SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Andy Scott is a Senior Account Manager at Digital Fuel Marketing, one of the sponsors of this year’s Betting on Football Conference (#bofcon) at Stamford Bridge on April 21st.
The Digital Fuel squad has been selected from marketing teams at some of the leading sports betting and gaming operators around the globe. Digital Fuel works with clients at all stages in their business life cycle from start-ups to tier one operators with a focus on performance led marketing campaigns.
We caught up with Andy to discuss the major mergers of recent times from a marketing perspective, innovation and the importance and difficulty of maintaining engagement post-Euro 2016.
SBC: What’s the most important thing for operators to get right ahead of Euro 2016, and what’s the most challenging aspect of major international competitions such as this?
Andy: While the Euros will undoubtedly offer excellent branding and acquisition opportunities, particularly with so many of the home nations represented, the challenge is maintaining engagement moving into the new football season.
The ongoing share of wallet you are able to extract when August comes around could be the true indicator of success – developing that wider strategy through paid and owned channels over the months immediately following the tournament is essential.
SBC: How important is the sport of football to your business?
Andy: As a marketing company that specialises in the betting and gaming category, football is as important to us as any operator.
With so many acquisition peaks centred on football events, and the inevitable challenges associated with such a competitive market, we always need to think of new ways to engage the audience. With a number of years behind us in the UK, we are also able to take our experiences into markets that are seeing an increase in football betting turnover, such as Australia, or emerging territories that already have football at the centre of the punters’ activity (most countries!).
SBC: What effect will the major mergers of recent times have this year, if any?
Andy: Looking at it from a marketing perspective, this is an extremely exciting time for the category; on the one hand, you have some of the biggest brands, with an unbelievable amount of marketing data between them driving innovation forward – this can only be a good thing.
On the other hand, there will be the inevitable bedding in period which may leave opportunity for challenger brands to steal market share. One thing is for sure, the entities that emerge will be very strong and very aggressive. For anybody looking to compete on a marketing front, it is essential to spend time now ensuring that your data strategy is in place, your product is competitive and your path to conversion is fully optimised.
SBC: What does 2016 have in-store for you?
Andy: Hopefully a continuation of 2015! Our team has been growing and with that comes more practical experiences from global gaming markets. The digital landscape is constantly changing and as a progressive agency in this space, we are always looking to try new opportunities that may give our clients an edge. Having an understanding of those marketing trends and techniques underpinned by fundamental category knowledge is where we will continue to set ourselves apart in 2016.
SBC: Why did you choose to become a sponsor of this year’s #bofcon?
Andy: As a team, we are regular visitors to the SBC site and have seen the community develop in line with our own business. The content both online and at the show is always insightful and relevant.
Aligning our brand with SBC and #bofcon was a fairly easy decision to make…. and hopefully we may meet some potential new clients along the way!
SBC: Euro 2016 – who’s going to win, who’s going to shine and who’s going to slump?
Andy: The stage is set for Dele Alli, Eric Dier and Harry Kane but I think a lack of consistency in the back four will be England’s undoing yet again. I was confident that the partnership between Alderweireld and Vertonghen was going to provide the stability for the stars of Belgium to shine. It may still be the case but injury there has led me down the path of Germany once again to come up with the goods. Generally this is enough for my friends to lump on an England win and Germany to go out in the groups!
