Tom Seymour – Cricket offers superb branding opportunities for betting

Tom Seymour, Commercial Director at Durham County Cricket Club (CCC), aims to take SBC readers on a cricketing’ tour of discovery over this year, focusing on the biggest players, grounds and opportunities the sport has to offer.

Durham County Cricket Club may be a new kid on the block within the national game, but in terms of winning trophies and showcasing star talent, we have certainly made our mark on a global stage.

With Lumley Castle as a backdrop, the ‘Emirates Durham International Cricket Ground’ has been home for many greats of the sport including Hussey (Mike), Sangakkara, Chanderpaul and Akhtar.

Modern facilities and top level coaching have also helped us to create a conveyor-belt of local talent to supplement these foreign stars, with Collingwood, Harmison, Onions, Mustard, Borthwick, Wood, and of course Ben Stokes all contributing to the England National team.

With Cricket showing box office appeal in India (IPL), Australia (Big Bash), The Caribbean (CPL), UAE (PSL) and England (The NatWest T20 Blast), we are keen to position ourselves at the forefront of innovation to try and change the way people consume Cricket.

In the last few years I have been working with Austin Carney, a hugely experienced figure within the world of betting, after realising that partnerships between Cricket and the gaming industry could be so much more productive.

Bet365 have a deal with the ECB, and Unibet have entered into partnerships with both the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) and Essex CCC, but they are barely scratching the surface in terms of potential in my opinion.

Therefore, at Durham we are pushing a number of value for money packages that we feel are well suited for the betting industry around our test match with Sri Lanka this summer, and the option to sponsor our LV County Championship (CC) playing shirts.

We are aware of what the betting industry need and can offer incredible exclusive branding opportunities, click through traffic, social media coverage, live global TV exposure and brand visibility. A big plus is that, unlike in Football, fans can still get to know the cricketers and be part of the club, which makes engagement far more easy for our partners.

Our customer reach is emphasised by the following; we have over one and a half million website visitors, and access to our players’ followers which gives us a combined audience of one and a quarter million on Twitter.

We also run successful accounts on both Instagram and Facebook. All of this helps us to attract massive global brands such as the Emirates, and then connect our players, partners and supporters with each other.

Happy New Year everyone, and here’s hoping 2016 will bring a new LV CC shirt sponsor, more betting Partnerships and a Fantasy Cricket Partner for Durham CCC.

Tom Seymour, Commercial Director at Durham County Cricket Club