Online gambling operator Genting Alderney is prepping a new multimillion pound TV ad campaign to attract what it calls “serious casino players.”
The Genting Group has a long history in land-based gambling, rising from a single casino in its native Malaysia to operations spanning the globe, including the UK, where it is the second largest brick-and-mortar casino operator behind Rank Group. Its online operations haven’t kept pace with its land-based expansion, but the new GentingCasino.com campaign aims to help remedy that discrepancy.
The new commercials will begin airing on October 5 on TV as well as in Genting’s 45 gaming venues in the UK. Produced by LRD-eGambling Partnership and directed by Nate Camponi, ‘The Player’ spot features a highly stylized character named Charlie wandering the streets of Kuala Lumpur, spouting generalities about probability, chance and the fact that it’s not whether you win or lose, it’s how you play the game. Seriously, shoot the copywriter.
GentingCasino.com managing director Peter Nolan said ‘Charlie’ was meant to represent Genting’s players, which suggests that Genting’s players are a bunch of stylish dullards. Genting claims that the spot is the result of much focus group research, which revealed that most gambling marketing did not reflect the “motivations and attitudes of the serious casino player.” The ad features lots of land-based casino imagery, which Nolan claims is meant to convey how much the online site resembles a live casino experience.
Camponi says his mandate was to “shoot something truly standout and completely striking.” The spot is undeniably nice to look at and avoids the Benny Hill laddish quality that typifies a lot of gambling adverts, but it’s not particularly memorable, particularly when judged against recent campaigns like Betsafe’s ‘No Bullshit Betting’ spot. But hey, feel free to judge for yourselves…
