We needed to develop a genuine fame-inducing campaign that got people laughing, pointing, talking and sharing. As such, the launch of our new Android app became about far more than just downloads. We needed to provoke a reaction.

So to ramp up the unfair advantage that punters got from Sportsbet’s new ‘juiced-up’ Android app, we enlisted ‘performance enhancement experts’ from the sporting world to endorse and launch it.

Led by the infamous Olympic ‘enhancement’ expert, ‘88 Games Gold Medalist (for 48 hours) Ben Johnson, the group also included a Russian power weightlifter; an American yellow jersey-winning cyclist; and a champion Chinese swimmer.

These endorsers came together to celebrate how Sportsbet put the 'ROID in Android.

Our PR campaign was led by a 90' online content piece, supported by TV, radio, outdoor, online with a direct call-to-action for punters to download the new ‘juiced-up’ Android app and a tactical guerilla ad for the Tour de France.

According to “Marketing in an era of Accountability,” by Binet and Field, campaigns that get people talking tend to produce better results across every business and brand metric, tending to be highly profitable.

And boy, did we get people talking.

What started as a few PC snowflakes getting into a ROID rage on social media, soon snowballed into a global news story…

Following major articles in the Herald Sun, Daily Mail and The Australian (to name just a few) and special features on Sunrise and 9News, the story of our new ‘juiced-up’ Android app was eventually picked up by the BBC and other global news websites.

The controversial Ben Johnson campaign had incredible cut through and was loved by punters who understood the campaign was a spoof and parody.

Created to garner column inches, “Putting the ’ROID in Android” exceeded all of its objectives and was by far the most effective in Sportsbet’s history.

The advertising value of the PR was $8,879,164 with coverage in more than 660 media online outlets worldwide and a potential reach of 959,909,595 people.

And Social media went crazy too, with 1,322,786 views and 16,254 engagements!

This coverage had a dramatic 50% positive increment in Sportsbet’s brand favourability.

Direct response resulted in 230,000 new Android app installs.

And a hard to believe 22.2% increment in bets, 23.2% in turnover and 25.3% in first time bets.