Behind the scenes with Parimatch at Conor McGregor’s press tour
The Cyprus-headquartered betting operator lifts the lid on the Irish MMA star’s October visit to Ukraine
UFС fighter and Parimatch brand ambassador Conor McGregor visited the CIS region for a joint press tour with Parimatch Holding in October 2019.
A month after McGregor’s first trip to the Ukraine, Parimatch unveiled its new advertising campaign featuring the MMA star. Filmed in Dublin and Kyiv, the campaign titled ‘a new epic story’ features 15 action shots of Conor, which can be seen on billboards across the CIS region.
Below we catch up with Tamara Babits, deputy CMO at Parimatch, who headed up the team that organised McGregor’s recent visit to the CIS region.
The famous electric yellow of Parimatch looking amazing on the Octagon walls and canvas at UFC Russia. @ParimatchGlobal
— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) November 9, 2019
EGR Marketing: What was the aim of a joint press tour with Conor?
Tamara Babits (TB): Our main goal was to generate excitement and interest in the Parimatch brand by highlighting the strength of our partnership with Conor. By creating hype, and giving journalists access to a superstar like Conor, we were able to reach entirely new audiences who may have never heard of Parimatch – and give a real boost to our brand awareness.
https://youtu.be/3srEI2Ehuxs
EGR Marketing: What were the challenges of arranging a tour for an international superstar?
TB: We carefully prepared for the arrival of Conor, but you can’t control everything – especially the weather! We were confronted not only by extreme weather conditions, but the migration service and an army of fans. Due to heavy fog in Kyiv, Conor’s plane could not land and the press conference was significantly delayed – and in order to obtain a visa for Moscow, we had to reissue Conor’s passport in two days.
The main thing is to stay calm and have a pragmatic approach. You should always be prepared with a back-up plan – although a magic wand would be nice.
EGR Marketing: Were there any funny stories from Conor’s tour?
TB: We were thinking of arranging a stunt involving Conor lookalikes in the city, in order to further boost public interest in the visit. Later we abandoned this idea, but Conor’s doubles co-ordinated their own appearance, which generated hype among the public and media alike.
Tamara Babits, Parimatch
EGR Marketing: What was your reaction to some of the negative media articles or social media comments about the new advert?
TB: Due to the high volume of adverts and the cluttered media space, only the extraordinary and unexpected can really achieve cut-through with consumers. We wanted to create an advert that would help to raise the profile of our brand and resonate with our existing and potential new customers.
A universally safe and boring advert was never going to be successful in achieving this. There had to be an element of risk to it, to generate a reaction and conversation around the content. Anyone who knows the Parimatch brand would expect nothing less. The overwhelming feedback we have received in the markets we operate has been extremely positive. These international articles, based on only a few tweets, have been a great help though in driving even more views to it.
EGR Marketing: How does Parimatch choose its brand ambassadors?
TB: The choice of brand ambassadors should always be aligned with strategy and brand positioning. Parimatch is dynamic, courageous and international. We consider potential ambassadors by assessing their levels of recognition in the countries we operate in, how well they resonate with the spirit of the company and the influence and scale of their fan community. We are also very mindful of the preferences of our own audience.
In 2018, Conor and Habib created a lot of hype around their fight. We already had our partnership in place with the UFC and were actively looking for an ambassador. Since February 2019, we have been working with Conor. Conor was the face of our new branding, announced at the same time as the ambassador deal. We are unique in the CIS betting market in this way – with a history and strong heritage going back 25 years, we still dared to radically change.
EGR Marketing: How do brand ambassadors’ actions affect the company’s image?
TB: Companies choose ambassadors for their image, style and influence – and Conor’s attitude reflects our own. We chose Conor for his boldness so we are much more flexible than other brands might be. Obviously we have our own brand guidelines and boundaries in place, which we proactively communicate to all of our ambassadors.
EGR Marketing: What effect has your partnership with Conor had on the business?
TB: We’ve really seen an increase in recognition and interest in Parimatch since Conor’s tour of the CIS countries, and his announcement on returning to the octagon certainly helped. It’s a win-win collaboration, and this is backed up by a study we’ve conducted which assesses the results of our marketing activities and communications around the partnership.
EGR Marketing: Who is the next brand ambassador going to be?
TB: We will continue to build brand loyalty by choosing bold characters and influential voices to be our ambassadors. We regularly analyse the preferences of our customers and keep them on our radar. I won’t reveal the secret, but we are currently in negotiations with Hollywood.