Agencies chase pan-European gambling brief

unibetOnline betting company Unibet is seeking an advertising agency to handle a pan-European brief.

The company is understood to have whittled its shortlist down to four agencies and a decision is due in the next two months.

It is understood the brief will include advertising, direct marketing and digital work and will primarily focus on the Nordic countries, France, Belgium, Italy, Spain and Greece. The brand does not have a significant presence in the UK and it is not clear how much advertising it is planning to do in the UK.

In January, it appointed insight@tmw, the planning arm of Tullo Marshall Warren, to handle its customer management account. The aim of the appointment was to help Unibet tailor its communications across its sports, poker and casinos betting areas.

Controversy engulfed Unibet’s sponsorship of a Tour de France cycling team after the team was forced to withdraw from the race because French law forbids advertising by foreign companies.

Unibet, which was founded about ten years ago in Sweden, is one of the largest online gambling operators across in Europe, with more than 1.7m customers spanning more than 150 countries.