(PRESS RELEASE) -- Team
PokerStars SportStars Neymar Jr and Ronaldo Nazario are wowing the internet with a playful battle of one-upmanship as part of a PokerStars social media campaign named #raiseit, created by leading poker operator,
PokerStars.com, an Amaya brand.
The #raiseit campaign, which was kicked-off by the Brazilian football legends, encourages their social media fans to challenge friends using the #raiseit hashtag. So far four video duels have been released by Neymar Jr and Ronaldo, already achieving more than 19 million organic views, over 100,000 shares and over 1.1 million likes on their Facebook channels.
The first video launched by Neymar Jr shows the Brazilian captain’s incredible football technique, hitting a difficult shot into the boot of a parked car. Ronaldo Nazario followed up by shooting a football into the back of an accelerating car.
The campaign embraces the global popularity and social media reach of PokerStars ambassadors Neymar Jr and Ronaldo Nazario (approx. 65 million Facebook fans combined) and encourages fans, friends, peers and the public to #raiseit in a number of social duelling videos comprising sport, skilful stunts and tricks.
Neymar Jr said: "I love the adrenaline rush and excitement you get from challenging others, but it’s just as rewarding setting challenges for yourself. The #raiseit videos feature many things that we all do in everyday life and it really pushes the boundaries with encouraging people to try crazy new tricks and hone their skills. Creating the #raiseit videos has been a lot of fun and I’m looking forward to see what the internet does in response."
Simon Tilbury, Associate Director of Advertising for PokerStars, said "The #raiseit campaign encourages individuals to up the stakes by outsmarting a friend, a hero, or even a stranger. With #raiseit Neymar Jr and Ronaldo are essentially playing poker, but without the chips and cards. Poker skills transcend to many areas of life as reaching any personal goal takes patience, focus, determination and courage. We’re used to seeing poker players #raiseit on the felt, but the essence can be applied to any scenario or talent. We are extremely pleased with the huge number of views, high engagement scores and internet responses to the videos so far and look forward to seeing this continue."
#raiseit videosThe likes of top Spanish golfer Sergio Garcia and #1 ranked American poker professional Jason Mercier have also recorded videos looking to #raiseit to the next level. All #raiseit videos, including content from freestyle footballers Andrew Henderson, Raquel Benetti, Séan Garnier and Team PokerStars Pro members Andre Akkari, Fatima Moreira de Melo, Felipe ‘Mojave’ Ramos, Liv Boeree and Vanessa Selbst, can be viewed at www.nowraiseit.com.
Team PokerStars SportsStarsNeymar Jr and Ronaldo Nazario are part of a team of poker-playing athletes called PokerStars SportStars. Other members of the team include Portuguese football superstar Cristiano Ronaldo and Olympic Gold-winning field hockey captain Fatima Moreira de Melo.