CHI snatches 6m 888.com account

Online gambling company 888.com has picked CHI & Partners to launch a branding campaign, thought to be worth up to £6m.

The integrated campaign will include television advertising, making 888.com the latest gambling operator to take advantage of the deregulation of gambling advertising following the introduction of the Gambling Act 2005 on September 1. The campaign will break later this month.

This will be the first multi-format marketing campaign for 888.com. The company previously sponsored football club Middlesbrough FC, but ended its tie-up with the club earlier this year after voluntary guidelines agreed by the gambling industry sanctioned a ban on advertising on children’s replica football shirts.

The creative concept is based on the idea that life is one big game that can actually be played. Outdoor posters pose questions such as: “We’ve put another poster down the road. Red or Black?” Taxi ads use lines like “Next taxi you see? Light on? Or off?”

TV ads also feature games, but the outcome is only revealed online. The first commercial features a giant piece of toast falling from the sky with strawberry jam on one side and chocolate spread on the other. Viewers are invited to go online and guess which side it lands on. Those who select the “correct side” will then be able to access the site’s real games as a bonus.

The whole campaign uses the strapline “Enjoy the game.”