BOYLE Sports has recruited French footballing legend David Ginola for its latest marketing campaign as it looks to spread awareness of its new Squad Builder product.
Ginola, who had spells at clubs including Paris Saint-Germain, Newcastle and Tottenham Hotspur, speaks directly to the camera to explain the product, with the campaign said to have used inspiration from Oscar-winning film The Big Short.
The Ireland-headquartered bookmaker launched Squad Builder ahead of the 2026/27 football season. It allows customers to select between two and five players across major leagues.
Punters then choose from seven statistical targets, with their selected players’ performance combining towards an overall squad total.
Ginola ad continues BOYLE Sports’ football theme
The appearance of Ginola in a BOYLE Sports ad follows a pre-season push by the operator. It opened its 400th shop at Galway Racecourse earlier this summer, shortly before announcing an extension to its front-of-shirt sponsorship of now-EFL Championship club West Ham United.
These preceded the bookmaker’s headline sponsorship of August’s friendly between Manchester United and Leeds United at Croke Park, with the match being renamed the BOYLE Sports Cup 2026. BOYLE Sports is also Leeds’ official betting partner in the UK and Ireland.
The company said that the latest marketing campaign combines “cinematic storytelling, humour and Ginola’s unmistakable personality” as it looks to further Squad Builder’s reach.
Gill Blake-Swift, Director of Brand at BOYLE Sports, said: “We wanted to create something that people would genuinely enjoy watching; a piece of entertainment first, not simply another betting advert. We saw Squad Builder as an opportunity to push the creative further, with more confidence, personality and cultural relevance.
“David has the charisma to make the idea work immediately and the inspiration behind the film gives us a brilliant way of explaining a new product without making it feel like a demo.
“This is the kind of creative territory BOYLE Sports wants to occupy. We are building a brand presence that feels distinctive beyond our category and earns attention in its own right, while still being unmistakably BOYLE Sports and rooted in our brand mantra of ‘Back Yourself’.”
The campaign, with 60-second and 30-second versions, will roll out across TV, VOD, digital, social and customer-facing channels from 23 September.
BOYLE Sports will have been careful when plotting the campaign, given the business was recently stung by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), who deemed its free bets promotion was “socially irresponsible”. It is one of many gambling companies to have received warnings recently as the ASA appears to be keeping close tabs on the sector.
The advert with Ginola comes as operators with a UK focus look to put their faith in football when it comes to marketing. With bookmakers now running on tighter budgets due to tax increases, it seems that they are looking to focus on the most popular sport in the country.
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