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THE MARKETING GURUS at gambling giant Paddy Power have no qualms about courting controversy.
There was uproar when the bookie gave odds on the outcome of the Oscar Pistorius murder trial – “money back if he walks” – and the company has clashed with sporting officials for sponsoring athletes to wear underpants emblazoned with its logo.
While these kinds of madcap publicity stunts have usually worked well with UK and Irish audiences, the sense of humour has sometimes been lost on punters abroad, according to Paddy Power Betfair chief executive Breon Corcoran.
“I think being Irish, I’m kind of pre-disposed to think that Irish brands have a resonance everywhere, but that’s not always the case,” he told an audience at the Web Summit in Lisbon this week.
“Five or six years ago, we thought that the answer to most problems might be a Paddy Power, Irish-themed, entertainment-led brand.”
Corcoran said the firm – which boasts on its website that it does the “marketing equivalent of running up and slapping you in the face” – has learned to tone down the high jinks and respect cultural sensitivities for certain audiences.
“There are cultural nuances in all these markets,” he said. “In Italy, for example, consumers tend to see gambling as a less frivolous affair than the Paddy Power brand might suggest.
We famously ran ads involving a porn star and then got feedback that gambling for our Italian customers was much more serious than that. A frivolous entertainment brand wasn’t what they wanted.
North Korea
Corcoran acknowledged that Paddy Power’s appetite for mischief “occasionally can go across the line”.
“A couple of years ago we sponsored Dennis Rodman, a US basketball player, on his tour of North Korea, which in the first instance seemed like a fun thing to do, but rapidly deteriorated into almost a geopolitical scandal.”
Paddy Power agreed to sponsor Rodman’s visit to the country, famous for its human rights abuses and nuclear posturing, so he could to play an exhibition match for dictator Kim Jong-un, but the company was swamped by criticism and pulled out.
Corcoran said he sees the company as more of an “international business with Irish roots as opposed to a fundamentally Irish business”, especially after its near-€10 billion merger with UK rival Betfair.
The betting group has used its suite of brands – Paddy Power, Betfair, Sportsbet and TVG – to re-package its marketing to suit punters in different markets.
For example, the company operates in Australia under the Sportsbet name, which Paddy Power acquired in 2010.
A well-known online bookie, Sportsbet enjoys “a much more Australian positioning and resonates because it’s relevant to the customers there in a way that an Irish brand wouldn’t,” Corcoran claimed.
Written by Conor McMahon and posted on Fora.ie
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what they should of tackled was gangs of teenagers carrying knives and killing each other and shown that around schools something thats true to society instead of work of fiction
@kaidon sharkey: what’s wrong with works of fiction of of a sudden?
@Dermot Blaine: Read his comment again and again, until you understand it, my friend
@Dermot Blaine: nothing….i like fiction esp sci fi….but if everyone is harping on about…oh this should be on in schools….but its only fiction…as my point they should of tackled reality about teenage gangs and the knife culture of stabbing each other would hit home more
@Dermot Blaine: Sure what did Shakespear ever teach us about anything?
@kaidon sharkey: Could, perhaps, one of the reasons for violent knife crime be rooted in some of the online stuff that happens?
@ecrowley ecrowley: like what
@kaidon sharkey: cos adolescents are not equipped to deal with the stuff they see online. They’re not equipped to see through some of the well known charlatans that are prominent.
@ecrowley ecrowley: ive been playing gta since the 90’s ive never went out and ran over somebody…watched horrors since i was a young a young fella and never killed anyone…the mediums may have changed but not everyone is going to go out and do what ever an advertiser says online dont like the term influencer…now there does be one or two that does go out and do all that but thats an amonolly…the majority is gangs and turf wars that there is more killings over that then what some one says online
What fluffy malarkey…… I raised my sons to be the best they could be, respect for everyone, ignore skin colour, sex, sexual orientation, religion, creed, political leanings or soccer team affiliation. I don’t need any netflix hyped fiction to ‘ enlighten ‘ me thanks
@Buster Lawless: well said!
@Buster Lawless: how can you raise your children to have respect for others when you don’t show respect yourself…you were banned on here last year after you were reported several times for horrible things you said…so leave it out with the fake outrage.
