Sport, gaming and gambling

sport, gaming & gambling

Marketing and operations director, Betway

Paul Adkins

Paul Adkins has spent his career at gambling brands because he believes the sector is one of the most advanced in marketing. At Betway, the focus has been on developing its martech stack to ensure it can take advantage of the latest technologies. For example, the company uses dynamic, creative optimisation and AI-driven programmatic media buys to ensure it is targeting its messaging at the right people using the right channel at the right time. Sponsorship is also key for the brand. It has partnerships with football teams including West Ham and Roma, as well as the UK Snooker Championship and the Grand National Festival, but is also tapping into esports with various deals including sponsorships of the ESL Pro League and Blast Pro Series. Adkins is also keen to shake off industry norms in its marketing by focusing on emotions rather than shouting about deals with new campaign ‘The Hunch’. That has helped Betway beat bigger rivals in terms of consumer perceptions, according to YouGov BrandIndex.

Marzena Bogdanowicz

Head of marketing and commercial, women’s football, The FA

Marzena Bogdanowicz has overseen a review and restructure of the commercial rights model for women’s football in England that is helping raise the profile of the game and bring in much-needed sponsorship revenues. An overhaul of the women’s game in England has led to a competition pyramid with the Women’s Super League (WSL) that has opened up commercial opportunities. That helped the FA draw in its biggest ever brand investment in women’s football as Barclays became the title sponsor of the WSL. At the top level, the England Women’s team’s route to the semi-final of the World Cup (for the second successive tournament) has helped raise the profile of the women’s game and attract brand sponsors including Boots, BT, Budweiser and Lucozade. And The FA’s marketing has built on that, first with the ‘Salute the Lionesses’ campaign, which aimed to raise the profile of female players, and then with an identity overhaul and new ‘Be Ready’ messaging. Post-World Cup, Bogdanowicz plans to focus on two areas. First, to promote the fact that England’s female footballers are a top-class team to help build the credibility of the game. And second to show how they can inspire girls to play.

Rob Calder

Commercial director, England and Wales Cricket Board

Rob Calder has been central in helping with the modernisation of cricket through new game formats, sponsors and channels that it is hoped will inspire the next generation of cricket fans. The ECB has also been busy securing new test partnerships. NatWest has strengthened its links with cricket, while Specsavers came on board as official Test partner last year, adding to its title partnership of the County Championship. The Specsavers deal meant for the first time the ECB had specific partners at men’s international and men’s domestic level. Specsavers joined Royal London, which sponsors 50-over cricket, and Vitality, which backs T20 cricket. Calder also oversees marketing and brand partnerships for the new The Hundred format. Launching next year, the new 100-ball contest will see eight city-based franchises take each other on. It is hoped the competition, which will be broadcast by Sky and the BBC, will widen access and interest in the game. English cricket is riding high following the England men’s and women’s team’s World Cup wins.

Charlotte Emery

Global brand and marketing director, William Hill

Charlotte Emery’s impact at William Hill has been immediate, making wholesale changes to its approach to advertising and media. William Hill is hoping to build what it describes as a “digitally-led, internationally diverse gambling company”. While the UK domestic market accounted for 86% of its business in 2018, the company is focused on growing internationally, with the US a particular area of interest. Despite joining less than a year ago, Emery has already overhauled William Hill’s marketing, signing heavyweight boxer Anthony Joshua as it looks to distance itself from rivals focused on live football bets and build more of an emotional connect. Unusually for the category, it is looking to play up its scale and heritage, with an endline ‘Heavyweights since 1934’. It is also using a similar creative idea to promote safer gambling – the first time it has integrated these messages.

Paul Gambrill

Managing Director of PPB (Paddy Power Betfair) Marketing

Having taken on the top marketing job at Paddy Power and Betfair owner Flutter Entertainment, Gambrill has focused on making the most of its distinctive brands and ensuring its more than £400m investment in marketing is well spent. At Paddy Power, for example, improved marketing execution that re-engages recreational customers has helped boost revenue. In 2018, that helped online revenues grow 11% year on year and boosted loyalty. It has also taken a stand on football shirt sponsorship, signing up as an ‘unsponsor’ of Huddersfield Town, among others. At Betfair, meanwhile, marketing has unlocked an opportunity to cross-sell between its sports and gaming betting. There are also plans to improve automation of digital marketing and customer operations to boost growth in 2020. On responsible gambling, Flutter has promised to increase its voluntary responsible gambling levy from 0.1% to 1% of profits over the next five years.

Amanda Howard

Marketing director, Medichecks (for work on Buzz Bingo)

Amanda Howard led the launch of the Buzz Bingo brand following its acquisition of Gala Bingo in a move aimed at showing the game as modern and affordable, and appealing to younger consumers. The £40m rebrand has seen the name roll out to more than 100 venues worldwide and the launch of an online bingo site. That has been backed by its first TV campaign, which aims to shake off perceptions of bingo as “something my gran does” and show the fun of winning, whatever the player’s age. Buzz Bingo has also launched an online community that links players in real time. The response so far has been “really positive” and is helping to attract new players. Although the overall gender split is 24% male and 76% female, 32% of new customers are male. It is a similar story in terms of age, with 35% of new members aged under 25 and the average age 35, compared to an average age of 44 among its overall audience.

