SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Betsson has strengthened its brand visibility and marketing initiatives in the Nordic countries, striking a partnership with Norwegian Toppserien women’s football club Avaldsnes IL.
Part of a wider international marketing strategy, Betsson’s new status as the main sponsor of Avaldsnes will grant the firm greater brand exposure via kit advertising in all matches played outside of Norway.
For domestic fixtures, Betsson has turned away kit marketing opportunities, instead focusing on promoting the top-flight team’s ‘#EqualOpportunites’ campaign, representing a coinciding expansion of the operator’s social responsibility initiatives.
The operator clarified its diversity strategy, stating that it is ‘further strengthening its female profile by becoming main sponsors of Avaldsnes IL’.
Ronni Hartvig, Chief Commercial Officer at Betsson Group, said, “At Betsson, we believe in diversity as a key innovation factor in all areas, including sports. We are happy to witness more interest in women’s football and we want to be part of that drive.
“We also believe that our brand will get valuable worldwide exposure in future Champions League matches. This is a strategic agreement that we are confident will benefit both parties in the years to come.”
Avaldsnes has performed strongly in European competitions in recent years, allowing Betsson to benefit from international exposure as well as domestic, whilst the agreement will also see the NASDAQ Stockholm-registered company provide financial support to its new partner’s Champions League campaigns.
Stian Staveland Nygaard, General Manager of Avaldsnes Elite, stated that the deal with Betsson will play a key role in assisting the club with achieving both its commercial and sporting goals.
“Running a top club aspiring to win the league and to play in the Champions League is expensive,” he remarked. “In order to fulfil our ambitions, we depend on strong sponsors backing us, and we are very happy that we landed this agreement with Betsson.
“It is our biggest sponsorship deal of all time and provides stability in these challenging times. The sponsorship market has changed during this last year, and we have had to think differently. Having Betsson as a partner believing in our project allows us to invest, instead of having to lower our ambitions, which would have been the sad alternative.”
Hartvig added: “While we are waiting for Norway to introduce a licensing system that allows us to further invest on Norwegian soil, ‘#EqualOpportunities’ is a great message that we want to support.
“For us, ‘#EqualOpportunities’ also has another connotation as it’s in line with our work for Norway to follow most of Europe by offering us an equal opportunity by introducing a licensing system.”
Betsson also recently became the first official betting partner of ‘La Roja’ – the Chilean national football team – whilst also maintaining partnerships with boxers Katharina Thanderz and Cecillia Brækhus.
Publishing its Q1 2021 trading report, the firm revealed that it had ‘broadly achieved’ its corporate objectives, reporting a total revenue increase of 12% to SEK1,592.8 million.
