The romance of football is encapsulated in the World Cup. The event that’ s scheduled every four years, gathers the best football nations in a battle for the game’s most coveted trophy, the FIFA World Cup Trophy. Nothing can compare to the atmosphere of ran World Cup. When an event of this size is shared by three countries, and them being USA, Canada, and Mexico, you know that the story written is as big as ever. With the format of the competition being changed, and having 48 nations compete, one could easily say that this is the biggest WC ever. A spectacle was promised to us in the lead up to the tourney, and so far it has been delivered.
A tournament this big, and we say it’s all about the game, cannot any longer be imagined without some sports betting. Simply, there’s just too many games, and with the way sports betting markets have been evolving it’s hard not to try and test your knowledge against the bets and the bookies. The bookmakers on the other hand, are aware of the interest that an event of World Cup’s size is going to generate among sports bettors. Some statistics claim that there is a big percentage of people who will wager for the first time during the World Cup. Now, that’s a trend many online casinos and sportsbooks have decided to follow up.
While the majority of them have been pushing their marketing departments to the limit in an attempt to appeal to the user base not yet associated with any brand, one such company pushed the boundaries of what was possible as far as promotion goes. We’re talking about an online casino and sportsbook founded in 2017 that goes under the name, Stake. Throughout the years they have gained fame with their approach to the use of cryptocurrencies in online gambling, as well as with their unique marketing approach.
As far as Stake’s platform goes, it is a quality one. Their casino is one of the better ones out there, while their sportsbook is one of the leaders in the domain. Yet, what really sets them apart is the way they’ve decided to put their name on the map. Straightforward marketing used by Stake has them rely heavily on their network of global brand ambassadors. Just some of the names associated with the brand are Drake, Canadian rapper, an avid gambler, and a massive fan of sports, Davido, Nigerian musician and one of the biggest African superstars, Israel Adesanya, one of the most decorated UFC champions, and we’re going to talk more about their global former football stars ambassadors. The company also serves as kit sponsor to the Premier League side Everton, and is the official sports betting partner of UFC.
While everything we said is amazing, and serves the brand name right, the company has decided to up their game leading up to the 2026 World Cup. The event co hosted by USA, Canada, and Mexico is seen as an ideal opportunity for sports betting brands to tap into the unexplored markets. North America is one of those markets, especially when you know that sports betting has only recently been legalized in the USA. Stake is more than aware of the opportunity that the World Cup presents, and they have been steadily preparing their arsenal of global football ambassadors to take on North America when the time is due. That time is right now, and you probably haven’t missed the work put in by their main football ambassadors in Iker Casillas, Sergio Aguero, Patrice Evra, and Eden Hazard.
These four men have been global superstars in their heyday, and are seen as perfect ambassadors for the Stake brand during the World Cup and beyond it. They are all a part of the company’s campaign called ‘It’s All at Stake’ and they’ve been doing an amazing job these past few weeks. You must have been sleeping under a rock if you’ve missed their viral campaign videos that have garnered over 20 million views in only a few days.
Their leading video, at least to date, features online casino influencer Cabrzy as the protagonist. Cabrzy is seen in a diner, ordering a breakfast, before being interrupted by a notification from Stake that says: The game is calling. Let’s go! That’s where his adventure begins and in no time he is teleported from one surreal situation to another. It all starts with Iker Casillas in a night club, before he moves to play next to Kun Aguero in a 5-A side football match. After the first two encounters with Stake’s global ambassadors he moves onto the third, and gets yelled at by Sir Alex Ferguson like Eden Hazard who excelled in a role of an angry manager, before getting a tattoo from none other than Patrice Evra. You can guess it; what Evra wrote? I love this game! Throughout the video you can see WC Picks at Stake that Casillas, Aguero, Evra, and Hazard made. So far, some of them have been on a good track as far as their predictions go.
The video we described above was so well accepted by fans of the brand, and the Stake’s ambassadors that it was hard to believe that Stake has it in their power to make an even better promo. Yet, here we are. Evra, Casillas, Hazard, and Aguero have done a wonderful job. In addition to their joint project, all four of them have separately been promoting the brand and the World Cup with more emphasis on their national teams. At the same time, Stake has taken their campaign in a completely different direction, up!
When we say up, we mean it in the most literal sense. Their latest promo is even better than Merab Dvalishvili chasing a chicken. Yes, and we’re not even joking. This time around, in the midst of a World Cup, Stake has decided to play a little game with what’s physically possible. This brand has managed to put itself in the centre of all conversations regarding the WC and sports betting, and now they have ensured that they will be talked about long after the competition is completed.
