Flutter’s UK betting heavyweights, Paddy Power and Sky Bet, have thrown their hats into the ring in the marketing battle ahead of this month’s FIFA World Cup.
The operators have called on some of the most recognisable names from football and beyond as they attempt to capture market share during a tournament in which a record amount of money is expected to be wagered.
Paddy Power has opted to lean into the World Cup’s US base with its ‘nobody does football better than us’ campaign, contrasting the difference in sporting experience between the UK and the US through A-list actor Rob Lowe and Paddy Power regular Danny Dyer.
There are also cameos for former England international Peter Crouch and the ex-Republic of Ireland coach Mick McCarthy, who has gained online notoriety in the last year for his deadpan interviews.
Meanwhile, Sky Bet’s ‘The World’s Gone Football’ campaign features Sky Sports pundits Micah Richards and Roy Keane.
The video leans into Richards’ vibrant personality and Keane’s more dour nature as they navigate a world where football actions are mixed into everyday life, such as fans receiving a yellow card from a traffic warden or a bride lying behind a wall of her bridesmaids as if they are preparing to defend a free kick.
On the advert, Harry Phillips, Marketing Director for Sky Bet, said on LinkedIn: “The World Cup is one of those moments when football completely takes over the nation. Featuring two absolute legends in Micah Richards and Roy Keane, it celebrates the wonderfully irrational things football makes us do when World Cup fever takes hold.
“For Sky Bet, the campaign celebrates the magic of Football fandom at the World Cup while seeing the return of some iconic brand codes.”
Both efforts capture the impact of the tournament on fans, rather than actions on the pitch, and the operators will be hoping this translates to strong engagement across the event.
This year’s tournament is the first to feature 48 nations, rather than the 32 that turned out in Qatar four years ago. As a result, the number of games has also increased from 64 to 104.
Off the back of this, data from H2 Gambling Capital estimates that around $60bn (£44.6bn) will be wagered during the tournament, a potential 71% increase compared to the 2022 World Cup.
Over six billion people are expected to tune into the tournament, and the marketing intelligence firm WARC expects over $10.5bn will be injected into the wider advertising sector in the lead-up to the World Cup as brands ramp up their advertising campaigns.
However, for firms like Paddy Power and Sky Bet, it will be vital to see a clear return on investment from their marketing spend, especially as tax changes have suddenly made operating in the UK much more costly.
Speaking on an SBC Webinar in December, Flutter UK and Ireland’s Head of Football Strategy and Pricing, Malachy Rooney, emphasised that the company must be prepared to react to narratives as the tournament progresses.
Now more than ever, football is largely viewed through the lens of social media, and there will be no doubt countless storylines played out, especially surrounding stars such as Argentina’s Lionel Messi, Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo and Norway’s Erling Haaland.
Rooney said: “It’s [about] setting ourselves up to be able to preempt where we think there could be a narrative building and then actually react to it and give customers what they want.
“Whether it’s in terms of pointing them to existing selections that we have across the different sportsbooks or being able to come up with manufactured one-off niche selections through some sort of specialist mechanics.”
