The long-fought rivalry between Tabcorp and Tatts continues, with the growing battle for the prized digital market ironically triumphing venues.
Earlier this year Tatts Group launched its digital service Tattsbet, but even more recently rebranded it with the fresh name Ubet.
Already holding a commanding market share in this highly-competitive space with its Tab.com.au, TAB took out a bold newspaper advertisement lampooning Ubet’s lack of provenance.
“’I’LL SEE YOU DOWN THE UBET’ SAID NO ONE EVER”, was the headline.
The ad is a cheeky attempt by the betting giant to take advantage of the ‘Aussie bloke’ mentality, and has been panned by some as a risky move.
“When you have an ad mentioning a rival brand name, whether it’s positive or negative, you run the risk of the viewer focussing on your competitor and not you,” Dr Danielle Chmielewski-Raimondo, marketing academic at the University of Melbourne told Smart Company.
“You also run the risk of putting people off because people often don’t like to see this kind of negativity, they see it as a bit of bullying behaviour.”
But the article also cited Ubet general manager Penny Glasson, who claimed the company is un-phased and expected a battle.
“We’ve launched a new brand in one of the most highly competitive consumer sectors in the Australian market,” said Glasson.
“It’s good to see we’ve made an impact, but we’re taking it in good humour and planning to stick to our strategy to focus on the customer, rather than worry about reacting impulsively to competitors.”
The ever-growing market in sports betting – coupled with now legal television advertising for providers – has seen increasingly bold and prominent marketing by an increasing number of betting companies, with mixed reaction from the general public.
