Ladbrokes switches focuses to CRM
Ladbrokes is to shift marketing focus for its online brands to customer relationship management (CRM) and digital marketing in the second half of the year in an attempt to boost revenues.
The bookmaker launched a major television campaign in April for Ladbrokescasino.com to recruit players, but it will now look at ways of maximising spend per player.
A spokesman for Ladbrokes says: “Our marketing campaigns have successfully recruited large numbers of players but yield per player is down. Having recruited large numbers of players in the first half we are now focusing on CRM to drive revenues in the second half.”
The gambling firm says marketing spend increased by 12.2% in the six months to 30 June but will be lowered for its online casino, poker, sportsbook, games and bingo brands in the second half.
Ladbrokescasino.com launched the M&C Saatchi “Hide and Seek” TV campaign in April. The ad featured a man playing hide and seek with a giant primate and used the strapline “Don’t hide from thrills, seek them out at Ladbrokes.com”.
The company had been forced to change the line after the Advertising Standards Authority banned last year’s “thrill buds” campaign for “portraying gambling in a context of toughness and linking it to recklessness”.
Ladbrokes’ group net revenue fell 6.6% to £504.4m in the first half of the year, while pre-tax profit fell 3.9% to £131.3m.
The company announced last week that it will join rival William Hill in moving its online sportsbook off-shore in a bid to save on tax.
