The 2017/18 Champions League final was set to be all about CR7. In what turned out to be Cristiano’s final match as Real Madrid’s talisman the world’s attention was on whether he could steal the limelight in yet another major final.

But BetStars decided to champion what we felt was the best number 7 heading to Kiev.

 

Forget CR7, it’s all about JM7.

 

Our tongue-in-cheek campaign for Liverpool v Real Madrid saw us experiment with a new tone of voice for the first time by producing a cheeky brand launch video with an unexpected twist when our audience realise we’re talking about James Milner – and not Cristiano Ronaldo.

 

Like Milner himself, to be successful we needed a combination of hard work and inspiring team-mates who have bags of flair…

 

JM7 was created and then developed during an internal brainstorm with a team of young and creative sportsbook marketing team members. (Our own answer to Salah, Firmino and Mane…)

 

It was produced and then went live inside 2 weeks. It was a creative and logistical challenge for everyone involved but one the team relished as we helped create a buzz around the Champions League final.

 

It was championed at board level and we worked closely with CRM, our paid social team, our content site as well as trading, who created bespoke JM7 offers and promotions.

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We also worked with PR partners Pitch and a social amplification agency to push the video via Liverpool and sports influencers and created a string of social media funny shorts for matchday.

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And, like a James Milner penalty, it certainly hit the target. 

 

JM7 Statistics:

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• Over 2.24m video views from a reach of 4.27m.

 

• That total reach was 560,000 more than our pre-launch estimations, which reinforces just its cultural relevancy and shareable nature.

 

• On BetStars’ Facebook page people were quick to share or tag their friends with 1,800 shares, 2900 comments and 3000 likes on the video.

 

• Our organic Facebook reach was 15%, a 2.5% increase on campaign averages.

 

• Our organic Twitter reach was 16%, a 3% increase on campaign averages.