@Clare Power: with all due respect ma’am I’ve never been ‘banned’from anything, lest of all an open comments board intended for meaningful discussion, informative debate & very valid/ educational viewpoints
@Buster Lawless: oh please..pull the other one Ken..
@Clare Power: yesterday I was kevvy, generally you go for brendan……. I like this one ..ken……I’ll take that cheers
@Buster Lawless: every single comment made on this platform is kept…please show me where I called you brendan or kev…I’ll wait…oh no you can’t because I didn’t but you are the lovely Mary also…
@Buster Lawless: “I don’t need any netflix hyped fiction to ‘ enlighten ‘ me thanks” woah that’s some ultra triggered s41t. It’s not all about you buddy.
@Buster Lawless: more lies from the troll Buster!! You should watch this program as it helps showcase the masculine toxicity taking over society.
@Lance Taylor: Buster is a very precious ego centric. He couldn’t handle it. Conspiracy theories are more soothing.
@Buster Lawless: Ignoring isn’t helpful. Unfortunately, the “I don’t see color” comment often times just shuts down conversation. It’s a subtle message to the group that “seeing race” is a bad thing; therefore, there shouldn’t be discussion about it. “I don’t see color is the get out of talking or doing anything about racism card that ‘good white people’ carry in their wallet. The same goes for sexual orientation.
@Louis Jacob: he has cloned my profile before and spouts unbelievable lies. Reported many times.
@Jack Burton: Perhaps the most obvious way to interpret the “I don’t see color” comment is one of self-congratulation. Indeed, they’re making it known that they’re not a “racist” white person. They are in fact a “good” white person and as a “good” white person, they are so non-racist that they don’t even have the ability to notice race. It’s incredibly insulting to be informed that an aspect of people’s identity will be treated as ‘unseen’ and ‘erasable.’
@Buster Lawless:You guys are so out there man. You support Musk who’s been using his 2 year old as a prop and a defence, in full view of the world, as he turns himself into a super villain, or Putin who conscripts 15 year old Cossack boys and sends them off to hell, never to be seen again… but this guy does a perfectly normal thing with his son where they address a few basic principals before the boy becomes a man and you have the pearls clutched like old bats. So f%*king weird man.
@Jack Burton: “I don’t even notice/see colour” can be like you say and serve as a virtue signal but I believe if one connects to all as kindred then another meaning for this declaration develops where the innate humanity is what is always noticed first. Without question most people could identify white/non white after just a cursory glance but before that glance there is a connection. Some people who say “I don’t see colour” really mean “I don’t see colour until after I’ve connected with a human like myself”
@Buster Lawless: it’s an opinion piece! And after reading your reply I think that you’re the very 1 who needs to watch it!
Unfortunately lots of kids who are now 4, 7 or 10 years age in some Dublin hoods inherit their fathers behaviour with toxic silly macho masculinity, silly and shinny shoes or clothing, hate for people who look different than ones in their small world etc.
@Chris: my goodness what a complete and utter snob….your prejudice shining through and yet you probably think for some reason you’re morally superior….what an utter shameful and horrible post!
@Chris: toxic macho four year olds? We really do need that digital ID asap. Hopefully that’ll put a stop to those haters
@Darth O’Leary: do you think that there are no toxic macho 4 year old in the city?
@Darth O’Leary: you, as far as I can see, you are the only hater on here, and you always get ridiculed
An interesting, honest article. Fair play.
Adolescence is a load of toss.
We have always had psychos in our midst.
@Fergus O’Donnell: it similar to the fuss caused when the film thirteen came out in 2003.
UK based drama, we are not the UK. Disrespect in the school told me everything I needed to know
I try to keep my son safe from this toxic series. Life is full of vicious and vile people, why do I need to force this upon him and get him to question himself at a young age. The soy latte generation want to break childhood and teenage boys with their reasons and sow doubht and fear into them, to effectively then control then with Their extreme leftist view of the world. Today, my son and I happily travelled across Northern Ireland to play chess with other players his age. All perfectly balanced from all segments of society and races. Sitting down to play chess, challenge themselves and grow in mind and spirut and for the love of the game. It’s pure. Not sitting him down in front of violence on the TV. Wake up people, let them have innocence.
Nobody understands the hardships of being on dialysis
Watch the anti Catholic comments shoot up now
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