Who: theScore Bet, with Diamond for creative and strategy, Radke for production (directed by The Director Brothers), post-production by Saints Editorial, Darling and Alter Ego Post, with OSO for sound and Initiative for media.
What: A campaign for the fall (ie. the return of NFL, NHL and NBA) that highlights theScore’s offering of sports content and a sports betting app.
When & Where: The campaign launched this week in Ontario and will run through the fall on TV, digital / social and out-of-home.
Why: Unlike some of the other brands and apps in the crowded sports betting space, theScore has deep roots in Canada as a pioneer in sports content, first on TV and later as a popular app offering sports scores and stats.
Scores and stats are, of course, critical to those betting on sports, so theScore is reminding the market it provides both in an integrated fashion.
It is a “completely synced up media and betting experience,” said Aubrey Levy, theScore’s senior vice-president of content and marketing, in a release.
“Our view is that when media is integrated with betting the right way, it provides for an enhanced and improved user experience.”
How: theScore and Diamond retained the look and feel of the creative it’s used since last year’s launch—friends in a sports bar talking about their bets before someone magically steps through a theScore portal to provide help.
In the new campaign the help comes from two “intertwined characters personifying theScore and theScore Bet.”
Their help is comedically juxtaposed with an old-school bookmaker character who can’t provide anything close to the useful advice and assistance of theScore. “I got a great line on some professional cornhole,” he says in one spot. (Which, to be fair, is a thing.)
“Using familiar creative elements, these spots highlight how our products bring media and betting together in one intelligent ecosystem, ultimately differentiating us from other offerings,” said Levy.
There is however, one big difference from earlier work…
No celebrities: Earlier campaigns featured some recognizable comedic actors like Curb Your Enthusiasm star Susie Essman and Canadian comedian Gerry Dee, as well as SNL alum Jon Lovitz.
But the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario recently announced that starting in the new year, gaming and betting marketers will not be able to use celebrities in any of their advertising.
Levy said that while they suspected changes could be coming, that is not why they opted for this different approach. “Celebrity has never been a prerequisite in our campaign ideation,” he said. “When we’ve used talent previously, it was always in support of the campaign message, rather than the primary focal point. So, as we decided to focus this campaign more on a comparison of our differentiated value proposition vs the category, creatively celebrity didn’t fit as well to support the strategy.”
And we quote: “With theScore Bet plus theScore’s in-depth sports data and analysis, making informed bets is a streamlined experience. As a key differentiated offering in the category, it was time to make that clear.”—Jordan Cohen, creative director, Diamond.
