Celebrity status: will the influencer-led betting model take off or will brand ambassadors stand strong?

Having an A-list celebrity linked to your business is something most of us could only dream of. But in the sports and gambling worlds, it is becoming much more prevalent and an effective way of building up a solid customer base. In recent months, we’ve seen actor and former wrestler Dwayne Johnson and his investors swoop in to save the XFL from bankruptcy in a £15m deal. Johnson, who played American football at the University of Miami, said the investment is “rooted deeply in two things – my passion for the game and my desire to always take care of the fans”. Another ex-sports star who has taken the plunge into sports investment is David Beckham who is now co-owner of Guild Esports, an esports talent development company, where he has contributed towards a funding round via DB Ventures and Blue Star Capital with a £25m target. While more celebrities link up with the sports world, the same is happening in the gambling sector, whether it be through social influencers or brand ambassadors. Taking a new approach with an influencer-led model is i3 Interactive’s BlitzBet brand, fronted by actor and social media personality Dan Bilzerian. The Instagram star owns a 15% stake in the Toronto-listed business, which has soft-launched in the US, and includes financial backing from former William Hill CEO Ralph Topping. According to BlitzBet MD and former Hills executive Andrew Lee, the operator is expecting to significantly cut its average CPA by banking on Bilzerian’s large social following of over 50 million. Lee told sister publication EGR North America that he believes BlitzBet can achieve huge reach at a very low cost through the tie-up with Bilzerian. “The reality is through Dan we have access to an enormous database. Dan has an unbelievable engagement rate, the amount of impressions he gets on what he posts is extraordinary. Over 12 posts last year amassed over 30 million impressions. That’s a staggering number.” But why have other operators not fully embraced the influencer-led model yet? Most seem to opt for the more traditional route of a brand ambassador instead. i3 Interactive’s Lee says for BlitzBet it’s a newer way of approaching it and that in Europe a lot of operators are “established, more old-school-style sportsbooks” with certain brands possessing certain values. “I think it’d be quite difficult for a William Hill or a Sisal or even bet365 to decide that they want to change their brand to something that is Dan-esque,” he added. In addition to the US, BlitzBet is targeting the Indian market with the launch of BlitzPoker, through a deal with Connective Games and Spartan Poker. Bilzerian will act as an ambassador for the brand in India, which he has highlighted as one of the fastest growing markets in online gambling and skill games.

“India has shown a lot of promise that has given me the confidence to throw in my chips as well. We are bringing in BlitzPoker to India with a ton of features that will help us create a unique experience for the online poker players in India and make the game even more exciting,” said Bilzerian. Alex Donohue, managing director and founder of Press Box PR, says being able to stand out in a sector that is brimming with influencer marketing campaigns and ambassadors is the first hurdle. “BlitzBet are immediately dining at the top table in terms of the calibre of the Bilzerian brand and his audience. Purely based on the scale, makeup and loyalty of Bilzerian’s followers, BlitzBet are in a very strong position based on standard industry conversion rates alone – even before any increase in effectiveness is factored in – which looks likely.” However, Donohue did add that retention of customers going forward will be the main challenge. He also points out that there is a clear advantage in using influencers like Bilzerian to create aspirational campaigns where the “audience feel like they’re betting alongside him, not transacting with him, in an extension of the brand model so well curated by Paddy Power”. Despite the buzz around the influencer-led model, not everyone is enthused by the concept. While Harry Lang, managing director of Brand Architects, can see that BlitzBet’s approach to customer acquisition is different, he isn’t a fan of the influencer movement. “The part-owner and face of the brand, the muscle-bound walking ego that is Dan Bilzerian, appears to be the golden goose on which the business is betting all its chips. I think it’s headline-grabbing cobblers that will age about as well as a Kardashian bum lift,” Lang tells EGR, not holding back.

