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  • #3: The Story Behind Stake’s Dominance in India During the IPL

#3: The Story Behind Stake’s Dominance in India During the IPL

Author

Dmitry Belianin
May 16, 2024

Everyone remembers the 4P’s, right? For those of you who don’t, it’s product, price, place, and promotion. They’re an example of a “marketing mix,” or the combined tools and methodologies used by marketers to achieve their marketing objectives.

But don’t worry if you didn’t know or you forgot. Because this shit is outdated. If you’re still using them, it’s time to upgrade your 2005 marketing education and get the 2024 edition. Which I’m going to give you today, and use Stake as a case study to demonstrate it.

It may be worth reading today’s essay when you have time to focus. Because it’s not going to be basic but rather some hardcore stuff you may never have seen before. I promise it’ll be worth your time.

So please, take a seat. Today, we’re going to dig into why Stake is one of the hottest companies/brands/products in the market. Specifically, we’re going to deconstruct their impact in India.

I’ve been involved with this market for a while now. I helped one operator become a market leader there, and I know it better than most. I’ve spent more time in India than anywhere else (except where I’ve lived), and I’ve grown fond of it.

Stake’s Origin Story In India

So here’s a look at the market in India leading into the 2024 IPL. It shows the market share of brands operating there. Can you guess which colour Stake is?

(Shout out to my new product Blask, for the visuals btw)

Stake started investing in market growth two months before the start of the IPL in February and started eating their competitors' visibility (and market share as a result). Perfect timing.

And as you can see, they started gaining traction, piece by piece.

If you didn’t guess, Stake’s market share is represented in dark pink. The most interesting phenomenon here is that they did not capitalise much during the early days of the IPL. Which is interesting. Because historically, for most sports events, day one brings you THE MOST players.

Stake’s situation here is easy to explain - the brand lost the market share momentum they’d been building on the first day. Their competitors attracted more. Simply because when customers had to put their money where their mouth is, they opted for “safer”, more trusted brands.

But then what happens next is pure magic. Kiddin’, it’s not. 

Remember the Ogilvy era? No tracking, no numbers, no ROI. Pure magic. Marketers were treated as wizards. They sat undisturbed, locked in a room, drinking whisky and nobody knew what the hell they were doing. But it was okay because they were bringing sales. How? Only Harry Potter knows. But it’s not the case any more. Marketing, thankfully, is far more measurable. So let's deconstruct Stakes “magic” and see why.

But before we gonna bring our magicians (sorry, marketers!) down to earth and force them to stop using their magic outside of Hogwarts (no more Harry Potter references now, promise), let me give credit where it’s due.

I want to introduce you to my partners in an agency named Forza, so meet Vivek and Rohan. They are the reason why so many old and global brands are big in India. I’m talking about brands like the English Premier League, La Liga, Budweiser, Adidas, and Formula 1. Not too bad, right?

Anyway, they deserve the shout-out because they helped me reconstruct this magic dust and unveil the new business formula for Stake in India.

Let Me Introduce You to 2PBS. Positioning, Product, Brand Marketing, Stake.

Every decision you take is justified by the movement in your market share. Product decisions, brand marketing decisions, the lot.

2PBS, as I’m calling it, is the logic behind what looks like magic to the uninitiated eye. This new, updated formula is the secret to Stake’s success. Let me explain what it is:

1. Positioning Strategy

What is the best way to position your product for the market you’re entering? What are the unique behavioural and cultural differences, and objections the market have? How can you position your product better than your competitors to overcome them?

Stake was extremely careful about its positioning in the Indian market. They had an insight that a lot of their competitors have trust issues, so they ensured that they had a premium feel for their product.

This attracted not only high-value customers but also other customers. They created the feeling that they’re an amazing international organisation that is premium and wouldn’t cheat them. In most brand marketing, they ensure that they target only the best assets.

2. Product Strategy. Localised. Customer-centric. Market-focused.

Can you tailor your product so it’s attractive to the local market that you’re entering? Many international operators offer cookie-cutter experiences to all markets. But all different cultures bet for different reasons, and in different ways. So the more you can tailor your experience to them, the better. 

