SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Ladbrokes has named Atomic London its new lead creative agency in the UK to develop what it calls a ‘major new brand platform’.
The Entain-owned operator stated that the decision was made following a competitive pitch overseen by the company’s Chief Marketing Officer, Charlotte Emery.
Emery praised the depth of Atomic London’s understanding of the space that Ladbrokes occupies in both sports and gaming.
She explained: “During the pitch process, Atomic gave us a big, enduring and exciting new creative platform that will help us build fame-driving campaigns and deliver a consistent brand experience that will help resonate with new audiences. We are really excited and inspired by our shared vision for Ladbrokes’s future.”
Taking success a step further
The deal is a significant move for Ladbrokes – a company which is known for its various large-scale marketing campaigns.
For example, in 2021, after working constantly with Neverland, the bookmaker launched its Euro 2020 campaign, which was a video of a footballer trying to hit a penalty with hundreds of live drummers on the pitch. This was shortly followed by “The wait”, “Game day” and “Rocky” – another three successful ads.
Another notable campaign was during the Euros when it launched ‘Bring your Wave’ which aimed to celebrate the passion of football fans by utilising the ‘Mexican Wave’ stadium celebration
Ladbrokes also made history back in 2014 when it launched the UK’s first dedicated TV advertisement in an effort to promote responsible gambling.
Entertain of course has its own creative agency for all of its platforms – Entain Creative – but Atomic London will focus purely on the Ladbrokes brand. The campaigns will serve to generate more customers and therefore revenue for the retail and online betting brand, a core part of the wider Entain portfolio which has not been experiencing mixed results.
In other news, in March Entain published its 2024 results, which saw business units return to ‘organic growth’; however, the FTSE100 group’s yearly profits were wiped out by bottom-line impairments, write-downs, and restructuring costs totalling £860m.
For a second consecutive year, Entain declared a multi-million pound loss (after tax) for FY2024, totalling £460m. The figure further compounded the FY2023 loss of £900m, while group accounts further detailed separate impairment charges which came to £476m.
Ladbrokes’ new creative partner could quite possibly lead to an increase in revenue if more audiences are reached.