Pick of the bunch

While an influencer-led model may be a new concept for many firms, others have opted for the more traditional route of partnerships with brand ambassadors, which brings its own benefits and value. According to Lang, brand ambassadors have historically had a clearly defined role as figureheads for gaming brands as part of a wider brand, marketing and acquisition strategy. “Their image, personality and style closely replicate and complement the brand in question and facilitate the success of all other marketing channels and spends.” However, he does point out that they aren’t the reason for success in their own right. “You still need a brilliant product, astute marketing mix and customer-centric strategy wrapped up in a responsibly managed bubble of corporate governance. “A bearded He-Man with a decent social following gets you about 2.5% of the way to success, so unless BlitzBet launches with differentiation and excellence across the board they’re going to struggle to break even,” Lang says. On the other hand, Donohue’s view is that the influencer-led model has proven successful based on designing an acquisition campaign around an individual influencer’s brand and following. “In some cases, operators have been less successful when taking a traditional brand ambassador not known primarily for their social media following and treating them as an influencer for the purposes of acquisition,” he remarks. So, are some gambling firms missing a trick here? “There remain many additional valuable ways to use ambassadors new and old for operators and affiliates, particularly in the world of search where the right editorial output can travel widely to generate organic backlinks SEO departments dream of, feeding into longer-term acquisition plans,” he adds. That said, how do gambling firms choose which celebrity suits their particular brand? Catrin White, retail marketing director for the Rank Group, says the ambassador has to be the right fit in terms of their relevance, interest in the business and their resonance with the audience. “They have to make sense in terms of the way they align with our customers, team and business. Furthermore, it is important that the personality is relatable to our audience,” she explains. At Paddy Power, the decisive factor is that the ambassador matches the Paddy Power brand, explains Amy Jones, UK PR and mischief champion at Paddy Power. “We don’t sign someone just for the sake of signing them, regardless of how big or small the name may be. Ideally, they have a clear relevance to our audience, be that via the sport they play, their interests, their personality or their history.” Entering the brand ambassador fray for the first time is player trading and fantasy football platform Footstock, which has signed up former footballer and Sky Sports presenter Chris Kamara as its debut ambassador. After a period of rapid growth in spring, Footstock launched a new phase in its marketing efforts, which included bringing on its first-ever ambassador. “The plan was simple: take Footstock outside of its dedicated sphere of evangelical users and into the wider UK footballing audience,” says James Copeland, Footstock CMO. When searching for its first ambassador, Footstock wanted someone who could see the fun side of football. Kamara fitted that brief to a T with his “off-the-wall punditry and hilarious mishaps”. Copeland adds: “Kammy is a talented, kind and experienced professional. Having already worked with him on a few exciting Footstock projects, it’s clear that, while he knows how to have a good laugh, he’s also exceptionally good at getting a job done.” Footstock’s CMO believes Kamara will bring an “immediate legitimacy to the Footstock brand” with his “professionalism and banter” reflecting Footstock in a nutshell.

Having a flutter

Picking an ambassador with a passion for gambling is also a key factor in the selection process for some operators. White tells EGR that the partnership must be authentic in every aspect. “We always look for someone who has a genuine interest in the products and experiences which we offer, but it goes without saying that we’d only be interested in ambassadors who have a healthy relationship with gambling.” As a new brand in the UK gambling space, it was important for Footstock to select an ambassador that a UK audience would associate with sports betting. “Kammy’s experience in the industry has already proven invaluable: his dedication to creating content that champions responsible gambling reflects our own stance on ensuring everyone who plays Footstock does so in a healthy and sustainable way,” Copeland remarks. Speaking exclusively to EGR, having worked with companies in the gambling industry for a number of years, it is a sector Kamara knows well. “I also love horses and am a passionate racing fan, so have a good view from that perspective too. I’ve always enjoyed a flutter and firmly believe that responsible gambling can add to our enjoyment of sport,” he comments. On the other hand, for Paddy Power the way the bookmaker chooses ambassadors doesn’t require that they like gambling. “We don’t – or very rarely, at least – ask them to spew out betting offers on camera and prefer to use them in a ‘Paddy Power’ way in our marketing. If they do like gambling, then great, but if they can’t accurately explain a Rule 4 deduction, then we don’t mind either,” says Jones.

