Championing the Game | Entain Annual Report 2023

Championing the game:
Advertising

All of our brands have their own unique identity – from the striking blue of Coral to the playful orange of Foxy Bingo. It’s our heritage and brand recognition that has built up such trust with our customers, and it’s through this trust that we’ve been able to push boundaries with iconic advertising, activations and campaigns.

Get Your Fox On with Foxy’s Celebrity Swap Shop & Mullet Salon

Last year saw Foxy Bingo’s ‘Get Your Fox On’ ATL campaign level-up with two world-first's: Dirtie Gertie’s Mullet Salon and The Celebrity Swap Shop.

Opened by Geordie Queen, Vicky Pattison, Dirtie Gertie’s Mullet-only Salon in Newcastle offered consumers free mullet haircuts, foxy nails and games of musical bingo. The city lit up with fleets of pedicabs and iconic parts of the centre were turned purple and orange with incredible out-of-house advertisement, with over 2million impacts. In total, the campaign gained a 1.1 billion reach via media coverage, gave 94 dodgy haircuts and engaged whole new community of Foxy fans.

In the wake of Foxy’s new laundrette theme ads, the team brought the screen to life up north with The Celebrity Swap Shop: a two-day pop up affair in Hull, where locals swapped drab for fab and get their hands on a celebrity item. 17 celebrities donated items to the laundrette, and in total, 23 bags of clothes were donated to charity. Foxy consumers took to the laundrette to experience the brand’s new and engaging identity and with free Bingo sessions on site, the brand saw a 17% increase in betting players from the activation.

a woman in an orange coat standing outside a Foxy Bingo establishment

Eurobet.Live with Luca Toni

Eurobet.live elevated the football experience for fans across Italy through an exciting TV campaign featuring World Cup winner, Luca Toni, as it’s presenter. The campaign seamlessly integrated the excitement of live scoring with the thrill of the matches themselves, providing viewers with real-time updates, insights and analysis, detailed statistics and engaging multimedia content.

Eurobet.live not only celebrated the passion and excitement of football, but also underlined its commitment to providing fans with a comprehensive and immersive platform to stay connected to the game they love. Eurobet.Live has also strengthened it’s connection with fans, through prestigious partnerships with several Serie A teams, including the iconic Juventus as well as a partnership with the entire Serie C league.

These strategic alliances served as a powerful bond between the Eurobet.live brand and football fans on the ground, solidifying its position as the premier platform for live scoring, results, and multimedia content in Italy.”

Alexis Grigoriadis

Marketing Director, Italy

Smashing records under the neon lights of Las Vegas strip

Last December, the F1 circus rolled into Las Vegas for the inaugural GP, and our joint venture, BetMGM, left no stone unturned in making their presence known with customers over the weekend.

From exclusive grandstand hospitality to the excitement of experiencing incredible entertainment within touching distance of the track in their retail shops, BetMGM bolstered the anticipation of placing bets on the race with awesome experiences throughout the GP weekend. The team also pulled off some incredible activations with McLaren Racing; from BetMGM’s logo being centre stage on the car to a series of marquee and On-property digital placements, BetMGM certainly gave F1 superfans an experience to never forget.

The spectacle received 3X the number of bets compared to any other F1 event in the company’s history. The Las Vegas GP certainly shattered records for the King of Sportsbooks.

Gala’s Jolly Good Fish and Chip hotel

Gala Bingo continued to build community spirit amongst players this year, with its new experiential consumer activation, the world's first ‘Fish and Chip Hotel’ in Blackpool. Inspired by consumer research, insights and the iconic bingo call 33, Gala’s ‘The Jolly Good Fish & Chip Hotel’ gave British seaside goers the chance to enter Gala Land and receive a complimentary serve of fish, chips and peas and games of bingo.T

he activation bolstered Gala’s ATL campaign ‘Where A Little Joy Goes A Long Way’ and encouraged players to find the little joys in life last summer. With over 800 consumers attending the prototype hotel and 314 million people reached via earned social media coverage, it’s safe to say customers experienced the brand in a whole new way, combining the classic charm of the Great British seaside with the wonder and joy of Gala Land.

BetMGM win Las Vegas for Super Bowl week

Known for its massive audiences, thrilling action, much-anticipated commercials, and halftime extravaganza, the Super Bowl was a big day for BetMGM, where we saw a 30% uplift in activity across the U.S. alone. Super Bowl in Las Vegas was a huge opportunity for BetMGM to be at the centre of the action, having the world’s biggest stage literally footsteps away from several BetMGM retail sportsbooks.

To maximize this opportunity, Entain launched its new Nevada app with access to BetMGM’s full sportsbook offering, weeks before the Super Bowl, giving the best BetMGM experience to the NFL fans in Nevada for this landmark event. Then, BetMGM set out to do what so many other brands struggle to do in this domain, carve out a memorable Big Game commercial that perfectly complements and establishes a connection with the brand. In a company-first, the team launched its three-part campaign which featured the never-before-seen pairing of sports legends, Tom Brady and Wayne Gretzky, along with actor Vince Vaughn, marking an iconic moment for BetMGM.

The BetMGM team didn’t stop there. In addition to the advertisement, BetMGM executed a multi-faceted approach to “Win Las Vegas” for Super Bowl week. Alongside extraordinary VIP experiences with celebrity ambassadors, BetMGM painted Las Vegas gold and black with a variety of outdoor, indoor, digital and special advertising campaigns that greeted fans from the moment they get off the plane.

Marking another first, BetMGM partnered with X in a one-of-a-kind collaboration to become the official betting sponsor of the platform, starting with the Super Bowl and continuing through 2025.

Regardless of who was the Super Bowl champion, BetMGM came out a winner. The new platform was able to handle a 30% uplift in activity over the Super Bowl weekend and a 72% increase in customers from the 2023 Big Game, thanks to the incredible efforts and collaboration between the Entain, BetMGM and MGM teams.

TAB activation on Auckland’s Sky Tower for the TAB Karaka Millions

The TAB Karaka Millions brings together the best horses sold at the New Zealand Bloodstock yearling for two separate races, as well as an open-entry race called the Elsdon Park Aotearoa Classic. This year, TAB became the naming rights sponsor for the meeting, and with three $1m races on the six-race card for the first time ever, TAB wanted to do something different to attract attention of customers.

A few days before the meeting, Entain Australia and NZ took over the second tallest freestanding structure in the southern hemisphere, Auckland’s Sky Tower, and projected the barrier draw for the three main races onto it. Watched on by trainers, owners and horse racing fanatics, the incredible display revealing which horse starts where, set the scene for a weekend that ended up smashing records for TAB’s horse racing history.

The six-race meeting saw a 26.6% increase in turnover compared to the highest wagered meeting on record (of which had over double the number of races) and a 33% increase in the number of customers betting compared to 2023. Better yet, the final race of the day set a record for the most wagered race in New Zealand, with Year-on year-turnover for the TAB Karaka Millions up 66%.