Betsson’s June 2021 football-themed comic campaign leveraging spiking soccer interest around the Copa America and Euro 2020 is fronted by the self-styled world’s worst soccer team – Brazil’s Ibis Sports Club – and promoting its new fantasy Betsson FC game.
Ibis Sport Club, a football club from Paulista (in Pernambuco state) has a long history (it was founded back in 1938), but became synonymous with defeat when it went through a 55-game winless stretch between 1980 and 19 84. Yet the side gamely takes to the pitch to front online gambling brand Betsson’s cheeky and counterintuitive Brazilian campaign.
Created agency Bold and titled ‘Everyone Can Play With The Best In The World. Even You,” the Brazilian campaign activates Betsson’s recent sponsorship of Ibis SC and promotes its new BetssonFC fantasy game which enables players/fans to choose among players from all major leagues to pick teams and then compete for fun and cash.
The club’s former midfield star Mauro Teixeira Thorpe fronts the hero commercial: a player who, during his 14-year professional career (a decade of which he spent with Ibis) scored just one single goal. His lack of goals has seen him become famous in Brazil and he now works as a hairdresser and goes by the name Mauro Shampoo.
As well as the spearhead spot, the campaign includes content running across the brand’s social media channels.
“The idea is pretty simple,” explained Bold Creative Lead Daniele Marques. “The main differential that we wanted to advertise is the possibility to scout every major player from all the major leagues and championships. For someone who is in love with football, being able to play Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo on the same team changes the game.
“If the players from the worst team in the world can do it [compete in Champions League, Copa America or Libertadores matches, if only in cyberspace], so can you,” Marques added. “You can look at Ibis and see the worst team—a team that does not deserve a sponsorship. We chose to look at it as a big opportunity. This team has embraced its story in such a legitimate way that has built a presence impossible to ignore.”
The campaign was created by agency Bold where the team included creatives Henrique Mendes, Leandro Lemos and Daniele Marques, plus Creative Director Lucas Maia and CCO Daniele Marques. Rodolfo Campitelli of Celso de Campos handled the Ibis talent, with others working on the activation including Rodolfo Campitelli, Felipe Gama, Victor Martins, Marcelo, Julia Vianna and Priscila Perestrelo, with a group from Accounts/Business which included Roberta Padilla, Gabriel Garcia, Anna Lopes and Leonardo Correia.
Campaign influencers included Patricia Julianelli and Gabriela Charbe, PR was by FSB, social content by Nooke, production by BigBonsai and the director was Felipe Briso.
Comment:
It seems that Swedish-based Betsson believes that while Ibis might just be the worst football team on the pitch, they are champions when it comes to creating content, driving reach and generating engagement around football conversations.
At Activative, we’re not quite claiming that ‘losing is all the rage’ in football marketing around Euro 2020 and Copa America, but, well, this isn’t the first campaign we’ve seen this summer which places the focus on participation rather than on winning.
From Nike’s ‘Play New‘, through Allianz Direct’s ‘Future Sports Heroes’ and the Australian Olympic Committee’s ‘Have A Go’, it seems it is the ‘taking part’ that counts these days.
Whether that’s the message a betting business wants to distribute we aren’t quite sure. Although it is, at least, the authentic reality of gambling.
Leave a comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.