The World Cup always brings new emerging players onto the stage, big debuts, and new stars. From a business perspective, for many, this tournament marks the first in which they truly call up AI to their starting 11.
Adam Brimmer, Director of Brand and Creative at Betsson Group, spoke to iGaming Expert on how the rapid ascension of AI has enabled the firm to scale its operations and marketing campaigns for the festival of football that is set to take place over the Summer.
Brimmer underpinned that AI shouldn’t be framed as a threat but instead as an ingredient that can open doors and enrich market strategies.
He said: “While a lot of people talk about AI being a bit of a threat to things, I would say if anything, it is only something that you can use as a tool, like anything else.
“So, previously, something that someone would have taken, let’s just say four hours to do can be done in one hour. What do you do with the extra three hours? You do more things, apply more services, put more variations. So we basically just scaled up what we can do as a department, and AI is just an ingredient in that.”
The streamlining impact it has on processes is a factor that, whilst in many places is subtle, can be crucial at a moment like the World Cup.
With a variety of different markets requiring a nuanced approach and unique strategy, AI intertwined with the human creative touch, can be key in securing growth.
Fuelled by the ability of personalisation enabled by AI, the approach to a global tournament like the World Cup has evolved for Betsson for the 2026 edition of the tournament, which is the biggest tournament ever.
Brimmer added: “There was a time when there would be a global concept. We’d say this is the big thing that we’re going to do for the World Cup, and all the markets would tap into that and use those resources. That is very different this World Cup. I would say we have delivered the largest toolkits the business has ever seen, so every single country has a custom-built one for them.
“Every single country has a unique pack that they are using with a global concept, but AI has allowed us to make it more localised all the way. The goal isn’t simply to produce more content. It’s to make content feel genuinely local while maintaining a consistent global Betsson identity.”
The relationship between the operator and bettor is unlike any other consumer relationship in any industry, and as such requires a completely nuanced and delicate approach.
This is the case when it comes to how the industry should utilise AI, with Brimmer acknowledging that there is a real delicacy to tapping into the tech.
He emphasised: “We are an iGaming company where we are trusting people to give us their money and trust us to give it back if they win. For me, trust with the consumer is incredibly important. If we use AI in a cheap or shoddy manner, then I think we risk more than just a little bit of backlash. I think we risk brand trust, and in a business like ours, that is too important. So for me, unless it is top quality, it’s a no.”
But it isn’t just in the relationship with the consumer where AI is elevating efficiency, as the sponsorship frameworks tighten across the globe and the importance of ROI intensifies, Brimmer revealed how AI can strengthen their strategy in partnerships.
“Most clubs and ambassadors will give you a contract with a fixed amount of time per year, where you can use players for shoots or material. AI saves us the trouble sometimes of leveraging those hours. If we need to quickly insert an ambassador into an advert, we can do that with their permission and sign-off. It saves them from having to fly over, spend a day on production and then go home again.
“There’s a balance, because at the end of the day there are a lot of things that need to feel human. A lot can be done in AI very easily, but the next stage is video, and we all know video content is better than static content. We’ve come to the point where we’re producing some television commercials entirely in-house using AI, but there’s still a balance between what technology can do and what people need to do.”
The scale of the World Cup has shone a light on the positives of AI for Brimmer, though, enabling Betsson to scale and localise its approach in a variety of markets without significant legwork.
He said: “We basically built a library of locally relevant AI-generated talent and creative assets and went over the markets and said, ‘Do these characters look local to you?’ When they signed off on that, those are the people you see in the adverts. We’re using them as though we cast them as models. Now we’re expanding that to have street views, houses, because a house in Argentina is not the same as one in Greece. So interiors, exteriors, streets, voices, clothing styles — all that stuff is being put into libraries so we can actually feel more local by default.
“We did a small production in Cameroon, literally a 10-second advert, because we had just launched in that market. We were contacted by the city municipality in Cameroon to ask why we didn’t apply for filming permits there. We had to prove that we were not physically present. That blew their mind because normally, companies coming into that market use global material, so it never looks local. They said this was the most local advert they’d ever seen that clearly wasn’t real.”
The World Cup provides an opportunity for reflection, given that it only takes place every four years. The last World Cup AI was a real unlikely minnow, but has evolved into an essential tool.
“If you asked me these questions two years ago, I’d have been one of those people who said AI is dangerous and risky. The entire team, in the space of a year, tooled up, trained up and skilled up. We built workshops and turned our department into quite an AI-driven machine. There’s a balance, but we’ve seen first-hand what it can do.”
