The category competes on sign-up bonuses. We showed up with Vegas.

Vegas wasn't a look to apply, it was a feeling to build into the product. Tiered rewards, a trophy case, an exclusive Lions Club, and a platform—Find Your Roar, that gave a third-place sportsbook a voice of its own.

ROLE:

New Business Pitch Leadership · Creative Direction · Art Direction · Partner Agency Direction

CLIENT:

BetMGM

AGENCY:

BASIC/DEPT

SCOPE:

Brand platform, OOH, digital, app, website, activation, experiential, social, design system

THE CHALLENGE:

Sports betting leans on sign-up bonuses to pull people in, which leaves every brand sounding identical. BetMGM had slipped to third in the category. The opportunity was sitting in the name: draw on the MGM roots and build something that felt undeniably Vegas.

WHAT I DID:

The ask started in a company slack channel…partner agency Highdive wanted to know if anyone had time to throw a few ideas at a sports betting pitch. It was just a handful of ways to uplevel the app and digital presence. I pulled in two designers and delivered that plus a design language for the entire pitch. It came back fast enough and finished enough that it turned into a much bigger assignment. Led the platform. I directed a design and experience team of six and co-created Find Your Roar with Highdive, developing the strategic design pillars that shaped every decision: luxury, high-rolling, celebration, sophistication. Showed them how Vegas lives in a product. Tiered rewards, a trophy case, an exclusive Lions Club. By the end the deck showed the system running across OOH, digital, app, website, new-user activation, and experiential. Proof the brand could scale, and a clear feel for what it could become.

IMPACT:

· Won the business

· The platform led to BetMGM's first-ever Super Bowl spot, produced by Highdive

· That Super Bowl activity posted a 393% increase in impressions, a 500% increase in video view rate, and the highest single-day registration and deposit total of any Super Bowl Sunday to date

· I was asked back to freelance on the account