Alexandru Teodorescu is part of the affiliate team behind BetBrain, a well-known odds comparison site giving a Alexandru-Betbrainbreakdown of 158 bookmakers and betting exchanges across the globe, with coverage of mostly every sporting event in the world at any time.
BetBrain started as a hobby project, exploring and testing various verticals with the goal of comparing odds and assisting consumers. Once their service proved its potential to punters and sportsbooks were on board too, the project was off, and BetBrain was born.
Alexandru was at the London Affiliate Conference at the beginning of 2011 and is also the winner of a signed jersey from the Sevilla FC team, which was being offered by 12BET.com at the Income Access booth. We took some time to chat with Alexandru about his odds comparison business, his strategy for attending conferences, what matters most when partnering with an affiliate programme—and well, we enjoyed speaking with Alexandru so much, we kept asking him more questions about being a successful affiliate, and he kept on answering. :)Janice Scrim: Were you surprised about winning the prize?Alexandru Teodorescu: Well, I knew the odds weren’t so bad against me. Maybe 200 cards collected and 20 prizes given away? Odds of 10 are more than good for prize draws :)JS: Well, you really do have betting on the brain :) Do you have a lucky streak or was this win unusual for you?
AT: I am not that much (anymore) into participating in games of chance, so this was my first win in a long time. The last time I got lucky was in 2008, when I won some tickets to a Kylie Minogue concert, although I am not really a fan of hers.JS: If not a Kylie Minogue fan, are you a sports fan, then?AT: I am the kind of person that enjoys being part of the action rather than watching it. I’m not a sports fan, but I always enjoy playing basketball, pool, table tennis or chess.JS: You were at the London Affiliate Conference—was it your first time?AT: It was my first time representing BetBrain, but I was there last year as well, when I was looking to meet the right people and get help for market research on the Romanian online betting market.JS: In terms of conferences, what’s up next?AT: The next one on the agenda is EGR’s Power Affiliates, and afterwards the iGaming Super Show in Dublin. There might also be something in between, perhaps one of Rasmus Soejmark’s SBC gatherings in London.JS: What is your strategy at these events? Are you a browser, or do you target affiliate programmes?AT: My strategy is to always meet as many existing and potential new partners as possible. With BetBrain currently having over 50 partners, and the entire commercial team residing in Bucharest, these events come in very handy because they provide the much needed face-to-face meeting opportunity.JS: What was your favorite booth this time around?AT: I can’t say I had a favourite booth, but I appreciated that many exhibitors did a very good job in coming up with creative ideas for generating some buzz around their booths. For instance, Bodog’s cocktail bar looked awesome, ComeOn’s espresso was top quality and Income Access’ line-up of operators was great, as I was able to meet many of our partners in one single place, rather than having to chase them around.JS: How long have you been an affiliate?AT: BetBrain is actually the oldest odds comparison alive, having been launched in 2000.JS: What verticals do you promote?AT: BetBrain is currently focusing on the sports betting vertical. However, BetBrain also took part in the creation of the EveryMatrix group, which provides key B2B services ranging from sportsbook white label solutions to banner systems, payment processing systems or affiliate systems. Their latest product addition is in our area, a mobile sportsbook add on for existing operators. That’s also going to help us bring BetBrain to a mobile platform very soon.JS: Any favorite strategies or tools?AT: BetBrain’s favourite strategy is innovation. We always try to think ahead of our times and come up with new features. Not all of them enjoy the same success, but we at least pride ourselves with giving it a try – that’s what pioneers do. We also think that size does matter, that’s why we collect odds from as many bookmakers, sports and markets as possible, while investing a lot of resources into making the process fast and accurate.JS: What do you think the biggest challenge is that you face as an affiliate?AT: The biggest challenge we have is keeping up with the ever growing competition. When I joined BetBrain half a decade ago, there were less than half a dozen serious players on the odds comparison market. Now there’s a multitude of odds comparisons around, each providing its distinctive set of features and layout, and appealing to a specific audience. Competition is fierce, but we’re trying our best to stay above it.JS: When it comes to partnering with affiliate programmes, what’s most important to you?AT: For me, the two most important aspects when partnering with new operators are the credibility of the operator – we don’t want to promote scam bookmakers – and finding the common ground that allows the building of a long-lasting and mutually beneficial partnership.JS: What are you looking forward to most in 2011?AT: I look forward to seeing many new features on BetBrain, and thus boosting our traffic. We have a huge wish list and I hope to see as much as possible from that going live in the shortest time possible. Nice features bring in more traffic, and more traffic translates to better business opportunities :)JS: Any shout outs to favorite partners (affiliate programmes or 3rd parties or fellow affiliates or family members) who have helped you find success?AT: The biggest credit – and thanks – goes to Ebbe Groes, the CEO, who took some chances when he asked me to head the commercial department – with myself coming from a rather technical background. Apparently, it was a good decision to do so as I now speak both tech and sales languages J
You can check out Betbrain.com for information on odds available anywhere on the Internet, and check out some pretty cool tools and features they have to assist players in betting.
Like Alexandru, we’re also headed to Dublin for the iGaming Super Show (IGSS) in May—and we’re bound to have more great affiliate prizes and partners in store.Follow us on Facebook for the full scoop on where we’ll be and what we’ll help give away at IGSS.
