Running up to the FIFA World Cup, we are flooded with messaging from all the sports betting operators in the world. To stand out and really generate results, you need a centerpiece that gives you reason to speak and a social currency that not only generates attention but also builds credibility. This year we say prize pools ranging from 100 to 250 million euro as a first prize. Of course, all impossible to win – which punters quite soon realized.

Instead of promising players the moon, we decided to stay fun but at the same time believable, we dug deep down and created a campaign that was both rich in prize money (200K EUR+) but also completely clean of demands for deposits and bets. All players had to do was register at Bethard.com – which meant that all participants were 18+ and prospective users were not outside of our geographical reach. This mechanic also nicely solved all compliance issues for us.

In short, we saw an opportunity to create positive awareness, goodwill and likeability and then placed our bet on that approach paying off. And it did…

At the end of May, we introduced Zlatan Challenge – a social campaign designed to build brand awareness through an easy, intuitive and engaging social gaming mechanic. We asked users to see if they were better than Zlatan himself at predicting the outcome of each match in the group phase of the World Cup. Zlatan himself provided his predictions and comments on each group, which were all visible for users when they completed their own picks.

The purpose of the challenge was two-folded; We wanted to continue to build brand beyond traditional advertising and showcase Zlatan as an integrated part of our offering, but of course we ultimately also wanted to drive registrations and deposits. The campaign was kicked off through Zlatan’s own channels. In a short message, he told his followers about the campaign and that there was a chance to win his own personal Rolex watch, worth over 20K EUR. In his post, he also attached a fun and engaging video advertising the campaign. Of course, there was an instant buzz in social media which traveled to traditional media outlets as well.

For the weeks leading up to the World Cup, the campaign was mainly driven by social media, primarily organic but also with the help of the social influencers in Team Bethard. In Sweden and the UK, we also added some digital display advertising. As an extra brand builder, the video posted by Zlatan was also used as a TVC in Sweden, complemented with some video outdoor advertising.