The goal for any Super Bowl ad this week is for consumers to take action after seeing their campaign instead of just watching.
For Fanatics Sportsbook, that has been the case even before kickoff after a viral Kendall Jenner ad that invoked the “Kardashian Kurse,” the long-running internet joke that any basketball player who gets close to the world-famous sisters becomes subject to.
Fanatics Betting & Gaming CEO Matt King said the ad has “exceeded our expectations,” and the digital sports giant is already seeing it paying dividends.
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“We’ve seen a big spike in downloads, and we’re seeing that accelerate as we get closer to the game,” King said in a recent interview.
It was Jenner’s first-ever Super Bowl ad, and it sparked talk between football fans and casual “Big Game” watchers. Jenner even went on “The Tonight Show,” where she told Jimmy Fallon she would be backing the New England Patriots with a whopping $1 million bet.
If that wasn’t enough, one of her ex-boyfriends “affected” by the “Kardashian Kurse,” Phoenix Suns star Devin Booker, added to the viral aspect of the campaign with some Instagram back-and-forth with Jenner.
KENDALL JENNER TURNS ‘KARDASHIAN KURSE’ INTO SUPER BOWL LX BETTING STRATEGY FOR FANATICS SPORTSBOOK
It’s been a dream campaign for the brand, but one that King says is a tribute to everything Fanatics tries to do with every part of its vast sports and culture ecosystem.
“From day one, we were excited to partner with an icon like Kendall Jenner and, obviously, in today’s marketing world, doing something that kind of blends the social environment with the traditional media environment is truly a unique opportunity, but that’s the way you’re going to get maximum impact,” he explained.
“Dropping it on social and just seeing, frankly, the momentum and life it took on for itself was truly incredible. It’s the definition of going viral. You’re not the first person to tell me their wife or partner told them about the ad, which we absolutely love.
“So, really what it’s about is great creative execution with a great talent and dropped the right way that it took on the life of its own.”
King added that most of the action so far has been on the Seattle Seahawks, meaning the public on Fanatics Sportsbook is fading, or going against, Jenner’s pick of the Patriots. That could change, though.
“We’re nowhere close to kickoff, so we have a lot more action to come in,” King said.
The Super Bowl is one of the most watched sporting events in the world every year, and with the legalization of sports gambling, the casual fan may try to place a bet. Whether it’s going with or against Jenner, guessing the correct Gatorade color poured on the winning coach or using Fanatics Markets, the company’s platform in the rapidly growing prediction market space, King emphasized the availability of responsible gaming tools.
“Responsible gaming obviously is important to us every day,” he said. “It is something where we want to put our tools, like deposit limits, front and center for everybody. When you get a lot of new users into the platform, a core part of our what we call our early-life journey for all users is to educate them about the tools that exist. The same will be true on Super Bowl Sunday for all new users to make them understand the tools are there in our experience with us and allow them to set limits if they want to.”
The Super Bowl ad campaign for Fanatics Sportbook with the Super Bowl on Sunday in Santa Clara completes a successful NFL season for the brand, which continues to find creative ways to break into a highly competitive industry.
“From our perspective, from the day we started this business, it was all about how we build a proposition that’s the best in the market,” King said. “We want consumers to kind of look at everything we offer together and say, “Fanatics is the best in the market.’
“We think, this football season, we really helped demonstrate we’re the best in the market, whether that’s the up to 10% FanCash you can earn, the Fair Play, the customer feedback on Fair Play has been truly incredible. If you look at social and the moments it happens, it’s a real differentiator.
“Candidly, our biggest challenge is really about awareness. So, our approach to growing the business is how do we focus on just raising awareness for all the things we can offer fans and have them recognize there is an alternative in the market that is superior? A lot of our work — you can see it in the Super Bowl campaign — is how we build awareness for the brand.”
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