Sky Vegas builds ‘authentic connection’ with casino players in new ad

Sky Betting and Gaming has released a new advertising campaign and platform for its Sky Vegas online casino brand.

Aiming to build an ‘authentic connection’ with casino players, the operator described the ad as shunning ‘overly optimistic category cliches’ with an intent to ‘celebrate the big entertainment that can be found in life’s small moments’. 

Titled ‘Play. It’s why we’re here’, the ad follows research led by Sky Vegas, with the different 30-second and 60-second adverts showcasing ordinary people going through wins and losses in ‘mundane’ life moments. 

Jonathan Lloyd, Head of Gaming, Brand and Propositions at Sky Vegas, said: “We’re thrilled to be launching our new ‘big entertainment in the small moments’ platform and shaking up the category cliches.

“Our research was conclusive; consumers feel that brands within the category don’t understand them and the existing category advertising tropes compound the distrust they already feel towards casinos.

“We aren’t only focused on the win, but all the feelings of entertainment that players get from online casinos: jeopardy, anticipation, connection – and even losing. That’s their lived experience with us, so it’s only right that we reflect that in our comms.

“We’re standing out from the category, building on the Sky brand equity, in delivering great, quality entertainment. We’re using real-world, everyday scenarios as metaphors for what Sky Vegas delivers to customers – entertainment in the small moments of the day that feels big and absorbing while you’re playing, but forgotten when they’re over.”

Produced and directed by the studio Who Wot Why, advert scenes across the campaign include a slow-motion leap over a puddle, a dramatic switch of supermarket queue and a widescreen biscuit dunk “with each small moment becoming cinematic in scale, but entirely relatable”. 

Stepping away from traditional “hype-led” advertising, the goal of Sky Vegas’ new platform is to “forge a realistic, honest and transparent connection with customers” and understand “the genuine experience of playing”. 

“The truth is, most of us play little games in life – games with a touch of jeopardy that we can win or lose and that feel ridiculously exciting in the moment,” added Sean Thompson, Executive Creative Director and Co-Founder at Who Wot Why.