Stake released a unique IPL-specific product where the gave players bet insurance. If a player bets on one team to win, and that team doesn’t win, but hits a six during the first 4 overs, the bet loss is recovered, and no money is lost. This game became very popular on the platform during the IPL.

But apart from that, there was a focus on “higher” revenue customers. Stake implemented a higher minimum deposit and bet size. This attracted the whales in the market.

Stake focused a lot on making the product and customer experience amazing, compared to others who focus on selling the “money making” opportunity. Hands down, this is what I have been pushing in the industry since 2018, so I’m proud Stake is doing this.

3. Brand Marketing

Stake has driven growth through brand marketing in some really smart ways.

(And by the way, this is one of the strengths of Blask. You can measure how your brand marketing spend impacts your share of the market.)

Stake leveraged influencers, who gave their platform a lot of credibility in a short space of time. Their choice of influencer was very strategic.

Ravi Shastri – They hired Ravi Shastri right before IPL, one of Indian cricket’s legends who is known for his flamboyant style and very polished approach. They had many options but they waited for a targeted option of Ravi, and jumped at it when they had the opportunity.

Raftar – Raftar is the biggest rap name in India with a very interesting personality of showing style and flamboyance.

Karan Aujla – Similar to Ravi, Karan also has a very fashionable personality that people look up to and is aspirational.

International influencers—In most of the advertising in India, Stake made sure that its international influencers, like Drake and Sergio Aguero, were always mentioned to ensure premium positioning.

Micro-influencer strategy – Stake went crazy on YouTube by signing dozens of small YouTubers where these pages focused on showing games that are on Stake and how people can make money. This hit a strong note with the young audience. Where most brands are focused on IG, Stake focused more on YT and tutorial-style videos with low numbers and low reach but working on volume. Some examples include:

YT Analytics – Similar to some of the other brands, Stake also got several YT analytics shows on IPL but again the focus of the marketing was two things, mainly the new IPL product and international premium partnerships.

Sponsorships - Stake hasn’t spent too much money on sports sponsorships as yet but it did take the front of jersey partnership of two of the ISL teams, Mumbai City FC (ISL winners) and Hyderabad FC

International tie-ups - They also have several international partnerships like Everton FC, UFC, F1 team etc. which they promoted in India to increase their premium nature.

This shit’s expensive. Please take a seat, just in case. I don’t want any injuries here. The total estimated brand marketing spend was – USD 5-10 million during the IPL.

4. Stake

Stake is a sexy brand, and it’s a key part of their appeal. The team has done an amazing job on their branding. They’re trusted, global, user-friendly. “Your best friend” kind of appeal. Not the outdated kind of feeling many brands in our niche have. They’re fast, agile, famous. This is not just my opinion, by the way. This is what customers say.

A Conclusion?

Just like last time, I’m leaving this to you.

But I am going to leave this one screenshot here and some of my thoughts below.

Burning money in affiliate marketing is a good, wise, stable, short-term strategy. BUT if you stop injecting money, your business will be forgotten unless your retention is 100% month over month. Brand marketing, on the other hand, is a longer-term strategy that helps you to build a following of raving fans. It makes your brand distinctive and not a cookie-cutter, boring mess that many iGaming brands are.

You’ll notice I use a lot of Blask screenshots, so you may sceptically wonder… Is this an advertising email? Well, the answer is yes. But not for Blask.

I’m advertising a new thought process, a new type of business strategy. Which has been in other industries for a while. But one that our industry is still afraid to start implementing. But while you’re afraid, you’re bleeding market share or not growing your business. Sorry for being brutally honest here. And with tools like Blask (again, just an example) you can begin measuring your impact more effectively.

PS: This essay became possible because I am good friends and a business partner with Forza (these amazing details and specifics) and a co-founder of Blask (these beautiful screenshots)

PPS: I am not connected to Stake in any way, even though its founders are amazing people, entrepreneurs, and visionaries. I would love to meet either Bijan (hey mate :)) or Eddie one day.

As usual - I’d love to hear your thoughts. Peace.