Let’s be honest, sports betting ads haven’t exactly been rewriting the rules of creativity. Same old tropes, same old big promises, same old bloke shouting at you about odds. It’s wallpaper, and in a world where every brand is screaming for attention, wallpaper gets ignored.
That’s why we leaned into AI for SBK’s new ‘Betting Without the Bullshit’ campaign. Not as a gimmick. Not to tick a “we tried AI” box. But because it allowed us to do what the betting industry desperately needs: move faster, cut through harder and say something different.
AI isn’t coming for creatives’ jobs, despite what the scaremongerers would have you believe. It’s coming for the lazy thinking, the bloated timelines and the safe clichés that have bogged our industry down for the last quarter of a century, at least.
What we’ve discovered is that AI actually multiplies creativity when used properly. Where a team might traditionally explore just a handful of routes, we can now blast through 50 different ideas before lunch. Some are rubbish, sure. But hidden in the noise are sparks we’d never have found otherwise.
The technology is collaborative and lets you transition from brief to fully finished campaign in just a few short weeks. AI gives us speed, but more importantly, it provides freedom. You can now build visual worlds, test tones and play with executions that would’ve been impossible on the budget and timeline of a traditional shoot.
Obviously, a world-class creative still needs human judgement at every step, as someone has to spot the gold from the garbage, shape it, polish it and make it sing. That’s the skillset of the creative, and it’s not going away anytime soon.
AI contributes positively by taking the grunt work out of the process. It lets you focus on the taste, the storytelling, the bravery – the reasons we get out of bed in the morning. And that’s what this industry desperately needs. Because, if you line up the average betting ads right now, most punters couldn’t tell one brand from another. They all blur together into a fog of banter, bells and “best odds guaranteed”.
And here’s the uncomfortable truth: too many industry CMOs are happy to play it safe, hiding behind formulaic creative because it feels comfortable. The end result? More of the same outdated wallpaper. Campaigns that serve procurement and PowerPoint more than punters.
Playing safe might protect your job in the short term, but it does nothing for your brand in the long run. In a market this competitive, sameness isn’t safety, it’s a slow and painful death.
Betting brands can stand apart by stripping everything back. No gimmicks. No bullshit. Just a clear promise delivered in a way the category has never seen before. That’s the future for sportsbooks that want to survive in an AI-accelerated world: be sharper, be braver, be faster.
Of course, there are challenges. Yes, the tech can misfire. Yes, you have to think hard about ethics and authenticity. But ignoring AI because it feels scary is like ignoring the internet because it was full of dodgy chatrooms in the 90s. You don’t sit it out – you figure it out.
In two or three years, AI-assisted campaigns will be the norm. But first-mover advantage is happening now. Operators who embrace it today will shape the conversation, win the credibility and reap the rewards.
Successful companies are where they are because they often lean into change, long before the rest of the pack. AI is just the next chapter. And if it helps us to help bookmakers cut through the noise and kill the clichés, then bring it on!
Ken Robertson, CEO of creative agency The Tenth Man, is widely regarded as a pioneer of the modern sports betting industry. As Paddy Power’s original ‘Head of Mischief’, he redefined how bookmakers engaged with culture, credited with creating the iconic Paddy Power brand and delivering headline-grabbing stunts that set the industry standard.
The post Betting without the bullshit: why AI is changing the game first appeared on EGR Intel.
Ken Robertson, founder and CEO of creative agency The Tenth Man, suggests that the operators already embracing the technology will shape conversation, win credibility and reap the rewards
The post Betting without the bullshit: why AI is changing the game first appeared on EGR Intel.