Betfred Turns Football Delusion Into a Year-Round Platform

Every football fan believes, against all available evidence, that this is their season. Betfred has decided that is a media strategy.

The bookmaker has extended 'We The Believers' — created with lead agency DEPT and brand agency Nomad — from a World Cup burst into an always-on platform running the length of the domestic season. The shift is subtle but significant: the tournament work traded on one nation believing together, while the season version is about the far stranger, more personal faith fans hold in their own club regardless of league position or form.

At the centre is a new film from director Glenn Kitson, assembled from the overheard conversations that make up actual football fandom — the pub verdicts, the transfer-window fantasies, the tactical certainty of people who have never met the manager. The idea stretches across TV, radio, social, digital and Betfred's retail estate, with Sky as lead media partner spanning linear, Sky Pub, BVOD, YouTube, X and Sky Go.

Crucially, the work is built to flex with the calendar — derby weekends, transfer deadlines, cup rounds, the run-in — rather than front-load a launch and disappear. 'Every fan thinks this is their season. Ours too,' said Cath Ryan, head of brand and customer experience at Betfred.

There is heritage in the positioning too. Founder Fred Done built the business on a 1967 bet he placed on himself, which makes 'We The Believers' less of a tagline and more of an origin story with a media budget attached.