The doors to online sports betting were about to open in one of the deepest states of idiosyncratic fandom — Ohio.

Could Tipico break through the line of legacy American sportsbook brands and secure a seat in the top five? Could they do it in six weeks? How about six weeks AND with a small budget while the major industry names opened a fire hydrant of cash?

Key objectives:

- When sports betting becomes legal in Ohio, Tipico will be among the top five sportsbooks (measured by market share).

- User acquisition: 70K for all of 2023 (Measured by app downloads and registrations (signing up for an account), KYC (identity verification)

- Converting app users into sports bettors (measured by first-time deposits)

While established competitors used stock photos of a state flag and called it “local,” Tipico knew Ohio sports bettors would immediately recognize this familiar play and scoff at it. As the litmus test for politics, brands and the national pulse, Ohio is accustomed to bids for their attention. This empowered Tipico to go deeper than a state flag and show the audience that no one knows Ohio fandom like Tipico knows Ohio fandom.

How? Tipico stepped outside the sanitization of sports betting and “inside baseball” by bringing edgy, hyperlocal, whimsical art and messaging into the market, celebrating the audience by inspiring them to “Bet Like You’re From Ohio.”

The campaign authentically highlighted deep-seated motivations, cultural nods and inside jokes that color the vast, complex tapestry of fandom that defines the state.

With no prior data due to Ohio’s recent legalization (Jan 1, 2023), Tipico initially targeted a broad demographic of males aged 28-45 in major Ohio cities.

But a generic demographic would get generic results. Tipico combined the computational power of AI and the behavior-unlocking power of data, crafting living AI personas — like Jay “The VIP Bettor,” Eric “The Ambitious Amateur” and Josh “The Social Bettor” — using ChatGPT.

These personas were built on top of a rich, varied data set (1p app data, social media scrapes, surveys, white papers, research studies and qualitative interviews) to give Tipico a set of 3D personas that helped unlock nuanced betting behaviors, preferences and need states at speed and scale. Tipico maintained a dialogue with these synthetic humans to answer questions, pressure-test thinking, and gain a depth of understanding that would normally take weeks and months — all in 48 hours.

Armed with the rich data from these synthetic humans, Tipico launched its “Bet Like You’re From Ohio” campaign using a fully integrated approach to resonate with local culture and dialect, positioning itself as an authentic choice for bettors throughout the state

- Brand development: Evolved the Tipico brand into a compelling, ownable look and feel that stood distinct from the rest of the category.

- 360 integrated campaign (OLV, paid social, OOH, DOOH, display and performance): Leveraged hyperlocal imagery and copy that resonated across Ohio’s 3Cs markets (Cleveland, Cincinnati and Columbus)

- Partnership: Used Tipico’s partnership with the Columbus Crew MLS team to its advantage by creating a blanket of in-game ads to display at the stadium.

- App features and promotions: Seamlessly integrated app features (e.g., same game parlay) and promotional offers without overwhelming the user and delivered incentives and education as users experienced each ad.

The campaign was a huge success, with Tipico achieving 57% of its 2023 acquisition target in the first month alone (40,000 registrations in January). The brand outperformed forecasts for first-time deposits every month. Tipico went up against the biggest players in sports betting and achieved 32% SOV in Ohio — achieving its goal of earning top-five sportsbook status in Ohio (and named ‘one to watch’ in the Eilers & Krejcik Gaming industry report).

In addition, Tipico achieved an astronomical result during the Super Bowl. The brand was responsible for only 5% [source: EK Super Bowl report] of the spend from all sportsbooks but managed to attract 25,000 players on game day (4x higher than any total month in the company’s history) [source: Tipico app user data].

Soon after launch, the campaign earned The Drum Award for Best Use of AI in the Digital Industries category.