Meet Our 2022 Speaker: Ulrich Gilot, Head of Media at Betsson Group

An interview with Ulrich Gilot, Head of Media at Betsson Group - speaker of Programmatic Pioneers Summit 2022.

What is the biggest opportunity for advertisers in digital marketing in the next 12 months and why?

I understand that the end of 3rd party cookie is arriving quickly and that this has been a topic debated many times, even at Programmatic Pioneer Summit; but I feel that the opportunity is for advertisers to really understand or even “master” the topic.

Advertisers need to re-evaluate their AdTech and media agency partnerships so that they have a suitable solution for their business needs. They must keep their eyes on recent mergers and acquisitions to understand where the industry is heading. They need to distinguish between brand building vs. activation.

And finally, they need to know how to offer the best experience to their consumers while looking through contextual targeting vs. audience targeting lenses. I feel that brand building is paramount and that the eagerness of doing more of the same at an activation level with different technology might not produce the efficiency we once experienced.

What is the most exciting aspect of attending Programmatic Pioneers Summit?

There are many exciting aspects about attending Programmatic Pioneers Summit. Firstly, if by then things get better from a pandemic perspective, we will reunite again and have an opportunity to learn and share our passion for media in person. I am thrilled to have the opportunity to finally meet some of the people I have connected with online but never met in person; but also to reconnect with some which I have known for a while.

Secondly, London is a great media acceleration hub. Hosting the event in London is already very exciting on its own because of the pool of talent that will attend Programmatic Pioneer Summit.

Finally, the topics discussed can be disruptive and trigger some reactions and ideas that each and every one of us will take back to the companies we represent.

What has been yours or your company’s most impressive achievement this year and why?

When I joined Betsson at the end of 2020 as Global Head of Media, the world was still under a strict lockdown and most of Betsson’s staff was working remotely. In my role and my global remit, it was key to establish strong and long-lasting relationships with colleagues whom I had never had a chance to meet in person for about five to six months.

So, the first thing I did is to listen and understand each market’s specific needs and challenges and make myself available. After collecting and structuring the information each of the stakeholders shared with me over those six months, I quickly realised that some of the partnerships we had in place did not respond to our regional Hub & Spoke structure. And so, our regional heads and media started to look at ways to either revisit or consolidate our relationship with our agency partners. To date, I can share with confidence that we have selected agencies that are prepared to tackle the challenges ahead of us. 2022 will be a very exciting year for media at Betsson.

From a company perspective, Betsson Group has had a great year thanks to its geographical spread. We were granted new licences in Argentina (Province of Buenos Aires), Belarus, Germany, and Greece and we expanded our operations in Latin America through the acquisition of a new brand, InkaBet. We also made a strategic investment with TG Lab (Strive Gaming) to be able to further solidify our position in the US, which we’re extremely excited about and plan to launch in Colorado during the first quarter of 2022. From a marketing side, our largest campaign was in Latin America as Betsson was the regional sponsor of CONMEBOL Copa América 2021 – a sponsorship that has further increased our brand awareness and trust in the region.

What technology are you most excited about at the moment and why?

I very much like the contextual targeting technology many AdTech companies are looking into. Google has been a pioneer ever since they launched the WonderWheel, Knowledge Graph, HummingBird. They stayed true to their very early mission statement and always made sure to serve relevant content to their audience. I feel that one of the pillars that makes Google successful is that they always aim to make their user experience simple and accurate. I like to read and to consume media but just like many, I hate being interrupted by annoying or intrusive ads that are totally out of context. So contextual targeting should become a great enabler for optimal user experience at any given moment.

To join our event in 2022, please contact us here to purchase tickets!