The back end of every year is synonymous with the darts season intensifying, as hype builds towards the crescendo that is the PDC World Championships at Christmastime.
Among that hype represents opportunity for brands to market their products, which is exactly what Immense Group’s Mr Vegas has done for the past four years via its title sponsorship of the Grand Slam of Darts.
Its jingle is arguably the second-most-recognisable sound at the tournament, behind only the famous ‘Chase the Sun’ song which precedes it before an ad break.
With the brand looking to capture new customers via the Grand Slam of Darts – a major tournament in the calendar of the second-most-viewed sport on Sky Sports – SBC News spoke to Marco Trucco, Chief Marketing Officer at Immense Group, to get the inside track on the company’s marketing strategy via the Mr Vegas brand.
This is the third year in which Mr Vegas has been the headline sponsor of the tournament. How important has it become in the Immense Group sponsorship portfolio?
We got into darts before the so-called “Luke Littler effect”. Back then, darts was still considered a minor sport, with a reputational issue and an ageing viewer base. Most tournaments had a betting company as title sponsor, so it was also a highly competitive environment.
But gaming sponsors were mostly using darts to promote sports betting. Few were targeting darts fans with a casino-first offer and using darts to build a strong association. So we decided to take over the Grand Slam of Darts and the Nordic Darts Masters with our Mr Vegas brand, and produce a UK TV ad featuring Luke Humphries.
That became a very effective combination. Darts fans started recognising Mr Vegas as a casino for them. PDC survey data showed that after two years of sponsorship, Mr Vegas had become the second most recognised gaming brand among darts fans.
As you mentioned, we have previously seen Humphries work with Mr Vegas. Is this set to continue with Humphries or any other player? And how does this increase brand recognition?
Yes. We’re taking the same playbook to another country where darts is growing fast. We’re about to sign a player as a Mr Vegas brand ambassador, shoot a TV ad with him, and become the main sponsor of a national darts association across all its events.
Is Mr Vegas set to offer any promotional activities on its sportsbook for customers around the tournament?
As I said, we prefer to focus on our casino offer, so we’re mostly promoting the Mr Vegas Jackpot, where you can win over £4m on any spin for a 10p contribution. Of course, we’ll also offer enhanced odds on the Mr Vegas Grand Slam of Darts.
Gambling operators have been forced into being increasingly selective with their marketing. The exposure from the Grand Slam of Darts, a PDC major tournament, is of serious value for a mid-sized firm like Mr Vegas battling it out against the likes of Entain, Flutter Entertainment and bet365.
Increases in Remote Gaming Duty from 21% to 40% (implemented in April this year) and General Betting Duty from 15% to 25% (to be implemented in April next year) have led to operators employing various mitigation strategies. This has included scaling down of marketing budgets.
But despite marketing budgets becoming slimmer across the board, and plenty of major gambling and sports sponsorships being axed in recent months, Mr Vegas has stood by its sponsorship of the Grand Slam of Darts.
The continuation of this long-standing sponsorship also comes fresh off the back of the brand being the main sponsor of ITV’s Big Brother, which ran from 13 September-5 November, and a front-of-shirt sponsorship deal with EFL League One club, Reading FC.
Why has Mr Vegas chosen to stick with the event ahead of other potential partnerships?
Because it works! The darts audience has a great attitude towards gambling brands, and the PDC is a very efficient partner to work with. Sometimes, in other sports, gambling brands are just tolerated. But with darts, we feel we’re part of the event and the experience.
Where else can you bring an Elvis lookalike on stage to sing “Viva Mr Vegas” and get the whole crowd singing and dancing along?
Your last two major TV sponsorship deals are the darts and Big Brother. Can you reveal details of your marketing strategy, as it seems you are looking to interest two very different audiences?
We need to be efficient with our marketing spend. You can be very picky and idealistic about your marketing strategy, brand positioning and so on, and then pay market price, if not a premium, to get exactly what fits your narrow and consistent vision. Or you can be more of an opportunistic hustler and think price first, strategy later.
I prefer to buy attention from large audiences at a very attractive cost. My objective is to bring Mr Vegas into the consideration set of customers who want to play with a Tier 1 online casino.
This means passing the prompted awareness test of “I’ve seen it somewhere” or “I’ve heard about it somewhere” on a large scale. I’m less interested in overpaying to build a niche, top-of-mind awareness among people who might say, “I identify with their brand values and messages”.
How key is it to have the headline sponsorship of the biggest darts event on Sky before the World Championships at the end of the year?
Peak darts season starts with the Grand Slam of Darts and continues with the World Championship in December, thanks to the combination of the festive season, long nights, pub culture and the heritage of the tournament.
A lot of the World Championship commentary refers back to Grand Slam results and stories, and Sky’s coverage makes good use of Grand Slam imagery. That’s all added value for us.
