Analysis: Is brand-led advertising en vogue?

In April 2019, William Hill recruited then-boxing champ Anthony Joshua to lead a new-look TV advertising campaign that focused on the operator’s brand heritage and safer gambling initiatives. London-born Joshua became a William Hill brand ambassador back in 2018, but this was the first time the heavyweight had been used in an above-the-line (ATL) ad campaign by the operator.

Hills also used the six-week-long creative to promote safer gambling messages – the first time RG messaging had been integrated this way by the operator. All of this was part of a new brand-led strategy that had come right from the very top: Hills’ global brand and marketing director Charlotte Emery.

Emery, who has extensive marketing experience in other ‘vice’ industries, arrived at William Hill in November 2018 from British American Tobacco. Alcoholic drink manufacturer Bacardi also registers on her impressive CV, and Hills’ approach to marketing changed almost instantly, with Emery reporting in to chief digital officer and former Betsson CEO, Ulrik Bengtsson.

Bengtsson said at the time: “Charlotte is a great addition to the team and her role is a key one as we continue to expand the international reach of the business. Her extensive experience in regulated markets like tobacco and alcohol is beneficial and we look forward to her implementing our brand marketing strategy across the business.”

A new direction

At the beginning of 2019, Hills promised to refocus its media buying and planning efforts in the UK market and soon delivered on this promise by terminating its relationship with several creative marketing agencies. The operator’s seven-year relationship with Leeds-based Bark & Bite, the brains behind the ‘Take Control’ campaign, ended in June, while Hills switched its UK media account to WPP’s Wavemaker from previous incumbents Vizeum.

“We wish Charlotte all the best in her new role and delivering a new vision for the brand,” said Bark & Bite MD Christian Knowles-Fitton, and Emery wasted no time in signing with 72andSunny Amsterdam as Hills’ new European creative and marketing agency. “Our industry is changing at a rapid pace and it is important for us to be at the forefront of the conversation,” said Emery. “To achieve our new approach, we needed a new creative partner, and 72andSunny best illustrated their understanding of our brand and how we can create an emotional connection with our target audience in a fun and responsible way,” she added.

Every major play by Emery since she first joined the operator has been made with a view to further embed a brand- led approach to marketing for William Hill. It began with the black and white Joshua advert, supported by a moving soundtrack and an increased focus on heritage, ending with the tagline:  ‘Heavyweights since 1934’. Hills has the brand, particularly in the UK, to pull this off, but it is also a case of seeking self- regulation before facing enforcement, as the clampdown on betting advertising and call-to-action marketing shows no signs of abating any time soon – in any global gambling market.

“No one can afford to rest on their laurels in this regulatory environment and people are beginning to realise that shouty TV ads telling people to bet immediately are not the way to go anymore,” says industry PR expert Alex Donohue. This view is supported by Eilers & Krejcik analyst Alun Bowden, who believes the acceleration in brand-led marketing is an obvious result of regulatory pressure.

“This is a problem partly of the industry’s own creation,” says Bowden. “In the UK, competition is fierce and there has been a decade or more of escalating marketing wars. The collateral damage has been a large minority of viewers who are somewhat tired of what they perceive as an onslaught of gambling advertising, and as such we’re seeing regulatory changes and self-regulation.” He adds: “There is undoubtedly a growing discontent with the volume and the tone of gambling advertising in the UK market, and operators would be wise to pay attention and try and be ahead of the curve on this one. The temptation is to look at this as the first step in a wider industry march towards brand-led, softer-sell, mass-market advertising. Less shouting, more gentle persuasion.”

“In my opinion, brand-led campaigns translate more effectively to above the line, especially social media, PR and TV, more so than a performance marketing environment” – Alex Donohue, PR expert

If this trend does indeed continue as Bowden predicts, will William Hill’s UK rivals be able to compete? Brand ambassadors like AJ are hard to come by and don’t come cheap. “If you are an operator with a strong brand then great, you’ve got something to play with,” says Donohue. “But for some smaller operators that don’t have that established brand, it becomes far more difficult. Price, product and promotion remain the only thing they’ve really got to go on.”

Industry commentators have often been quoted as saying that price is brand and product is brand. Smaller operators might be able to gain a short-term advantage by honing their advertising in on both, while the market leaders are concentrating solely on a pivot to brand marketing. Donohue adds: “This might create a window of opportunity for operators that choose to keep banging on about price and promotions. If the rest of the industry is deciding to move away from that, there could be gains there,” he adds.

According to Bowden, Hills is right to emphasise its heritage and history in the UK as both are an obvious asset. But with Hills’ brand visibility already stronger than most in the market, perhaps the operator could find more significant gains by devoting the same amount of resources to creating a truly differential online gambling experience for punters. “More important than brand will be how Hills continues to work towards its other goals of a better product and better more personalised customer experience. This still feels like the bigger battle it needs to fight and one that remains a bigger challenge than brand in 2019,” he explains.

Both sides of the coin

Recruiting an extremely marketable household name like Anthony Joshua as a brand ambassador and putting them at the heart of a glossy, new-look TV ad series is a smart move by Hills and also a luxury they can afford. Operators with bigger marketing coffers can really stand out on TV, but below-the-line, almost every UK operator, regardless of size, is using the same tried-and-tested marketing techniques. Can William Hill squeeze some extra value out of their AJ investment by integrating that brand image on below-the-line messaging? Would that even work?

Anthony Joshua, William Hill’s ambassador

Donohue isn’t so sure. “In my opinion, brand-led campaigns translate more effectively to above the line, especially social media, PR and TV, more so than a performance marketing environment,” he says. “That means for operators who still use affiliate channels, PPC and similar, as their primarily customer recruitment channel, they may not need to worry about spending lots of money on the above-the-line brand campaigns as they can stick to what they know works for them behind the scenes.”

Marketing teams at betting operators have a budget. That budget, no matter how limited, will be expected to generate NDCs and hit KPIs set by management. Bowden believes that toiling between investing in an above-the-line or below-the-line strategy is an age-old dilemma. “For as long as there has been an egaming industry, marketing execs have talked of the shift to brand-led strategies, and the industry has sat, listened and continued to pour money into direct-response digital,” he notes. “It’s an area where theory has significantly run ahead of practice so far, and this is something that makes William Hill’s new ad campaign all the more intriguing.”

Bounce back

A key component for any brand-led strategy to work is narrative. Hills now has an abundance of that to work with after Joshua’s totally unexpected defeat to Andy Ruiz Jr in New York in June. Previously undefeated, Joshua lost by TKO in the seventh round, losing all four of his heavyweight titles. The result was considered one of the biggest upsets in the history of boxing and it perhaps takes some of the gloss away from the operator’s leading ambassador. But from a Hills perspective, the comeback campaign surely writes itself – it’s an open goal for the marketing department. Watch this space.