In 2009 Betfair became the Official Betting Partner of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and appointed Synergy to develop and manage their experiential, PR and digital activation around the Ashes Test Series, the year’s biggest sporting event. The campaign strategy harnessed the shared values between Betfair’s unique person-to-person betting platform (where fans bet against each other rather than against a bookmaker) and the natural rivalry of the Ashes series.

To bring the campaign to life Synergy recruited former Ashes legends - Phil ‘The Cat’ Tufnell and Jason ‘Dizzy’ Gillespie - to go head-to-head in five adrenalin-fuelled challenges:

• Pedalo racing in Cardiff Bay


• Extreme lawn mower racing at Lord’s


• The Betfair Stakes horse race at Warwick race course


• Zorbing in Yorkshire


• A 6-aside cricket match

The losing legend was paraded around the Oval with the opposing nation's flag painted on to their body. A dedicated website, www.fanvfan.com (created in conjunction with Engine agency Altogether) was developed for fans to watch the Betfair Challenges, enter competitions and follow our two fearless Ambassadors on Twitter.

Synergy organised each challenge and ran a comprehensive media campaign resulting in written, broadcast and digital coverage including features in the Guardian, The Sun, Metro, Telegraph.co.uk and Sky Sports News. To deliver the FanvFan message at Test Match Grounds, Synergy developed the Betfair Rivals Zone giving England and Australian cricket fans the opportunity to take each other on in a rivalry-themed game.