If you’ve missed it, this is the right moment to take a look at Stake’s latest project called ‘Floating Football Pitch World Cup Brand Video.’ The company decided that the work that was done so far was not enough, and that the new industry standards need to be set. As far as sports betting and companies associated with it go, none has even thought about doing what Stake has done. They’ve created a script, produced it, filmed, and eventually created one of the best brand promos of all time. Their project was ambitious but was also brought to life by a superb idea and an even better execution. The masterpiece we’re talking about was made possible by Nathan Roque, Alessio Cort, Nicolo Contrada, Yasmin Xavier, Sara Vidal, and Carol Chafauzer.
The six people we have listed are all internet personalities who create content closely tied to different extreme sports. They have been selected by Stake to be footballers to play the game at a floating football pitch. That’s right, Stake has created an artificial football pitch, lifted it up in the air via balloons, and when at 10,000 feet, Nathan Roque, Alessio Cort, Nicolo Contrada, Yasmin Xavier, Sara Vidal, and Carol Chafauzer set the record for playing a football match at the highest attitude ever. With only clouds beneath them, this was a game of football with the highest stakes ever too.
The sports betting industry is a cutthroat business, but with this video, Stake is almost proving that they are the executioner. Their ongoing campaign called ‘It’s All at Stake’ is garnering a lot of attention which can be seen through the 200 million views their campaign has attracted so far. With their latest stunt, this number will exponentially grow in coming weeks. The World Cup is the biggest football competition in the world, and Stake decided to honour it in the right way, but also to reach an audience that were not aware of the brand before.
We can say that they have managed to do so, as it was hard to miss two massive balloons that have the capacity of towing 3.000kg each, painted black, with massive Stake logos on them. To make this video a reality, balloons had enough gas to remain in the air for 60 hours. If you’re wondering how it was possible to lift an entire football field, the answer is aluminium. The 20 meter long and 1 meter wide platform was fully made out of this lightweight material. The field was also artificially made, synthetic, with goals and markings all done to resemble a real football field. The same as on the balloons the green field was marked with a big Stake logo too.
Playing football at this attitude was a real wonder of the game, and a feat never achieved before, but what @nathanroq, @papisafari, @nicolo.contrada, @yasminxavierrr, @sara_vvidal and @carolchafauzer done in the aftermath was even more impressive. As we said, all six of these influencers are involved with extreme sports. So, when the ball game was over, all of them jumped into the clouds from the platform. Of course, they have been equipped with parachutes, and the Stake’s flying football field had specially designed anchors intended for parachutists.
While it was an impressive feat to lift the artificial field into the sky, and fly it at 10,000 feet, it was not easy to play football at that altitude. Also, none of the named influencers are professional ball players. Yet, they gave their best. Passes were exchanged, the balls were juggled in the air, and a couple of goals were scored and celebrated. Nathan Roque was the one who took the game farthest as he decided that 10,000 feet is the right place to have a crossbar challenge. After completing it, he went to the edge of the platform and jumped down.
Carol Chafauzer had a different idea, and she decided to take a penalty kick. After scoring, Carol asked her fans to rate her skill from the dead ball. The same way as Roque, after scoring from the penalty spot and achieving her goal, she descended into the clouds. She wrapped up her section of the video by saying that you will not see a better PK today. Considering that we saw a few penalty misses at this WC, most notably the one by Lionel Messi, maybe footballers playing at the World Cup should be taking notes.
While Messi missed a PK against Austria, he might be one of the rare players in the world who does not require instructions on how to score goals. The diminutive Argentine has been the tournament’s best goalscorer to date, after scoring five goals in two appearances. With one more match to go in the group stages, he might be close to being the best scorer in the tourney as Aguero predicted in Stake’s initial promo video. Of course, it remains unclear whether Messi will feature vs. Jordan as Argentina already secured the No1 spot in the Group J of the world cup. While he might miss this duel, we are sure he will continue to dominate for the rest of the tournament, as Argentina remains one of the favourites to win it all with their odds being set at 7.50 at Stake.
Ahead of them we have Spain, whose odds are set at 7.00, with the reigning EURO champions being close to repeating the success their national team achieved in time span from 2008 to 2012 when they won two EUROs and one World Cup, and all of it with Stake’s ambassador Iker Casillas captaining the team. As of now, the biggest favourite to take the trophy home remains France, with their odds set at 4.50. The 2018 winners, and 2022 final losers, Les Blues are having an impressive run for the past decade that saw them win both EUROs and the WC under Didier Deschamps.