BetMGM is a market-leading US sports betting and gaming entertainment company, pioneering the online gaming industry. Born out of a partnership between MGM Resorts International and Entain Plc, headquartered in New Jersey.
Our Objective was to achieve the most dominant brand presence on X during the biggest sporting event of the year—the 2024 Super Bowl—by leveraging star power, humor, and cutting-edge integrations.
While many brands have scaled back their presence on X (formerly Twitter), BetMGM saw an opportunity to take center stage. With fewer competitors on the platform, we set out to redefine what a brand takeover could look like—aligning with BetMGM’s broader company goals of innovation, engagement, and market leadership.
We launched three dynamic ‘teaser’ ads featuring Tom Brady, Vince Vaughn, and Wayne Gretzky. The humor-driven spots playfully suggested that Brady—widely regarded as one of the most accomplished quarterbacks in NFL history—might not be as big of a deal as his record suggests. Of course, with seven Super Bowl wins, five MVP titles, and 15 Pro Bowl selections, he is a big deal. The campaign’s lighthearted approach set the stage for BetMGM’s larger Super Bowl activation.
The right strategy, messaging, and sequencing about the Super Bowl and media play across platforms would need to take success beyond already high expectations, and harness awareness further into the conversion funnel for BetMGM, including a lens on efficiency. KPIs included:
Strategy - Targeting & Messaging
To maximize both awareness volume and funnel into more granular acquisition tracks, we leveraged a strategic blend of broader branding for the Super Bowl event and acquisition campaigns tailored more for BetMGM’s target Sportsbook and iGaming audience.
Our campaign targeted users interested in football, teams, and sports betting, leveraging X’s “optimized targeting” to extend our reach. We ensured compliance by strictly targeting users 21+, excluding self-excluded individuals, existing customers, and fraudulent accounts. The campaign was geo-targeted to states where online sports betting is legal, such as Arizona, Colorado, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Kansas, and more.
Strategy - Platforms, Flighting & Allocation
We executed an aggressive multi-platform strategy across Meta, TikTok, X, and Snapchat, with teaser videos leading up to the Super Bowl and the main 30-second spot on TikTok. X was the focal point for our bold "Break The Rules" activation, featuring a phased takeover with 6-second celeb teasers (Tom/Vince/Wayne), building momentum and driving high-intent conversions.
Our goal was to dominate X in the weeks leading up to, and during, the Super Bowl. This included:
✅ A phased rollout of teaser ads to build anticipation.
✅ A Live Odds integration with X using a trackable OneLink, allowing users to seamlessly transition from X to the BetMGM app or the appropriate app store.
✅ A historic Super Bowl Sunday media buy, making BetMGM the first brand outside of Apple or Pepsi to own the X takeover on Super Bowl day.
Our strategy maximized reach and engagement by leveraging X (formerly Twitter) as the primary platform for real-time sports conversations. We implemented a phased flighting approach, starting with 3 teaser ads in mid-January, followed by high-impact promotional creatives leading up to a full Super Bowl takeover. Budget allocation prioritized premium placements like the Spotlight Tweet and Sponsored Trend of the Day, ensuring BetMGM dominated X. Post-game, we sustained momentum with X’s NBA Live Odds integration, extending engagement beyond Super Bowl Sunday.
X-Factor Strategy - Strategy Within The Strategy
X had been noted on a consistently steep downtrend through 2023, leaving a competitive whitespace opportunity, if we could embrace the risk. Understanding the ‘market-making’ volume we could command with the event, we felt we could make X our ‘BetMGM sandbox’ and feature BetMGM Live Odds partnership on X, where BetMGM’s real-time odds were showcased within the Sports section of the X app. We planned to double down with a big play on X.
Execution: A Multi-Touchpoint Rollout
On Meta, Snapchat, and X, we sequentially deployed the 3 separate ‘teaser’ branding campaigns leading up to the Super Bowl, featuring short, humorous 6-second clips with Tom Brady and Vince Vaughn—highlighting a playful exchange where Vaughn humorously downplays Brady’s celebrity status. These ads ran for both prospective and existing customers.
The teasers aimed to drive awareness and high click-through rates (CTR) and 3s/100% video view rate rather than conversions, as the call-to-action focused solely on brand exposure without promoting first-time deposits.
On TikTok, we launched the full 30-second Super Bowl commercial, a humorous broad appeal clip “He’s Won Enough” (Tom/Vince/Wayne), Vince Vaugh playing host, poking fun at Tom Brady getting carried away being a demanding celebrity where everyone feels “he’s won enough”.
Campaign results for the week leading up to and including the Super Bowl delivered across both awareness and conversion KPIs, including a stable efficiency metric despite the major spike in volume:
Comparing our results to non-Super Bowl campaign benchmarks:
BetMGM’s Super Bowl campaign wasn’t just a presence on X—it was a full-scale digital takeover that set a new standard for brand engagement on the platform. By seamlessly integrating entertainment, technology, and real-time betting experiences, we not only dominated X but also redefined how sportsbook brands can leverage the platform.
In terms of the Influencer & Celebrity Partnership side of this campaign, we saw strong results across platforms, generating nine figures in impressions with a 0.5% click-through rate and driving significant registrations and FTDs.
Meta led performance, with Snapchat and X contributing additional conversions. TikTok, a key test, exceeded expectations with an 18.1% 3s/100% video view rate. The teaser phase was highly effective, delivering nine figures in impressions and a 22% video view rate, building strong pre-launch momentum.
The campaign optimized spend while maintaining a competitive cost per FTD. TikTok’s success has secured its place in future paid efforts. Overall, this campaign set a new benchmark, proving the power of celebrity partnerships and phased media strategies in driving awareness and conversions.
