile world we live in. Who watches TV without a laptop or mobile in hand these days? Most of Bet365’s target market of young male football fans, that’s for sure.

“The ads have very cleverly tapped into the multi-screen revolution which is shaping how people consume and interact with media content,” points out Oisin Lunny, senior marketing development manager for mobile services and transaction provider OpenMarket, which works with clients across the gaming industry. “Viewers, particularly the digital-native generation, have a high expectation of interactivity, which increases in line with technologies ability to support it.”

While privately-owned Stoke-based Bet365 does not release its financial data, it has revealed that sports betting rose by 47.5% to £195.1m over the first half of its financial year, which started in March 2011. At the same time, co-chief executive Denise Coates notes the launch of the new sports site with its in-play features as one of the highlights of of the year.

It is no surprise Bet365’s rivals have been quick to follow suit. Kristof Fahy, chief marketing officer at William Hill, said its new strategy would include an increasing number of live components. While Ladbrokes’ Game On! campaign seeks to tap into the excitement of betting in-game with its use of famously over-the-top Italian commentator Tiziano Crudeli. Launched for the start of the football season, he is shown getting excited about the games’ most incongruous moments.

In marketing and advertising, where is it often said there are no new ideas, rival brands seeking to ape certain elements of a rival’s campaign is neither frowned upon or unexpected. Customers will rarely, if ever, care who created the advertising first but what they will remember is whether the service they receive lives up to their expectations.

William Hill and Ladbrokes are merely two of the companies that have sought, dare we say it, to copy Bet365’s attempts to generate in-the moment excitement around betting. While it is hoped this kind of incremental betting will bring in new customers, the role of the advertising is simply to drive them to the website or app.

Indeed, as with any online or mobile service, the battle will be won and lost on the customer experience. Driving customers to the site is just the first step. As Lunny says: “While I completely agree with the Bet365 strategy, which sees smartphones and their HTML5 betting site as a key driver of interactivity, this will only be as compelling as the sign-up process for first-time users, which is currently quite laborious.”

Dealing with that as well as addressing the lack of consumer trust about mobile security (many people are still reluctant to punch their credit card details into an m-site), are crucial to ensure consumers stay on the site once the ad campaign has driven them to check it out.

The win-win situation, says Lunny, is to ensure in-game services are properly optimised for use on PCs, smartphones and also with SMS-triggered in-game bets. Meanwhile, new technology, such as MMS age verification, will allow operators to identify customers and build complex profiles that help to make their messages more targeted, engaging customers at the right time with the right message.

“The marriage of technology innovations, consumer appetite for interactivity and clever marketing, such as the TV ads from Bet365, has sparked this massive growth of in-game betting,” explains Lunny. “And it’s only going to get bigger.”

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