It is no secret that when it comes to marketing, having your brand exposed and viewable for millions of people at once at an affordable price is what all companies seek. We see big enterprises like Coca Cola, McDonald’s and others spend hundreds of millions of dollars for their brand to show. In sports it has been the same story, shoes and clothing brands paying millions of dollars to have their goods used by renamed famous celebrities in the different sports: from Kobe Bryant to Payton Manning and Tiger Woods. But, how exactly this works in our whole poker universe?
Well, you guys know it is no secret it works very alike; hence, the significant amount of professional players that, for a few hundred thousand dollars will have their name imprinted in a website and represent them at all the mayor poker events. Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanu, “Jesus” Fergusson and his majesty Doyle Brunson himself, are the face and main shield of their respective brands.
One might think, how in this world can a site pay that much money for just one player? The answer is in the type of deals they do. An insider source and expert in the industry stated recently that most poker pro deals benefit the site more than the player and the player is just a vessel to get bigger and bigger. Then why would so many pro’s look for sponsorship deals? Easy: tournament entries.
Being a professional poker player is no easy life. Of course, we would all want to stay hours in a casino, partying around and have luxuries and amenities to our delight. But the cost is high, very high; not only they lack of spare time, they lack of money. So, what should you do if you don’t have the money? Ask for it, in most cases from poker sites. In return the poker site will use the pro as their own mannequin, wear them with all the gear they can get, and of course they get a big chunk of the winnings at the tournaments. So what is a couple hundred thousand up front when you can potentially win millions from a single event and get more players (meaning more revenue) at the same time?
And if this wasn’t enough, we see poker sites expanding to new and emerging markets with great acquisition power that have not been explored yet. For instance Latin America: celebrities, sportsmen and women, even public figures are been bought by poker sites for a significant lower cost than pro players with better results attracting players. Just picture the following: it is not the same to say “I played with Phil Ivey” to a poker outsider than “I played with Matt Damon” or “Shannon Elizabeth”. They fill these sponsored employees Twitter and Facebook accounts with site propaganda and drive us into their nets.
Nice move from the poker industry showing it is not only a hell of a ride and business, but that they play hard, serious and are here to stay regardless of the bumps in the road and detours they have to take. So if you watch the WSOP or assist Las Vegas whereabouts, look at the pro’s, look at the celebrities and imagine all the money that it required for a brand to be there.
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