Ladbrokes Launches 'Thrill Buds' Campaign

Published: Friday, April 11, 2008 Online-Casinos.com

LADBROKES LAUNCHES NEW 'THRILL BUDS' AD CAMPAIGN

Adventure the theme of latest GBP 2 million advertising push

UK gambling group Ladbrokes has launched its latest campaign, a GBP 2 million initiative crafted by M&C Saatchi to promote the company's online casino.

Shot in South Africa, the ad. "Climb" drives the campaign and is the first in a series that show adventurers pushing themselves too far in their quest for the ultimate thrill. The tagline, "Quench your thrill buds," makes the point and attempts to tap into the emotional thrill of playing online casino games.

Shot in a documentary style, "Climb" is narrated by the local mountain man Nolbert Fernandez, who tells the story of his friend Pedro - a man who can't "quench his thrill buds". Pedro goes to ridiculous extremes to get his thrills by climbing in increasingly dangerous ways, which ultimately leads to his downfall.

The mockumentary concludes by suggesting he should have "quenched his thrill buds" at Ladbrokes Casino.com instead of risking mortal danger.

Shortly after television advertising was opened up to gambling advertisements in Britain late last year Ladbrokes begin running the first nationwide TV advertising by a major bookmaker with a GBP 5 million campaign entitled 'café,' again developed by M&C Saatchi.

The campaign had a tag of "everyone's got an opinion" and a football flavour, and starred sports personalities Ian Wright, Lee Dixon and Chris Kamara as well as Rangers' Assistant Manager Ally McCoist as builders enjoying a fry-up in a traditional café. TV presenter Kirsty Gallacher appeared as a waitress, with the original TV pundit Jimmy Hill, 79, making his screen comeback as the chef.