THE BUSINESS OF SA20: MARK ROWLES

As the SA20 title partner, Betway brought innovation and fanfare to the six stadiums with the introduction of Betway Catch 2 Million in Season 1. Following on from the success of the first season's campaign, Betway Catch 2 Million will be making an anticipated return when the competition kicks off on 10 January 2024, along with more additions to give the spectators and viewers at home added incentive. Betway Head of Marketing, Mark Rowles, gives insight into some of the exciting fan engagement activations to look out for in Season 2.  

Why did Betway partner with SA20?  

These are opportunities that don’t come up often. To be part of something new, to be part of something that I think is extremely different, those were the exciting parts for us. We want to be an exciting brand, we want to give back to the fans, we want to change the game of it. Everything SA20 told us about what they hoped SA20 would be came true in the first season, we were excited to be a part of it. They convinced us that they were going to bring fun and entertainment to cricket, all those things really resonated with our brand.   

What made Betway Catch R2 Million such a hit?  

The momentum of the competition was just unbelievable! I remember the day distinctly when three catches were taken at Centurion in a space of about 15 minutes. Graeme Smith phoned me and said, “We've got to do something, how do we help amplify this? How do we take it up? Are we doubling the prize money?” The beautiful part about the competition and about the spontaneity of it is that we were able to say, “You know what, this thing is going really well, we actually want to come to the party and add an extra value”. From there it turned from Catch 1 Million to Catch 2 Million, it gave us a whole new PR thrust during the tournament. It was great, the reception was huge, I think again it gave people another reason to engage with Betway and with the competition.  

Will we see it returning in Season 2?   

For season 2, we are taking Betway Catch 2 Million up a notch. We are going to be introducing a game on our site, called ‘Game of Zones’. For every sports bet that you place on the site, you'll get a free opportunity to predict where you think the catch will be taken in the next Betway SA20 game. Every stadium will be split into fours and anybody who predicts the right zone, and a catch is taken that is qualified and signed off by the commentators, will then go into a lucky draw to become one extra member of the Catch Two Million Crew at the end. We will be hosting those winners as VIPs at the Final, there's going to be a whole lot of extra bells and whistles and anybody who gets that selection correct is also going to be getting something extra from Betway. It is another way that we're hoping to engage with the cricket fans, engage with the community, make sure that this is something that really adds to what was a successful campaign in Season 1.