ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
How AI is helping global football campaigns feel local
Major sporting moments bring people together, create conversation across markets and generate shared emotional experiences that go far beyond the pitch. But the way global brands need to show up around these moments is changing, says Adam Brimmer, Director of Brand and Creative, Betsson Group.
F
or international operators, the old model of building one global campaign and adapting it lightly for different markets is no longer enough. Audiences expect content that reflects their culture, football history and the way they experience the game. The challenge is to be meaningful in each market while maintaining a consistent brand identity. At Betsson Group, AI is helping creative teams move from one-size-fits-all campaign assets to more localised toolkits. Instead of producing a single global set of materials, the process now allows for tailored country packs, built around a common campaign idea but adapted to feel relevant in each market. In practice, that can mean creating and curating libraries of locally relevant assets, from people and street scenes to interiors, clothing styles, voices and other cultural cues. These assets can be reviewed with local market teams before being used in campaign material. A football advert for Argentina should not look or sound the same as one for Greece, Colombia or Belgium. AI helps close that gap by building local context into the work from the start.
SPONSORSHIP AND AMBASSADOR CONTENT There are also practical applications in sponsorship and ambassador content. Where rights and approvals allow, AI can support the creation of additional assets featuring ambassadors or campaign talent without always requiring new production days, travel or complex shoot logistics.
AI should not be viewed as a replacement for creativity. Used well, it is an enabler. It helps teams scale ideas, increase versioning and respond faster to different market needs. The value is not simply more content, but more relevant content.
For global brands, local adaptation cannot come at the expense of consistency. The strongest campaigns allow markets to express themselves within a clear global framework, combining central brand governance with local insight.
In iGaming, this is particularly important. Trust sits at the centre of the relationship between an operator and its customers.
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Poorly executed AI does not just risk looking generic or low quality, it can undermine brand credibility. Quality, judgement and human review remain non-negotiable.
EXAMPLE INITIATIVES
Betsson Group’s approach shows this in how it does football content around big sporting moments. AI isn’t scaling work down, it’s freeing up creative talent from mass- producing visuals, so they can focus on more ideas and richer, more human content. That shift means the goal isn’t just covering fixtures, results or odds. It’s creating content that connects with the emotion, identity and culture around the game.
One example of this approach is Pride of a Nation, a premium football storytelling series
developed by Betsson Group’s Brand+Creative team. Built around documentary-style interviews, iconic football memorabilia and national football figures such as René Higuita and Leo Van der Elst, the series explores how football becomes deeply woven into a country’s identity, culture and collective memory across markets including Argentina, Colombia and Belgium. Another example is
Betsson.Sportcast, a football content platform created to support Betsson Group’s World Cup activity across Latin America. Designed as a regular destination for football conversation, analysis and entertainment, it included 42 episodes, supported by approximately 274 short form clips for social and digital channels. Together, these initiatives show how major tournaments are evolving from campaign moments into content ecosystems. AI can help brands scale production and improve relevance, but the most effective work still depends on human creativity, editorial discipline and a clear understanding of what football means to people in different markets.
The future of sports marketing will be defined by the brands that use technology intelligently, with quality, authenticity and local insight at the centre of their approach.
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