1. Introduction

bet365 is the world’s favourite online sports betting brand, and official partner of the FIFA World Cup 2022. UK media agency, Immediate Media partnered with ECAL, to help deliver an exciting new advertising campaign, that would connect with football fans across the globe, for the duration of the FIFA World Cup 2022 tournament in Qatar.

2. Objectives

• Design: Produce compelling ‘don’t miss the action’ creative for bet365 to their brand;
• Distribute: Develop functional ad displays in a range of test formats for desktop and mobile, supported by editorial;
• Connect: Create a live and dynamic connection to the user calendar, to deliver the latest fixture information, and relevant betting promotions;
• Acquire: Capture high value consumer data.

3. Solution

Ad Displays: Functional ad displays were created in various formats incl. skins, MPU and mobile banners;

Distribution: The ad campaign was run across the RadioTimes.com network, supported by editorial links;

Sync to Calendar: Football fans could click to ‘sync’, choosing their preferred tournament fixtures;

Engaging Content: Match details included local TV broadcast details, relevant promos, and direct access to ‘Join Now’, ‘WC Odds’ and ‘Bet Boosts’;

Global Languages: The ECAL pop-up display was available in 30+ languages, with language auto-detection;

Fast, Dynamic Updates: Match updates were instantly delivered into calendar as the tournament progressed, including final scores!

4. First of its kind

This exciting new ‘Sync to Calendar’ premium ad display is media first, and proved successful in reaching expected industry standard benchmarks, with the added value of a continuous engagement with fans across the FIFA World Cup campaign. This type of campaign lends itself to many varied use cases including major events, festivals, movie releases, game releases, retail offers, TV and streaming programming, and lots more. Stay tuned!

5. Outcomes

• Clicks on the bet365 adverts averaged 0.25% across a wide suite of test formats, hitting the industry display benchmark;
• 16% of all users who clicked on the advert successfully proceeded to complete the ‘sync to calendar’ journey to add content to their personal calendar;
• Direct action links in the calendar entries achieved a CTR benchmark of 1.0%