Follow me

While stars such as Bilzerian have a large social media following, Lang is sceptical as to how relevant that audience might be. “He has just over 32 million Instagram followers including, one suspects, a decent percentage of bots and those who will never place a sports bet in their lives. This pool of eyeballs isn’t exactly the sharp end of the sports betting spectrum, so aside from generating a decent social reach for BlitzBet, I suspect the conversion to real-money bettors will be dreadful and the retention even worse.” In comparison, Grosvenor Casinos’ poker-playing ambassador, ex-boxer David Haye, has 550,000 Instagram followers but it’s all about reaching the right people, says White. “Sometimes someone may not have the highest following on certain social platforms, but their audience is highly engaged with everything that they say and promote, and there’s more value in this.” Paddy Power’s UK PR and mischief champion acknowledges that an ambassador with a strong social media following is certainly attractive. However, she points out that there are some names that don’t rely on that at all. “To give you two examples of two partnerships we had, Jose Mourinho and Eric Cantona, both had/have Instagram accounts but no Twitter page and wouldn’t necessarily share brand content. Does that matter? Of course not. Who’s going to tell The King [Cantona] he should probably be on Twitter?” jokes Jones. Former footballer Peter Crouch is Paddy Power’s latest brand ambassador and he has fronted its light-hearted “Paddy Power bubbles” campaign to keep punters socially distanced during the coronavirus pandemic. “We wanted to create a bit of content which would provide some levity in what is an incredibly stressful and arduous time. Plus, we wanted to give our own nod to Liverpool’s title win, while still hitting on a relevant sticking point for football fans right now – not being able to celebrate together or go to games,” says Jones. She tells EGR that Crouch was the perfect fit for the Paddy Power brand as the “approachable punter’s pal”. “He has obviously become an incredibly well-known face on television, podcasts and media too, so we knew he’d be up for a laugh in campaigns we had planned and be confident in front of the camera.” On selecting Haye, Grosvenor Casinos was looking for the best way to amplify its Goliath poker tournament. With David vs Goliath as the end result, Haye was the perfect choice. “There are not that many high-profile David’s who are relevant to our audience, have the time spare to learn the game and can commit to doing so for at least 12 months,” says White. She describes Haye as being “down to earth” and very approachable. “Customers and team members really enjoy chatting to him and playing alongside him in the casinos. He always makes time for everyone,” adds White.

Value for money

Having an ambassador on board consistently builds an association with your brand and an opportunity to create compelling content, explains Jones at Paddy Power. “So, when we recently released a video on Leeds United, we were able to call on [former Scotland manager] Gordon Strachan quickly and create the content with someone who knows us and knows what we’re about.” The Irish bookmaker has also worked with former France and Arsenal midfielder Emmanuel Petit previously during a Word Cup year, which helped the operator secure a great deal of press coverage, interviews and cut-through in what was a busy market. In terms of measuring how valuable a partnership is, White believes the most value can be seen when the relationship is “a truly integrated one”. Haye’s credibility with key sports media titles and Grosvenor Casinos’ opportunity to leverage him for interviews, especially around key boxing events, proved to be particularly effective in promoting the Goliath campaign. “In addition to this, the content we were able to create worked well across David’s social channels and the content was something his followers really resonated with. We were able to post video diaries charting his progress, trailers for the [David versus Goliath] documentary as well as live updates on David’s performance at Goliath 2019. The social results really shone through and worked fantastically well,” White explains. The documentary, which follows Haye’s journey from complete poker novice to competing in the Goliath, saw him finish 40th out of 9,000 entrants and has amassed over 1.8 million minutes of viewing time since it premiered on Amazon Prime in April 2020. In terms of content, Footstock ambassador Kamara, who has 1.7 million Twitter followers, will share his expertise across social channels by delivering Q&As, regular promos and even a Footstock Twitter takeover. “We’ve already seen a significant spike in sign-ups,” says Copeland, but he quickly points out that the partnership is not solely acquisitional. “Perhaps more importantly, the branding benefits to a partnership like this are massive. With Kammy at the helm, trust is established in an instant.” As well as shooting a series of video content and recorded radio adverts, Kamara plans to be very closely involved with upcoming marketing campaigns. “I’m also going to be sharing my thoughts on the game with players every week – and even taking part in it with the ‘Beat Kammy’ freeroll fantasy contest. The partnership will take us to the other side of the Euros at least so there’s a lot of football to cover in that time,” he tells EGR Intel. Despite the coronavirus pandemic hitting economies all around the world, it seems the pull of celebrities is still worth every penny. Although Lang hopes that the influencer model is not a new trend to come. “God, I hope not. But then I thought the current President of the United States running for office was a joke, and look what happened? There are 7.8 billion people on the planet and it turns out quite a few of them are easily led simpletons, so BlitzBet might just prove to be a pathfinder leading the way towards a gilded future for sports betting. It probably won’t though.” Let’s see if influencers will win the battle on this one.