The Question…
How do you launch an entirely new way to bet in a market that isn’t used to innovation?
What we did…
Betfair wasn’t just a new betting brand – it was a new way of thinking about betting. That’s why the key to launching this revolutionary idea to a cautious betting community was education.
Betfair’s betting exchange model allowed customers to bet at odds set by other customers, rather than by a bookmaker with ‘back’ (normal bets on a selection to win) and ‘lay’ (the opposite side of the Back – against the selection) bets against each other. What this means to a customer is that the odds available are 15% better than those offered by a fixed-odds bookmaker.
This kind of radical concept needed an identity to match and we created a strong, standout logo which visually nodded towards the ‘back and lay’ concept with the use of opposing arrows to signal the two-way nature of the betting model.
The next, and perhaps most crucial, challenge was to create a simple to use interface design so that customers could quickly become familiar with the ‘back and lay’ structure.
Finally, we introduced the ‘Sharp Minds betfair’ concept. The thinking behind this campaign was to draw the analogy of regular betting being draughts and betfair being chess; chess may take a little longer to learn, but ultimately the results are far more rewarding. We rolled this concept out across all their advertising both on and offline.
Once the brand was firmly established in the marketplace, we created a huge array of marketing activity across a wide range of media – from Fulham FC shirt sponsorship to advertising campaigns and brochures and even developed an interactive poker tool to help beginners learn about the various hands and plays.
What happened…
Betfair quickly became established in the marketplace, and are now not only the largest online betting company in the UK but the largest betting exchange in the world, with over 2 million customers.
What was next…
Ten years on and they still use the logo we created and the interface has become the benchmark for exchange betting worldwide. They have recently refreshed their brand look, but their logo still remains the same. And they’re even still using our poker tool to help educate new customers.
