Activity is built around 888sport’s sponsorship of ESI Media’s coverage of UEFA Euro 2016 matches to put the brand at the centre of football conversations during the tournament. The deal was developed and negotiated direct by Steve Cording, Sponsorship Manager at ESI Media and Jamie Rosen, Group Marketing Director at 888sport.
The campaign activity combines high-impact sponsor branding and contextual content integration across ESI Media’s print and digital published content products. 888sport.com’s logo will feature across all Euros’ coverage, with Betting Balls, a new micro format integrated into match preview editorial, offering readers 888sport.com odds for the featured fixtures. An 888sport footballing legend brand ambassador will feature as a tournament columnist offering additional editorial comment. The sponsorship will also include 888sport premium advertising formats around all England preview coverage and sponsored football channels at both standard.co.uk and independent.co.uk.
ESI Media’s street assets will be utilised to give 888sport’s Treble Your Odds proposition high visibility in London with co-branding on vans and a specially designed 888sport and Evening Standard t-shirt to be worn by vendors throughout the partnership. Vendors will also be handing out 888sport and Evening Standard wall charts with the paper the week before the tournament kicks off.
Dominic de Terville, Head of Sponsorship & Events, ESI Media, said: “888sport are the perfect partner and have embraced ESI Media’s quality sports coverage, working with us to develop a partnership that enhances coverage further for our highly engaged audience of sports fanatics for whom betting is a key part of the tournament experience. The timings of the matches and the distribution of our afternoon edition of the Evening Standard, as well as the continuous delivery of content from The Independent, makes us uniquely positioned to generate momentum for upcoming games that day among commuters.”
Itai Pazner, SVP B2C 888.com said: “ESI Media offered an ideal platform to help deliver our Euro 2016 strategy. At 888sport we want to be able to engage with an audience as they are travelling home after work and thinking about the matches taking place in France that evening. Having access to such strong brands as the Evening Standard and The Independent gives us flexibility and will allow us to target a specific betting audience in a crowded marketplace.”
888sport.com has previously partnered with ESI Media’s sports coverage throughout the year, including the Evening Standard’s betting column every Friday during the 2015-16 football season.
