For betting brands the World Cup is by far the biggest opportunity to win new customers (and lose them!). The brand that wins the first World Cup bet has far more chance of keeping those new customers throughout the tournament.

Who Stole the Cup? was a campaign for a betting brand that you could actually bet on.

It was launched 3 weeks before the World Cup with a Hollywood style heist film starring four of the World Cup's most famous winners – Maradona, Cafu, Del Bosque and Effenberg – this time battling to steal the Cup from a Russian Party. Fans could bet via the app, choosing who the culprit was and getting a free deposit bonus for their first World Cup bet. The thief announced himself on the eve of the tournament and from there our stars became top tipsters unique to bwin customers, keeping everyone entertained and informed on the best bets throughout the whole tournament.

Our goal was simple: get customers to place their first World Cup bet with bwin.

With an enhanced first deposit bonus bwin were then well placed to keep customers throughout the tournament.

So bwin created Who Stole the Cup? A real World Cup bet starring World Cup stars that went live 3 weeks before the tournament.

The culprit announced himself on the eve of the first game.

And from then-on our stars became top tipsters unique to bwin customers, keeping everyone entertained and informed on the best bets throughout the tournament.

We launched with a Hollywood heist-movie extravaganza staring Maradona, Effenberg, Del Bosque and Cafu - plotting against each other to steal the famous trophy from a Russian party. The ad prompted viewers to visit bwin.con to place their first World Cup bet. The campaign had a £4 million production budget and £20 million media spend in TV and online, supported by Special Out of Home, Print, Digital displays and CRM across Europe.

During the 7-week campaign bwin signed-up 217,000 new customers and a record 30.6 million bets were place at bwin.com during the tournament. The campaign created 128 million media impressions for bwin and customers awareness of the campaign was 92%.