John Donovan, Founder and CEO of Because We Can Media, spoke with SBC Americas this week about the importance of partnerships, branding and maximizing opportunities in the rapidly growing US sports betting market.
Can you give us a bit of background on your company?
Because We Can Media is the go-to marketing expert for the gambling and esports industry. We look after the advertising needs for major sportsbooks, casinos, gambling and esports brands globally, utilizing our own in-house proprietary tech, programmatic solutions, rates and ad formats with some of the biggest sports and gaming sites including ESPN, FOX, and CBS Sports. We help our clients to get in front of their core audiences throughout the US, Europe, Canada, Africa and other international markets.
Because We Can Media has been recognized as one of the top 10 fastest growing digital marketing agencies of 2020. We manage full campaign yields and give our clients the ROI that they deserve and require in this competitive marketplace.
How important are your partnerships with major publishers and first party data providers?
Our partnerships are the backbone of our business. It is no longer a challenge to ‘plug in’ to various networks, however BWCM has made a conscious effort to partner and work with some of the best and brightest within our field.
Only recently, we have partnered with Crimtan Mobile and The Writers Group, who both bring an additional dimension to our offering. Having these agreements in place means we can go above and beyond for our clients and deliver against what we stand for.
Our primary goal is to deliver actionable metrics not just meaningless numbers. We truly believe in being revolutionary in our approach and this is what has led us to being in the position we are today as one of the very few, trusted marketing agencies for the gambling and esports industry.
Why should a betting, gaming or esports brand choose you to get in front of their core audiences, particularly in the US and Canada?
I always break my reasons down into three parts when asked this question, particularly when speaking to a potential new client.
- We have a direct integration with circa 20 of the biggest global sports, gaming and lifestyle publishers. This allows us preferential rates as well as exclusive ad formats and placement. It also provides us with pre-insight of their content. This is beneficial as it allows us to strategically place adverts alongside relevant articles to ensure the maximum amount of visibility within the target market and ensuring a more organic feel which gives better ROI.
- We have our own programmatic solution and are ‘plugged in’ to most of the major DSPs within Google etc. This gives us the targeting and scale we need to run any campaign, in any location, at any time.
- We have our own, in-house proprietary tech which allows us to analyse current trends and build engaging creative, as well as providing us access to first-party mobile data in real time (and much more).
These three main elements, although only scratching the surface of what we can do, give a good idea of how we approach each and every campaign; by bringing both our solutions and partners together, to always drive and deliver a better ROI for our clients.
What different challenges do you associate with working in the US, Canada and other international markets?
There are many variables to consider when working within different countries. Most of all, it is important to have a thorough understanding of the culture of the end-user. As a marketing agency for gambling and esports brands, we do deliver brand exposure campaigns but for most of our clients, it’s almost always about the ROI.
As a result, we have developed and refined our approach; building a substantial knowledge base of what strategies do work and what strategies do not across most international territories.
This research and refinement process has taken many years, but we believe in doing things right and doing them well. That’s something we have made sure of and have cut no corners during this process over the last few years.
How do you assess the state of legislation in the US? Where specifically are the opportunities for BWCM?
I love speaking with people that are not familiar with the gambling industry, particularly within the US market. There are so many people who are unaware that gambling using online betting was illegal a few years ago.
The main opportunity for BWCM is working alongside exciting new brands that are jumping on the bandwagon within the US. As America starts to understand the gambling space more and begins to embrace it, I feel as a brand we are perfectly placed to help both small and large gambling businesses position themselves in the market and aid with growth, exposure and market share.
The industry is NOT going away and will only get bigger. For me, I see the legalization of more states continuing and not slowing down for at least another two to three years or more.
What are your key company goals for the rest of 2020?
We have been working really hard on both our branding, exposure and of course our partnerships and feel we are in a great place right now. The goal for the rest of 2020 is to continue to grow and support both our current clients and also new ones.
I feel there is more to explore within the esports industry, and we will be looking very closely at the Asian market to see how we can assist and develop strong partnerships within these territories, whilst still dominating the rest of the international markets.
2020 has been hard for everyone, but as a team we have stood strong in our approach during this time and feel we have come out the other side stronger, more determined and hungry to keep doing what we do best for us and our clients.