The ICE Session That Shows You How to Drive Growth with AI in 2026
- Tuesday 20 January
- 2:05pm
- Room CC5.2
- Two AI Breakthroughs Changing Customer Acquisition (2026 Edition)
From 19–21 January, our team — Managing Director Justin Deaville, Digital Creative Manager Liam Piroddi-Crean, and Senior Growth Manager Simon Loughlin — will be in Barcelona for ICE 2026.
And this year, we’re bringing more than just conversation.
We’re on stage to share how AI is already transforming discovery, creative, and customer acquisition — and how operators can adapt now to stay competitive.
The session covers two key shifts we’re seeing accelerate in regulated markets:
How AI is reshaping brand discovery
How creative can now be tested, scaled and improved faster than ever
It’s designed for operators and marketers looking to drive growth in a more competitive, more regulated 2026.
Planning your day at ICE? Make sure we’re on your schedule.
Want to go deeper?
We’re also running 1:1 Creative Audits throughout the event.
If you want tailored feedback on your current campaigns, what’s holding back your performance, and where AI could help — Book your slot here.
Two AI Breakthroughs Changing Customer Acquisition
Justin and Liam’s session, “Two AI Breakthroughs Changing Customer Acquisition (2026 Edition)”, digs into two shifts we’re seeing accelerate dramatically across iGaming and betting.
If you care about growth in an increasingly competitive, regulated environment, both matter more than ever.
1. AI Discovery is Changing the Game
Search behaviour is changing fast.
AI tools like ChatGPT are no longer fringe platforms — they’re becoming primary discovery channels, particularly for younger audiences. When users ask questions like “What’s the best betting app?” or “Which sportsbook should I use?”, they’re increasingly getting one AI-generated answer, not ten blue links.
That creates a very different competitive reality.
We recently tested all 50 UK betting operators across a range of common discovery queries. The result was stark:
Just six operators consistently appeared in AI recommendations
44 were effectively invisible
In a world where discovery shifts from competition to selection, you’re either visible — or you’re not.
Justin’s part of the session breaks down:
Where AI tools are pulling brand signals from
Why traditional SEO alone won’t save you
How brand positioning directly impacts AI visibility
What actually drives the difference between dominant brands and invisible ones
This isn’t theory. It’s based on real competitive data, tested frameworks, and what’s working right now.
2. Creative production has been transformed
Discovery is only half the battle. Once users find you, you still need to convert them — efficiently.
That’s where Liam takes over.
In regulated markets, creative testing has historically been slow, expensive, and operationally painful. Every variation means new builds, new compliance reviews, and new legal sign-offs. So most teams do what they’ve always done: commit big budgets and hope the creative works.
AI has changed that equation.
Today, operators can:
Produce 20+ creative variations from a single approved template
Test systematically with real audiences in days, not months
Validate what actually converts before scaling spend
Take proven winners into expensive offline channels with confidence
The best-performing operators are flipping the traditional workflow entirely:
digital proves, offline scales.
Liam walks through:
Why the old creative model breaks down in regulated markets
How AI removes the operational barriers to testing
The isolation principle (changing one variable at a time)
A real case study showing how digital validation led to offline success
The result? Faster learning, less waste, and better performance at scale.
Practical frameworks, not hype
What ties both halves of the session together is a focus on practical application.
You won’t hear vague promises about “AI transformation”. You’ll see:
Competitive visibility data from UK operators
Clear frameworks for AI-driven discovery (including GEO and CITE)
A repeatable creative testing model that works in regulated environments
Honest lessons from what’s worked — and what hasn’t
As Justin puts it: “This is brand marketing for the AI era.”
Speaking details
📍 ICE Barcelona
🗓 20 January
⏰ 2:05pm
🎤 Two AI Breakthroughs Changing Customer Acquisition (2026 Edition)
If customer acquisition, efficiency, and creative performance are on your agenda for 2026, it’s a session worth catching.
Creative Audits at ICE Barcelona
Alongside the talk, Justin and Liam will also be running Creative Audits throughout the event.
These are 30-minute sessions for marketers who want a fresh perspective on:
How their creative is really performing
Where testing is breaking down
How AI could help teams move faster without sacrificing compliance
What to prioritise to make creative work harder in 2026
Slots are limited — and they’re already filling up fast.
Book your creative audit today.
Barcelona, here we come. See you at ICE — adiós👋
Can’t make it to Barcelona?
If you won’t be joining us at ICE this year, you won’t miss out.
We’ll be releasing a webinar version of the session shortly after the event, covering the same insights, data, and practical frameworks around AI-driven discovery, creative efficiency, and customer acquisition in 2026.
Keep an eye out — we’ll share full details soon.
