Despite the "local difficulties" facing online poker brands in the US, you can't fail to notice the proliferation of poker brands in sports across Europe.
In 2005, gambling brand owners appeared in the top 10 list of sponsoring industries for the first time and according to The World Sponsorship Monitor, internet gaming groups are the fastest-growing sponsors of sport with deals worth almost 拢300m signed in the first half of 2006 alone.
With so much money to be made, it isn't difficult to see why poker brands have been on a spending spree in desperation of getting brand recognition with a predominately male -- but also growing female -- audience.
The world's leading online poker brand, PartyPoker.com, is reported to spend a cool $100m a year on marketing globally. It uses a combination of above-the-line advertising (for example, TV ads on CNBC), sponsorship of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) and advertiser funded programming of poker shows in US, UK, Australia and other territories.
Other sponsorship activities include a televised poker tournament in London in April 2006 of professional poker players and football players in the Football & Legends Cup. And it also offers the biggest money prizes (Monster Jackpot) to attract/retain regular poker players.
However, some of its key competitors have written big cheques to Premiership football clubs. Aston Villa and 32 Red, Blackburn Rovers and bet24.com, Spurs and Mansion, and Middlesbrough and 888.com are just a handful of mega shirt sponsorship deals in the last 24 months.
However, such a tactical approach to sports sponsorship at any cost masks a more serious problem for these emerging poker brands.
Research by Prism suggests that the quality of interaction with the audience has been sacrificed for audience reach -- although this tactic is likely to work less well in the medium/long term where brand building will need to be more focused and carefully managed than it has at present.
With consolidation of poker brands around the corner, reaching audiences in a more accurate, engaging and less wasteful way will become increasingly important as the stakes are raised.
Sports sponsorship, if used more strategically, can deliver a number of benefits:
- It can help build a 'trust platform' that will provide a strong foundation for brand communication and marketing of poker brands to poker and non-poker playing audiences.
- As the chart illustrates, poker brands are currently failing to achieve brand differentiation as a result of 'logo slapping' which has resulted in sponsorship clutter.
- Where new properties are created, there tends to be more audience reach and engagement and this works best when dovetailed with the customer experience.
- Moves towards TV rights ownership could become a key point of differentiation in terms of distribution as well as using content in order to engage with audiences.
Those poker brand owners that raise their game and take a more calculated approach to sports sponsorship will win.
Those that don't take this route will find themselves with no chips to spare next time round when it comes to renewing their sponsorship investments.
Ardi Kolah is chief strategy officer UK at Prism and author of 'Sponsorship: Strategies for Maximising the Return on Investment', published by SportBusiness. He can be reached on 01483 441 008 or by email akolah@prismteam.com.
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