Paddy Power returns to BBH for wedding ad

Bookmaker Paddy Power rekindled its relationship with agency Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH) last week for a mischievous one-off press ad to celebrate the royal wedding.

The move came after the bookmaker appointed Publicis to handle its advertising in September last year (MW September 16, 2004). Paddy Power marketing director Barni Evans says that the advertising for the company will now be handled on an project basis and that the royal wedding ad was a one-off.

The BBH-created press ad featured a palace bedroom with odds printed over various items of furniture and the strapline “Let’s make things more interesting”.

BBH won the Paddy Power account, worth an estimated &£4m, before its UK launch in 2000 (MW November 9, 2000) but the account had become dormant by last year. It was not clear if the bookmaker held a pitch before moving the account to Publicis.

Meanwhile, Paddy Power has launched a website dedicated to predicting the identity of the new pope after it was inundated with bets.

The bookmaker built is reputation in Ireland through taking controversial bets on topics such as the colour of the Queen’s hat at Ascot.