PokerStars Focussing Heavily on Celebrity Endorsements

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Friday, February 2nd, 2018 | Written by Shane Larson

A massive gap has opened up between the sponsorship approaches being taken by PokerStars and its next nearest rivals 888poker and PartyPoker. Whereas its competitors continue recruiting top pros to their sites, including the likes of Isaac Haxton, Philipp Gruissem and 2014 WSOP Main Event champion Martin Jacobson (888), PokerStars, in the meantime, has gone in the opposite direction and this year ended its sponsorship deals with some of the biggest names in the game.

Contract Renewals

Soon after sponsorship contracts at PokerStars came up for renewal at the start of 2018, the poker headlines were soon inundated with the news of players such as Vanessa Selbst, Felipe Ramos, Jason Mercier, and Bertrand Grospellier ending their tenures with the company, the latter of whom had been with PokerStars for 11.5 years.

Over the years, however, PokerStars has established relationships with an increasing number of sports and television personalities, including Rafael Nadal, Ronaldo, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Neymar Jr, and more recently the comedian Kevin Hart and retired Jamaican sprinting champion Usain Bolt.

Change in Strategy

So what is behind the dramatic change in strategy by PokerStars? Well, Daniel Negreanu, who is not only a member of Team PokerStars but also a chief spokesperson for the brand explained on Twitter a few days ago:

“The landscape has changed drastically since the “golden era. It’s less about winning events, and more about what you can do to bring new players into the game. The Twitch streamers have figured that out.”

In other words, during the poker boom era PokerStars was focused upon inspiring people to take up the game and aspire to one day becoming professional players, or at least earning some decent money as their skills improved. Having top pros such as Selbst and Mercier constantly reaching the end stages of tournaments sporting PokerStars logos subsequently proved an effective way of drawing more people to the site.

Over the past few years, however, the emphasis has shifted onto attracting recreational players to the site as a way of having fun, and unfortunately for professional players they are no longer seen as a prized commodity by PokerStars. In fact, they are often viewed as a hindrance to the ecosystem’s development, as seen by the overhaul of its rewards program away from high volume play by grinders in order to better cater to recreational players more interested in having fun and social interactions around the table.

Kevin Hart

Without a doubt, Kevin Hart now occupies a central role in the marketing campaign of PokerStars, not just in terms of the variety of commercials and videos released featuring him, but also at the numerous live poker tournaments which he has attended and taken part in over the past year. After one such appearance recently, one twitter poster by the name of Cliffy Tone felt inspired to write:

“Same poker show: Kevin Hart just went all in vs a better hand and caught a STRAIGHT on the turn!!! Took a lil victory lap too! Makes me wanna step my poker game back up!”

As the world’s highest paid comedian, Hart brings a sense of fun and mayhem to the venues he attends, and is prepared to do almost anything for laughs. PokerStars has even got Hart to produce a series of tutorials videos for beginning poker players, but instead of focusing solely on strategy, he also concentrates on a range of other interesting aspects of the game, such as etiquette and tells. As the promotion for the series states:

“Kevin Hart is going back to the start in an attempt to teach you how to play poker.. the Kevin Hart way. So throw away your push/fold charts, ditch your M calculations and get ready for a lesson in poker like you’ve never seen before.”

Twitch

Similarly, Twitch has proved to be a fun and exciting platform for recreational players to watch some of their favorite players showcasing their online skills, while providing entertaining analysis and chat to keep viewers constantly engaged in the action. Over the years players such as Jason Somerville, and Randy Lew have been instrumental in attracting huge numbers of viewers and bridging the gap between online poker and eSports. More recent Twitch streamers helping to bring online poker to a wider audience includes the likes of Lex Veldhuis and Jaime Staples, both of whom now have lucrative sponsorship deals in place with PokerStars as part of its Team Online.