Jamie McCall

Senior marketing director, Nike

Since Nike’s decision to centre its products and marketing on consumers living in 12 cities around the world, Jamie McCall has played a key role in ensuring people in London understand the brand and what it stands for, and buy its products. He was able to bring more than 10 years of experience at Nike and living in London to bear for its ‘Nothing Beats a Londoner’ campaign. Despite being curtailed due to a copyright claim, it was a viral hit, receiving global PR coverage and achieving a 90% view-through rate. It also won numerous awards at Cannes Lions last year, including the first ever Social and Influencer Lion. Marketing that gets noticed and takes a stand has helped Nike maintain its top position in London. As CFO Andy Campion noted: “In EMEA, the Nike brand is stronger than ever. We are the number one brand in all five key cities in the region.”

Barry Moore

VP global key cities, Adidas

Barry Moore has played a key role in implementing Adidas’ global key cities strategy since it was introduced four years ago and in his current role heads up the strategy. He leads the approach across Adidas’ six key cities – London, Paris, New York, Los Angeles, Shanghai and Tokyo - having previously been director of brand marketing in Northern Europe. An Adidas lifer, he has put the focus on experiential marketing and in-store activation, as well as co-creation efforts as Adidas looks to appeal to a new generation of sports enthusiasts. As a FIFA World Cup sponsor, football has been key over the past year and Moore launched Adidas’ biggest ever activation in a bespoke venue in Shoreditch. Moore has also helped launch Adidas’ new stadium-style store format – the first of which was at Westfield, London – as it looks to set a “new standard for in-store experience, creativity and sport in a retail concept”.

Ellie Norman

Director of marketing and communications, Formula 1

Bringing F1 closer to the fans has been Ellie Norman’s key objective, injecting some of the spectacle down by the track into fans’ social feeds, web experiences and viewing. Joining as the sport’s first ever marketing director, Norman has been tasked with identifying what the brand stands for and communicating that to fans. The result of that was a new F1 logo and its first ever marketing campaign, as well as a new tagline, ‘Engineered Insanity’. Alongside advertising, content has been key to engaging fans with the launch of the first F1 app – F1 TV – allowing fans to watch live streams of each race and content from the drivers’ point of view. This activity has helped to build the F1 brand over the three years since its acquisition by Liberty Global. It has also boosted revenues, with a $44m increase in revenue in 2018 boosted by digital media and fan engagement activities.

Nuria Tarré

CMO, City Football Group

Joining City Football Group in 2015, Nuria Tarré was tasked with doing something unique in football – housing multiple club brands under a single umbrella. Those clubs include Melbourne City FC, Yokohama F. Marinos, Girona FC and, of course, Manchester City. Man City is clearly the jewel in the crown and Tarré’s job is helped by the success of the team on the pitch, with City winning the past two Premier League competitions. She has also been working to shake off negative perceptions of the club and show a more “authentic” side to the team, commissioning a fly-on-the-wall documentary about their 2017/18 winning season for Amazon Prime called All or Nothing. Boosting engagement with the clubs is a key focus, and City is investing in video content not just of match highlights but also more general club activities. It was the first Premier League club to reach one million YouTube subscribers, and fan engagement has helped to boost revenues by 44% in the five years to the end of the 2018 season.

B2B

ONLINE AND DISRUPTORS

REGULATED INDUSTRIES

RETAIL

SPORT, GAMING AND GAMBLING

TRAVEL, TRANSPORT AND HOSPITALITY

CHARITY AND PUBLIC SECTOR

CONSUMER GOODS

CONSUMER TECH AND AUTOMOTIVE

MEDIA, TELECOMS AND ENTERTAINMENT

ONLINE AND DISRUPTORS REGULATED INDUSTRIES RETAIL SPORT, GAMING AND GAMBLING TRAVEL, TRANSPORT AND HOSPITALITY

B2B CHARITY AND PUBLIC SECTOR CONSUMER GOODS CONSUMER TECH AND AUTOMOTIVE MEDIA, TELECOMS AND ENTERTAINMENT

B2B

ONLINE AND DISRUPTORS

REGULATED INDUSTRIES

RETAIL

SPORT, GAMING AND GAMBLING

TRAVEL, TRANSPORT AND HOSPITALITY

CHARITY AND PUBLIC SECTOR

CONSUMER GOODS

CONSUMER TECH AND AUTOMOTIVE

MEDIA, TELECOMS AND ENTERTAINMENT

ONLINE AND DISRUPTORS REGULATED INDUSTRIES RETAIL SPORT, GAMING AND GAMBLING TRAVEL, TRANSPORT AND HOSPITALITY

B2B CHARITY AND PUBLIC SECTOR CONSUMER GOODS CONSUMER TECH AND AUTOMOTIVE MEDIA, TELECOMS AND ENTERTAINMENT

B2B

ONLINE AND DISRUPTORS

REGULATED INDUSTRIES

RETAIL

SPORT, GAMING AND GAMBLING

TRAVEL, TRANSPORT AND HOSPITALITY

CHARITY AND PUBLIC SECTOR

CONSUMER GOODS

CONSUMER TECH AND AUTOMOTIVE

MEDIA, TELECOMS AND ENTERTAINMENT

ONLINE AND DISRUPTORS REGULATED INDUSTRIES RETAIL SPORT, GAMING AND GAMBLING TRAVEL, TRANSPORT AND HOSPITALITY

B2B CHARITY AND PUBLIC SECTOR CONSUMER GOODS CONSUMER TECH AND AUTOMOTIVE MEDIA, TELECOMS AND ENTERTAINMENT

B2B

ONLINE AND DISRUPTORS

REGULATED INDUSTRIES

RETAIL

SPORT, GAMING AND GAMBLING

TRAVEL, TRANSPORT AND HOSPITALITY

CHARITY AND PUBLIC SECTOR

CONSUMER GOODS

CONSUMER TECH AND AUTOMOTIVE

MEDIA, TELECOMS AND ENTERTAINMENT

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