William Hill leaves competitor ‘green with envy’ in Aus Open spot via Fenton Stephens and Dogboy
William Hill, the official wagering partner of the Australian Open, is continuing to boldly challenge the Australian betting establishment with a cheeky new spot via Melbourne creative agency, Fenton Stephens, and The Pound’s Dogboy.
Following on from 2015’s highly effective ‘Green With Envy‘ campaign, starring Axle Whitehead, the online bookmaker this time pokes fun at a major competitor by comparing the two worlds of tennis and betting, pointing out that the ‘old worlds’ of both are green, while the ‘new worlds’ are blue.
In the beginning of the spots, we land in the stands of the classic green 80’s courts, complete with iconic white tennis outfits (and a crowd of mullets and boob tubes), before being transported to the modern, blue world of today’s Australian Open and William Hill.
Says Alex Fenton, creative director, Fenton Stephens: “By serving up faster, easier technology for punters, William Hill has the Australian Open covered, Game, Set and Match!”
Says Emma Naylor, head of campaigns, William Hill: “With more markets available via our In-Play technology than ever before, we’re making it faster and easier for our customers to bet In-Play throughout the Australian Open and this campaign is the perfect vehicle to launch our message.”
The 30 second is supported by a 15 second retail spot, featuring Whitehead firing tennis balls at people’s screens, which also appears online.
The campaign will run throughout the lead up to, and during, the Australian Open to promote William Hill’s official sponsorship of the event.
Client – William Hill
William Hill Marketing Director – Warren Hebard
William Hill Head of Campaigns – Emma Naylor
William Hill Acquisition Manager – James Burroughs
Creative Agency – Fenton Stephens
Creative Director – Alex Fenton
Director of Planning – Simon Antonis
Head of Account Management – Amy Stephens
Group Account Director – Josh Collins
Creatives – Alex Fenton, Jess Wheeler, Aaron Tyler
Agency Producter – Lisa Ramsay
Production Company – The Pound
Directors – Dogboy
Producer – Natalie Taylor
DOP – Wayne Aistrope
Post Production – Chris Betteridge & Jamie Payne, Method Studios Melbourne
Editor – Andrew Stalph
Sound – Rodney Lowe, Production Alley
22 Comments
how sometimes you just want to slap someone – well that guy is one of them.
Great to see smaller Fenton Stephens win the account from Clemenger Sydney and immediately produce solid creative work, well done!
Wow its 2015, how can this site even be live?
Update you site already.
….. No one ever
Awful in the extreme
As a piece of art, I don’t think it’s that good.
As a piece of advertising, I think it’s fantastic.
So the question is, are we making art or advertising?
@That’s awesome and @Tom G — you guys pissed you never would’ve thought of it?
As a piece of advertising, your only point of difference is:’They’re green, we’re blue!’.
What a brilliant insight.
No, it’s “Green is old. Blue is new.”
In this category of tech driven gambling (which I hate, by the way) newer = better.
It’s a good ad with a good idea for a shitty category.
If you get the TAB gag then the ad works. However the promise of faster, easier betting is elusive when you actually use the app which is not as good as some of its competitors’ offerings.
Watch out for Ladbroke’s come the French Open then.
As an avid punter, it doesn’t do it for me. Maybe its the Axel bloke, he’s a bit of a knob.
Fenton Stephens didn’t exactly ‘win’ the account. Clemenger Sydney lost the business less than 12 months after winning it in a pitch (due to incompetent Account Service). William Hill defected to their original agency.
@ Andy – ‘Incompetent Account Service’ on Clemenger Sydney’s part would be an understatement. The fact is, the Account Director went on holiday for more than a month (how that got approved is beyond me), the entire account was then left in the hands of an inexperienced 23 yr old Account Manager, and when the account moved back to Fenton Stephens (only after 8 months), the Group Account Director resigned from Clemenger.
E.N. is on the money. The Group Account Director resigned after losing the William Hill account. I heard he’s now at Whybin TBWA Sydney.
*eats popcorn*
@@No Idea
Sports Bet is the biggest player in the market, and guess what colour their branding is?
This ad doesn’t work. It has no idea.
IBM & Apple
Not at all surprised that Clemenger Sydney lost the William Hill Account only 8 months after winning its business. It’s industry knowledge that Account Service at Clems is the weak link in the agency chain – senior suits are unprofessional and sub-standard, and high turnover of junior suits.
Sour grapes and juvenile bitching. You all work in advertising. Well the lucky ones do. The others just wish they did. Well done Jess and Aaron on getting your product so in everybody’s face.
@@ No Idea/11.59am
I believe that Im conversing with an absolute moron, so enlighten me.
IBM & Apple are two players in a market from the 1980’s.
Today it’s Samsung & Apple, but yes, still the two major players in their category.
The context here is a betting market that has several players, two of the biggest are TAB (green) and Sports Bet (blue).
You’re defending a strategy (using the term loosely here) of saying William Hill is ‘blue’ and therefore new.
My point (once again because you’re a moron) is that Sports Bet already own blue. They’re a more established player with a bigger budget.
Therefore, Wlliam Hill have no strategy as they’re not differentiating themselves from the market leader.
Didn’t the marketing guy used to work at Fenton Stevens? I doubt Clems ever had much of a chance. Loved the launch ad, guess they lost the account because their work wasn’t sh*t enough. Bula Bula
@cheap seats that’s correct, he did work there before doing the marketing for Tom Waterhouse. Apparently he always intended for Fenton to take over the William Hill account. It doesn’t take a genius to work out it didn’t have anything to do with the work or the servicing, just a matter of time.