Stake CMO: “Instead of pushing betting messages, we create campaigns people want to watch and share”

Stake is doubling down on entertainment-first marketing as it looks to grow its global brand, with Chief Marketing Officer Akhil Sarin saying authentic partnerships and original experiences generate stronger long-term engagement than traditional advertising.

In this exclusive interview with Yogonet, Sarin discusses the company’s ambassador strategy, experiential campaigns, expansion into emerging sports, the growing role of AI, and how Stake measures success across an increasingly fragmented media landscape.

Stake has built a diverse ambassador portfolio across football, combat sports, music and action sports. What is your strategy for selecting ambassadors, and what qualities matter most beyond audience reach?

Audience size is important, but authenticity comes first. We don’t believe in purely transactional ambassador relationships. The people we work with need to genuinely understand and enjoy our product because that’s what creates credible, long-term partnerships.

One of the first conversations we have is about whether they’ve actually used products like Stake or understand the industry. If someone isn’t naturally connected to what we do, audiences see straight through it. The best partnerships feel organic because the ambassador genuinely believes in the brand.

Beyond that, we look for personalities who align with our culture and can create entertaining content rather than simply promote a product.

The global campaign “It’s All At Stake” and the floating football match stunt took very different approaches. How do you decide between celebrity-led campaigns and experiential, viral activations?

We don’t really see those as separate strategies. It’s All At Stake was our hero campaign, while activations like the floating football match extended that creative platform and kept the story alive throughout the tournament.

The campaign theme worked across multiple touchpoints. It reflected the drama of the global football event, the excitement of sports betting, and even the risk involved in playing football thousands of feet in the air.

The hero campaign created the initial impact, while experiential activations helped keep Stake part of the conversation throughout the competition rather than relying on one launch moment. 

The floating football match generated more than 200 million views in its first week. Beyond reach and engagement, what metrics define a successful campaign for Stake?

Success depends on the channel and the objective of the campaign. Every platform has different KPIs, so we don’t measure every activation the same way.

For a campaign like the floating football match, we looked at total reach alongside efficiency, particularly CPM, to understand how effectively we generated those impressions relative to production and distribution costs.

More broadly, we focus on whether a campaign achieves its intended objective on each platform rather than relying on one universal metric.

With brands competing heavily for attention during major sporting events, how does Stake create campaigns that stand out?

Our philosophy is simple: entertain first.

Instead of pushing betting messages, we create campaigns that people actually want to watch and share. The floating football match wasn’t memorable because it promoted a sportsbook; it was memorable because it was entertaining.

We also encourage ambassadors to do things audiences don’t expect. Whether it’s Eden Hazard stepping outside his usual personality or other creators taking part in unexpected concepts, those moments become conversation starters.

Being culturally relevant and creating entertainment gives us a much stronger opportunity to stand out than relying on traditional advertising.

Stake has expanded into action sports through partnerships with X Games, Street League Skateboarding and Nyjah Huston. What role do emerging sports play in your long-term marketing strategy?

Emerging sports are a major part of our strategy because today’s niche audiences often become tomorrow’s mainstream audiences.

Sports like skateboarding have incredibly passionate communities, and athletes like Nyjah Huston have social audiences that rival some of the world’s biggest traditional sports stars. We also saw this with MMA, which has grown into one of the world’s biggest sports over the past decade.

When we enter a sport, we don’t just sign one partnership and move on – we believe in saturation. We invest across multiple athletes, events and activations so we can become a meaningful part of that community rather than simply having a logo present.

How have platforms like YouTube, Instagram and X changed the way Stake develops and measures marketing campaigns?

The biggest change has been in how we develop content rather than how we measure it.

Every platform evolves, so our creative strategy has to evolve with it. As audiences shifted from long-form video towards formats like YouTube Shorts and short-form social content, we adapted our campaigns accordingly.

One thing that hasn’t changed is the importance of distribution. Great content only succeeds if people actually see it.

That’s why we work closely with media partners and major social publishers to amplify campaigns beyond our own channels. Distribution is just as important as creation because frequency and reach are what turn great creative into memorable cultural moments.

Looking ahead, how do you see Stake’s marketing strategy evolving? Are there any new sports, technologies, or partnership models you are particularly excited about?

We’ll continue looking for opportunities to create original entertainment rather than simply sponsoring existing events. Some of our most successful campaigns have come from creating unique experiences that audiences naturally want to share, generating enormous organic reach.

Technology will also play a significant role. AI is already helping us improve internal efficiency, accelerate campaign development, and scale our marketing operations across the business. That’s probably the biggest shift I’ve seen in my career.

Ultimately, our strategy will continue to centre on creating entertaining experiences that spark curiosity. If you can capture people’s attention through entertainment, you create the opportunity for them to discover the brand, and that’s where meaningful growth begins.