05/03/2008 Ladbrokes launches new advertising campaigns

Ladbrokes is to embark on a further two TV advertising campaigns following the success of its first ever TV ads in 2007. The first campaign, for Ladbrokesbingo.com, will launch this week.

The company became the first to advertise betting on TV in October 2007 with a campaign featuring Ally McCoist, Ian Wright, Chris Kamara, Lee Dixon, Jimmy Hill and Kirsty Gallagher. The campaign helped Ladbrokes achieve strong increases in betting stakes on football - up 25.4% since the start of the 2007/8 season.

The results of the advertising have been very positive, achieving strong recall and brand recognition and impacting positively on the perceptions of the Ladbrokes brand.

Spontaneous awareness of the Ladbrokes brand rose to 23% after the campaign, up from 19%. Prompted TV awareness of the advertising was measured at 70% post campaign compared to an average rating for TV advertising of 55%. 91% of these people enjoyed the ad and significant gains were also recorded in brand affinity.

Commenting on the advertising plans Chris Bell, Ladbrokes Chief Executive, said:

"The removal of restrictions on TV advertising enables us to compete more effectively with other leisure industries and we were keen to be the first to take advantage of it. Tomorrow we run another campaign for Ladbrokesbingo.com and in April launch our first campaign for ladbrokescasino.com."

Ladbrokes is currently reviewing its plans for further campaigns for betting in 2008.

Bingo Campaign

Ladbrokes is also investing £2 million in a campaign for Ladbrokesbingo.com which will launch in March. A campaign which ran last year for Ladbrokesbingo.com helped it become Ladbrokes' fastest growing online product.

New Casino Campaign

In April Ladbrokes will launch a campaign to promote its online casino www.ladbrokescasino.com. The creative features three stories where the bizarre behaviour of people going to ever more extremes to satisfy their need for excitement has led to comical, yet fatal results. The ads use a documentary style with friends commenting in interviews "if only I had told him in time that I'd found something that could quench his thrill buds for good". The advertisement is accompanied by a free chip offer. The campaign is expected to cost around £2 million.

For further information contact:
Ciaran O'Brien, Head of Public Relations +44 (0) 7976 180 173