Betfair And SnapChat In Gambling Deal
Thursday February 20,2014 : BETFAIR CLAIMS AN ONLINE GAMBLING COUP WITH SNAPCHAT
UK online gambling group will use photo-messaging app to serve exclusive football odds to smartphone users.
The publication MarketingWeek reports that UK online gambling group Betfair has scored a first-to-market coup with the imminent introduction of the photo-messaging app Snapchat, and is to use the technology to serve exclusive football odds to smartphone users.
The new service will debut Saturday 22 February, when Betfair will push odds for the Chelsea v Everton and Crystal Palace v Manchester United Premier League fixtures, targeting mainly the social media channel.
The SnapChat campaign will encourage punters to follow the “Betfairofficial” Snapchat profile. Rather than the current odds of 6/4, users will be able to place a maximum GBP 10 bet on enhanced doubles odds, following a similar promotional template the brand used when it first began offering exclusive odds via its Twitter profile.
Betfair says the trial is for this weekend’s matches only but promises that the company will look to extend the service if it proves successful.
Betfair brand manager Mark Ody told MarketingWeek: “Snapchat is a relatively new, yet rapidly growing social media platform, which I’m certain will play a huge role in the marketing mix of companies going forward. To be one of the first brands, and the first betting company, to make use of the platform is very exciting. It has huge potential for us as a business.”
The gambling firm, which has placed mobile at the core of its off-line marketing activity though apps and social media, has also been experimenting with other emerging channels such as Vine.
In other industries, Unilever’s Lynx brand became one of the first to use the SnapChat app last summer, and has since ramped up efforts to push its advertising offering with the appointment of former Instagram commercial chief Emily White.
SnapChat recently spurned a reported $3 billion offer from Facebook.
