Paddy Power CEO Talks Branding, Porn and its ‘Appetite for Mischief’
The TheJournal.ie features an excellent interview Sunday with controversial Dublin-based Paddy Power CEO Breon Corcoran.
Paddy Power lost millions in recent weeks paying out Hillary Clinton wins ahead of the US Presidential Election. Clinton lost to her opponent Donald Trump. They likely gained that twofold through exhaustive free press, including a link to this news on the powerful Drudge Report.
Paddy Power is often best known for offending and disregard to cultural nuances.
From the Journal:
“There are cultural nuances in all these markets,” he said. “In Italy, for example, consumers tend to see gambling as a less frivolous affair than the Paddy Power brand might suggest.
We famously ran ads involving a porn star and then got feedback that gambling for our Italian customers was much more serious than that. A frivolous entertainment brand wasn’t what they wanted.
“We’ve been accused of guerrilla marketing in the past,” he said, referring to the term used for low-budget, unconventional promotions. “We think it’s largely just a fun part of the game.”
Corcoran also tells the Journal he sees the company as more of an “international business with Irish roots as opposed to a fundamentally Irish business”, especially after its near-€10 billion merger with UK rival Betfair.
- Aaron Goldstein, Gambling911.com
