Football greats star in Ladbrokes Euro 2008 ad

Ladbrokes, the bookmaker, is launching a £4m campaign tomorrow (June 7) to coincide with the launch of Euro 2008. The new ad features a galaxy of football stars including former Newcastle and Tottenham player David Ginola (pictured) and Ian Wright.

The ad, which will break tomorrow at half time in the Portugal v Turkey match, also features Ally McCoist, Lee Dixon and Chris Kamara.

A shorter version of the ad will also run next week to support the bookmaker’s new reward card, OddsOn! It was launched at the start of this week and Ladbrokes claims it is the first loyalty card to be offered by a betting shop chain. It says that 150,000 cards were issued in the first three days.

Ladbrokes UK Retail managing director, Richard Ames, says: “The customer response to OddsOn! has surpassed all our expectation and we hope the TV advertising will ensure the take-up rate increases further.

It predicts that the betting industry in the UK and Ireland will take up to £350m over the tournament despite the absence of home nations.