Customers · Case Study
How William Hill delivered real-time personalisation in the biggest moments of the 2026 FIFA World Cup
William Hill wanted to give every player a personalised experience throughout the 2026 World Cup, from kick-off to full-time and beyond. Future Anthem made that possible in real time, using each player’s own behaviour to shape what they saw. The result: a 42% open rate across William Hill’s World Cup campaigns, 40% higher than their typical non-bonus emails.
Future Anthem Modules
Dynamic Audiences · Content Recommendations
Challenge: minute-by-minute shifts
The 2026 FIFA World Cup compressed 104 matches, across 48 teams, into just 39 days, with intent shifting constantly between matches, markets and bet types, minute by minute. The same pattern plays out at every major event, from Cheltenham to the Masters to March Madness.
A bet settling in-game. A line-up surprise. A risk of elimination from Final One Standing. A goal scored. Moments happening constantly, all tournament long, all requiring action in real time.
On top of that: a genuine cold-start problem. A once-every-four-years event means there’s no recent World Cup history to lean on, making relevant recommendations only possible with a solution that works from the live event stream.
Processing that volume of behavioural data, interpreting player intent, and deciding what to show or send in the moment required something new: granular, gambling-specific decisioning, live.
Personalised World Cup wrap-ups achieved
42%
Open rate
40%
Increased open rate compared to non-bonus emails
“Future Anthem’s real-time AI platform used granular player data to deliver personalised experiences at a scale we’d never had before, lifting open rates by 40% throughout the World Cup.”
INSIGHTS FROM
Séamus Nolan, CRM Strategy Manager, William Hill
During the match
Real-time marketing triggers
William Hill could act the instant a player progressed through a round of Final One Standing: WC26 Edition, or was at risk of being eliminated through inactivity, powered by Future Anthem’s live match and game event data.
Milestone moments
Individual player moments, such as winning streaks, broken streaks and returns after inactivity, triggered personalised, real-time messages automatically through William Hill’s own Bonus Drop suite.
Instant audience targeting
William Hill’s marketing team stayed in control, building and targeting groups of players instantly from live data across sports, competitions, markets, bet types and odds groupings, whenever they needed to. Together, these turned hundreds of live match events into personalised action, in the moments that drove engagement and retention.
At the moment of open
Real-time marketing triggers
William Hill could act the instant a player progressed through a round of Final One Standing: WC26 Edition, or was at risk of being eliminated through inactivity, powered by Future Anthem’s live match and game event data.
After the final whistle
Daily winners
Winning players received a congratulatory message twice a day, built using real-time data at the exact moment it was sent.
Personalised World Cup wraps
Every player received their own story of the tournament, generated automatically from their betting behaviour, milestones and gaming moments in real time at the point of open. Together, these kept the relationship going between moments, turning a month of activity into a story worth coming back for.
Integration: built into William Hill's existing stack
Messages were activated through William Hill’s existing Bloomreach setup, keeping the workflow familiar for their team.
The bet recommendations shown inside those emails worked differently: a Movable Ink pixel triggered a live call to Future Anthem’s API the moment a player opened the message, the same API that powers in-app and on-site personalisation elsewhere. The recommendation shown was never stale, even hours after the email was sent.
Results and impact
Real-time personalisation lifted open rates across William Hill’s World Cup campaigns.
42%
Open rate
40%
Increased open rate compared to non-bonus emails
"Throughout the World Cup, we launched campaigns faster and responded to player behaviour as it happened, giving every player a more relevant experience."
Séamus Nolan, CRM Strategy Manager, William Hill
Ready to power real-time personalisation for every player, in every moment?
Book a demo to see how Future Anthem powers real-time personalisation for every player, delivered in under 100 milliseconds.
"Partnering with Future Anthem has become a game changer for us.”
David Evans, Chief Product Officer, Buzz Group