STS "I KNEW IT!"

TitleSTS "I KNEW IT!"
BrandSTS – BETING COMPANY
Product/ServiceSTS – BETING COMPANY
Category A01. Data & Analytics & Insight
Entrant STS CENTRALA Katowice, POLAND
Idea Creation PRZESTRZEN Warsaw, POLAND
Credits
Name Company Position
Mateusz Ciećwierski Przestrzen Head of Client Service
Paweł Jasiński Przestrzen Marketing Strategist
Maciej Kelm Przestrzen Creative
Marcin Muth Przestrzen Creative

Why is this work relevant for Creative Strategy?

Killer, universal insight derived from a simple truth, which drove the creative idea from the core to every single piece of the execution and enabled us to successfully overcome consumer barriers.

Background

The sports betting market in Poland is divided by two key players. STS is a category leader with ~45.4% MS. Closest competitor, Fortuna: ~31,3% MS. The rest: heavily fragmented, single-digit MS per player. In 2018 STS recorded less app registrations than year before despite increased media spend. The brief was to stop reverse negative trend by repositioning campaign based on the new "realize your potential" positioning, which focuses on emphasizing players' knowledge and competences as keys to win. It was an effort to differentiate from the category discourse based on luck and thrill of betting + open up for a wider TG. The research has identified 2 key entry barriers for sports betting: 1. Gambling associations - really a "bad press", because of multiple gambling scandals in Poland including politicians and taxation avoidances. 2. Perception of an expert's domain - too hard for normal people, only for skilled analysts.

Interpretation (30% of vote)

Business challenge: target group widening, which meant recruitment of non-betting sport fans to the category. Marketing challenge: category’s negative perception and misconceptions about sports betting. To overcome 2 key consumer entry barriers, reduce the perceived risk of investment and implement the new positioning we had create a following perceptions: 1. Betting it’s not gambling – because knowledge, not luck increases your chances. 2. You are competent enough to bet and win. The real challenge for strategy was to address the second barrier and make people believe in their competences to win. Desired outcome: an increase in registrations proportional to media budget increase (+42% OCT, +51% NOV, +53% DEC) vs year before.

Insight / Breakthrough Thinking (30% of vote)

Insight's origins are rooted in the Client's consumer research, but the observation came through a few interviews, empathizing with TG and our own experiences. The essential truth that we've discovered was that people think they don't have enough skills to bet and win because there is no external confirmation of their competences (you can't get a diploma or become a licensed pro in betting). It led us to the insight: Their competencies were actually verified multiple times in the past. They did that. Every time anyone interested in sports watches the game, they bet in their minds anyway: Who will win? Which player will score? Even though they don't bet in reality, the bet resolution occurs either they were right or wrong… At some point, every sports fan said: "I knew it!" and won the bet made in their minds – they just didn't put any money on it.

Creative Idea (20% of vote)

The idea was named "I knew it!", which is the usual shout if one's right about something, especially in sports. It's built directly on an insight that your competences' confirmation took place multiple times in the past if you're a sports fan, so you have sufficient knowledge to bet and win. We also wanted to create a perception that people could win multiple times in the past if they just made a real bet (use of loss aversion cognitive bias). The execution was made up of various scenes with people "knewing it" during plays and the few people who not only knew it – but also put some money on their bet and won. The campaign tagline became "You're ready to bet - you already know it".

Outcome / Results (20% of vote)

The campaign delivered exceptional results overtaking ours and Client’s expectations, making Q42019 the most successful STS quarter in terms of new registrations. 1. +123% new registrations increase in OCT’19 vs OCT’18 (KPI: +42% - media spending increase value). 81 more Percentage Points vs KPI. 2. +173% new registrations increase in NOV’19 vs NOV’18 (KPI: +51% - media spending increase value). 122 more Percentage Points vs KPI. 3. +188% new registrations increase in DEC’19 vs DEC’18 (KPI: +53% - media spending increase value). 135 more Percentage Points vs KPI.