Q&A: Betsson Group on the power of its record front-of-shirt deal with Inter Milan

Earlier this week, Betsson revealed a new company record, four-year front-of-shirt sponsorship deal with Italian giants Inter Milan.

The partnership, which will see its Betsson.sport infotainment brand take the spot on the Serie A champions’ jerseys, is part of the group’s commitment to expanding in Italy.

With a long-standing casino presence in the country with StarCasinò, the group launched its flagship Betsson sports betting brand in March.

The operator has tied up smaller commercial deals for its Betsson.sport brand with fellow Serie A sides Napoli and Torino. The Inter partnership represents the largest and most ambitious sponsorship deal in the firm’s history.

Here, Betsson Group CEO Jesper Svensson shares with EGR the details of the deal and explains how important sponsorship remains to the firm as a means of driving market share upwards.

EGR: How are you feeling after finally getting this deal over the line?

Jesper Svensson (JS): I feel great. This is a massive deal and it’s also a massive deal for Inter. So, with that comes a lot of excitement, a lot of responsibility. We believe strongly in Italy as a market and I think we have the strongest asset on the Italian market by partnering up with Inter. They have never been in a better position. 

Next season, they will have two stars on their shirt [after winning their 20^th Serie A title]. It is great timing for us because this means they will sell a lot more shirts than before. Everyone is looking forward to buying the new shirt. That’s really good timing. But regardless of that, it’s a long-term partnership and we believe we have a long-term opportunity on the Italian market.

EGR: Was Inter always your top target as a sponsorship opportunity when deciding to use this bucket of marketing capital?

JS: Yes, it was. We look at the markets we have an ambition in. We were looking at Italy more than any other market – itis one of our key markets. We recently launched Betsson in Italy. So, we have a long history in the Italian market from the casino side with StarCasinò.

We believe in the Italian market. But what is particularly good with Inter is that they have a great reach globally, particularly in Latin America. Inter is a big club outside of Europe and it’s a very big club in countries like Argentina, Brazil, Chile and so forth. It also gives us really good exposure in Latin America.

EGR: Betsson and Inter both said this deal is the largest of this kind in their respective histories. Can you shed any further light on this?

JS: Given it is a long-term partnership, it is a high number. We are not announcing, together with Inter, the exact number. It is a good number for both companies. I would say there is a market rate for clubs of this magnitude and that’s all I can say at this point.

EGR: What other activations will take place during the four-year partnership aside from the front-of-shirt sponsorship?

JS: There will be a lot of both investment and activities going into this sponsorship, starting with staffing up internally to make sure we have enough people who are able to work with this and maximise everything you get out of this deal. 

For us, being a digital company, we also bring that to Inter in regard on how to work with content, how to maximise that, how to spread it and so forth. There will be a lot of initiatives happening on the digital side of things, where we will jointly push the brand.

EGR: What have the smaller commercial deals you have done with Napoli and Torino taught you about how to approach the Inter partnership?

JS: I think the learning is that we have been able to work within this area before successfully. It has helped us to drive growth. We’re feeling comfortable to scale up now and the expertise we have in this space is something that will really help us with the new partnership.

So instead of starting from scratch, we are starting at a high level. We know how to work with the clubs, how to utilise what we get through those deals and push it out to the maximum.

EGR: Have you got any ROI models in place for what you expect the partnership to generate for the business?

JS: Without an ROI, we wouldn’t do any of those. Today it’s possible to calculate an expected outcome of ROI in regard to the exposure you are getting. Then there are models available for those things that both us and Inter are highly aware about.

From that point of view, you can calculate relatively well. It will never be 100%, but it will help you understand, from a media perspective, how much quality exposure you get, which is key.

There is exposure and then there is quality exposure, which is actually the real visibility in this area. It has to be relevant in the media, so to say, in the countries where you have an ambition and a licence. 

So that for us, strategically, comes down to us selecting sponsorships in markets that are important for us, where we believe there is a great opportunity over time for us as a business.

Italy is a prime example of that. Argentina is another, where we sponsor Boca Juniors and Racing, and then Colombia, where we sponsor Atlético Nacional.

EGR: When operators are looking to strengthen or expand in markets, is sponsorship still the key tool in the arsenal?

JS: It helps a lot. For a business like ours, where sport is what we work with, to get your brand in the markets, sponsorship is a strong vehicle for that. They are other ways, of course, but this is one of the tools in the toolbox that seems to have the strongest exposure. It depends market by market but, in general, there is obviously a reason why many companies decide to sponsor clubs, particularly when entering a market.