Launched at the start of June, Sportsbet.io’s ‘Defy The Odds’ campaign showcases a series of extraordinary stories of players, coaches, fans and officials, who have all defied the odds to take to the world stage at the upcoming CONIFA Sportsbet.io European Football Cup 2019.
Developed in harness with London based creative agency Dark Horses and activating its sponsorship of the CONIFA European Football Cup, ‘Defy The Odds’ aims to drive global awareness of the rapidly growing football tournament.
In the week before kick-off, the campaign launched with a two minute hero film focused on Szilárd Magyari, a player for Székely Land, one of the tournament’s participating teams.
Thos powerful, dramatic spot showcases Szilárd’ story: from growing up in a “place with two lands, a de facto state” who is writing his own story in a competition for “outsiders” and explains why he is taking part set against the backdrop of the “ghost nation” he represents.
The campaign will be promoted via Sportsbet.io and CONIFA’s owned channels and through paid social media.
As well as the spearhead video, the sponsor also produced a wealth of web based content.
Indeed, as the competition itself unfolded, a content hub published daily, photojournalism style stories (and also offered fixtures and match updates).
Unsurprisingly, accompanying each blog-post was a unique odds relating to the specific individual or team they represent, and redeemable on Sportsbet.io.
How many total bookings will be given in today’s CONIFA European Football Cup matches? We’re guessing it’s going to be over 13. If you think you’ll know the answer – have a go under Sportsbet Daily Specials!#ConifaRequestABet pic.twitter.com/jvAeN9nBsC
— Sportsbet.io (@Sportsbetio) June 4, 2019
Tomorrow we’re going to be very special as CONIFA European Football Cup exclusive offer was made just for you:
Batradz Gurtsiev – current top goal scorer of the tournament, to score 2 or more goals with a price of 20!
Max bet will be 2m or equivalent.#ConifaRequestABet pic.twitter.com/dLix5qpfBM— Sportsbet.io (@Sportsbetio) June 5, 2019
Once again #ConifaRequestABet is available today until 12pm UTC. Get your requests in! We will start off by offering a price of 2.75 for Szekely Land – Western Armenia match over 3.5 corners on each half. pic.twitter.com/e6PqSuV84u
— Sportsbet.io (@Sportsbetio) June 3, 2019
The activation objective was to showcase the on-pitch drama and also highlight some of characters who make CONIFA football among the purest and most authentic platforms for the beautiful game.
After all, for almost everyone involved in CONIFA and its competitions there is a struggle against the odds.
And the winners…..
ONE WEEK AGO! We were celebrating the new champions of Europe – as South Ossetia won the CONIFA @Sportsbetio European Football Cup 2019! Check out Karo Sahakyan's amazing photos of their 1-0 victory in Stepanakert! pic.twitter.com/hvortYahRc
— CONIFA (@CONIFAOfficial) June 16, 2019
“Partnering with CONIFA is about so much more than just a sponsorship, instead it’s about celebrating our shared love of the beautiful game and that it knows no limits or borders of any kind,” said Olga Kikas, the director of marketing at Sportsbet.io.
“As avid fans of football ourselves, we recognise the absolute importance of sports being accessible to all, and to be able to bring their stories to life is not only motivational but a true testament to the power of sports.”
Dark Horses founder Simon Dent added: “With such a rich tapestry of players, coaches and teams to dig into, we knew the best way to celebrate this tournament was to bring to life the compelling stories that exist within the world of CONIFA. We just hope we can do justice to the tremendous courage and determination some of these people have shown just to get here.”
“The partnership experience itself was brilliant as everyone was passionate about the tournament being a success for all parties involved. This is probably one of the biggest lessons we took away; finding those passionate about your vision is key if you want to do more than just lend your name to a team or event,” commented Coingaming Group CEO Timothy John Heath.
