William Hill and the switch to brand-led marketing

For as long as there has been an egaming industry, marketing executives have talked of the shift to brand-led strategies. And the industry has sat, listened and continued to pour money into direct-response digital. It’s an area where theory has significantly run ahead of practise so far, and it makes William Hill’s new ad campaign all the more intriguing.

The campaign is billed as the first of its kind for the operator, with an artfully shot, black and white TV spot that shifts away from the call-to-action advertising the industry is flooded with. The firm said the campaign was “weighted towards more post-watershed TV spots as well as cinema and outdoor” as the industry gears up for the whistle-to-whistle ban later this year and the whole TV advertising debate becomes more toxic in the UK.

This is a problem partly of the industry’s own creation. In both Sweden and 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 both regulatory changes and self-regulation.

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 then 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. But does that really mean the brave new era of brand advertising is finally here?

Don’t call it a comeback

Well, frankly, no. For a start let’s not get overly carried away with this Hills campaign, which is an initial six-week run leading up to the next Joshua fight. And while Hills talk of a first-of-its-kind strategy, this is an operator that has led with softer campaigns in the past and its tagline “The Home of Betting” is not the most in your face in the market. And William Hill’s brand ranked higher than all its competition in a recent survey.

This isn’t about building a brand as much as redefining what William Hill means for a new audience. It speaks more to the challenges of a huge established business such as William Hill in the current market. How does it gain share from a market where most brands look and act the same? The advertising environment is getting more restrictive, and it couldn’t come at a worse time for brands trying to gain share.

Cut through is more difficult than ever, customer loyalty is harder to find, customer values are falling, and most betting brands try and speak (or shout) about similar tangible benefits. It also ignores the fact that bet365 has been more brand focused for much of the past two years. There is a misconception that the bet365 brand still screams at its customers to bet now, but for the last two seasons it’s been reliant on a more subtle product approach. But is this a luxury bet365 with its established position and its market leading apps and trading, can afford other that others cannot?

This is still a market where product matters a great deal, and arguably a great deal more than brand. Revenue growth achievements are often overly weighted towards brand by industry observers looking on, but behind every great brand there is always a great product. Can a bet with William Hill feel different to one with Ladbrokes or bet365 or Sky Bet in any intangible way if the product doesn’t offer a better customer experience?

The William Hill puzzle

The question is also where William Hill fits into the current UK market. Based on recent initiatives, William Hill appears to be aiming squarely at the Sky Bet mass market customer cohort and that fits in with this softer approach. The move to capture a lower spending, but larger customer segment will be led by a brand-based strategy and will move the market yet more in favour of scale players. But it raises an interesting thought about just how big this recreational mass market gambling sector can be.

Sky Bet has over 2m active customers, with over 50% of those only using Sky Bet, so there is likely significant potential for market share gains from capturing some of that wallet share. But are there another 2-3m of these customers in the market for rival firms to build a business of similar scale? And is it a customer base most businesses are catered to serve? It’s a segment of the market that won’t as easily fit into the metrics the industry is built on too, with customer yields, average staking and UX expectations that are different to the industry is used to.

One of the stated goals for digital in William Hill’s end of year presentation was a “clear William Hill brand position and strong value perception”. The tagline of the new ad emphasises Hills heritage and history in the UK and this feels like a strong brand pillar to build on. But more important than this will be how it 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.