Irish betting operator Paddy Power has bid goodbye to its chief marketing officer after less than one year on the job.
On Wednesday, PR Week reported that Paddy CMO Gav Thompson (pictured0 would be leaving the company following its merger with UK betting exchange Betfair. Betfair’s current CMO Jonathan Devitt will assume Thompson’s duties, and will reportedly oversee marketing for the enlarged Paddy Power Betfair entity.
Thompson’s departure comes as a bit of surprise, given that the two companies had pledged to maintain a “dual brand strategy” in order to preserve the infinitely more cheeky tone Paddy’s marketing is known to strike. Neither company has so far seen fit to comment publicly on Thompson’s departure.
PR Week understood that Thompson’s exit wouldn’t necessarily lead to a consolidation of Paddy Power’s agencies. Last June, Paddy abruptly switched its ad agency contract from BMB to Lucky Generals, a move that took place within days of Thompson taking the Paddy job.
ONE TOUCH SIMPLIFIES IN-PLAY PROCESS
In other Paddy news, this week saw the company unveil its new One Touch feature, which the company claims is “the fastest way to bet in-play” and which will “leave competitors behind.”
The feature, which was rolled out as part of Paddy’s latest iOS and Android app updates, allows logged-in punters to set a predetermined amount they’d like to wager. Once that’s done, the bettor need only hit a single button after he or she identifies a desired betting market, eliminating the fear that the odds will have changed by the time they get around to filling out a full betting slip or going through a confirmation screen.
The Paddsters believe the simplicity of One Touch will give their in-play turnover a boost. As for concerns that punters will find it’s also much simpler to accidentally place unwanted wagers via an inadvertent tap of their phone, product manager John Campbell told eGaming Review that a period of consumer trials had left the company feeling “confident that that’s not a big risk.”