“From the agencies who helped us activate, to the core Conifa team and the football associations, everyone not only loved football but could see how the partnership complimented each other. Conifa and Sportsbet.io are both considered outsiders in our respective industries and we’re both trying to break down borders [to] make football, sports as a whole and entertainment, accessible for all. Once we were all singing off the same hymn sheet, which naturally took a concerted effort to get to know each other past a simple donor or client relationship, we were able to amplify the fascinating footballing stories, have fun and defy the odds together.”
Comment:
Sportsbet.io, a relatively new and rising player in the online betting space, is an official partner of the tournament: which sees this year sees players from a diverse range of Europe’s unrecognised nations and minority regions travel to Artsakh (which is also known by its second official name the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic: a breakaway state in the South Caucasus that is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan).
The competition – which runs from 2 to 9 June – is organised by the Confederation of Independent Football Associations (CONIFA) and by the nature of the rights owner, many CONIFA competitors have had to overcome adversity to ensure their place at the tournament.
Among Sportsbet.io’s other football partnerships is its recent front of shirt sponsorship deal with Watford FC.
#watfordfc is delighted to welcome Coingaming and its sport betting brand @Sportsbetio as our new front of shirt sponsor! #KnowNoBorders
— Watford Football Club (@WatfordFC) June 14, 2019
@WatfordFC announces https://t.co/kI3TBVuRRk as Main Club Partner!
Be prepared for
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To enter just follow us & RT this post!
18+. T&C Apply#KnowNoBorders pic.twitter.com/EZ2cRHM00j— Sportsbet.io (@Sportsbetio) June 14, 2019
The three-year deal as Watford’s main club partner launched with a campaign called ‘Know No Borders’: which aimed to share the message that no matter what your country, sport, team or currency, you will Know No Borders to the action at Sportsbet.io.
It also offered Watford fans the first glimpse of the team’s news season kit which, while leaked in April, was officially released by Watford through the campaign.
The Watford shirt sponsorship deal – reported to be worth UK£20 million (US$25 million) over its three-year – spearheads Sportsbet.io’s attempt to break into the UK market, as well as acting as a global platform.
The cryptocurrency-based sports betting platform unveiled it partnership with the Premier League club before even launching its product in the UK.
The move up from sponsoring a tournament for non-Fifa affiliated associations hosted by a breakaway state in the Azerbaijani South Caucasus to an official Premier League club front of shirt deal certainly shows ambition and commitment to the market.
It is also a key pillar in its bid expand beyond the cryptocurrency community into the more mainstream ssports fans and traditional currency punters.
Founded in 2016, Sportsbet.io has a USP in that it began in the crypto space and is now broadening out into engaging and offering traditional currency players and thus is focused on being more accessible and open as the crypto silo still puts up barriers for some.
The UK platform was launched a few after the tie-up was announced: which was timed to coincide with and leverage the 2019/20 Premier League season fixture release.
The brand itself says that the launch campaign was ‘rewarded with great engagement online and valuable feedback’ from fans.
In terms of success metrics and return on investment (ROI) from the Watford partnership, Coingaming Group Founder and CEO Timothy John Heath says that, like other front of shirt deals, ‘hard to measure in ROI terms’ as there are ‘so many moving parts that contribute value to the overall sponsorship’.
Indeed, heath says that it is more of a branding exercise than one that can be directly measured in the way of PPC marketing. Nevertheless, Coingaming will incorporate measurements such as return on objectives (ROO) to derive the value of the investment: including metrics relating to building the brand voice, credibility and recognition (especially in traditionally hard to reach markets).
The umbrella objective, according to Heath, is that the partnership will have a transformative effect on the scale of Sportsbet.io.
In terms of what to expect in terms of activation as the season draws nearer, the approach and tone of future work will bring to life the sponsor’s ‘fun, fast and fair’ motto and will include ‘a few nice surprises’ closer.
Links:
Sportsbet.io
https://twitter.com/Sportsbetio
https://www.instagram.com/sportsbet.io/
https://www.facebook.com/Sportsbet.io
CONIFA
Dark Horses
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