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By Gillian West, Social media manager

April 25, 2014 | 2 min read

Ladbrokes is celebrating those who lead ‘The Ladbrokes Life’ in a new campaign which aims to help the bookmaker stand out from the category.

The work is the first to be produced by BBH London since winning the account in January of this year and marks a change in direction for the brand and the category as a whole.

The positioning moves Ladbrokes away from the traditional betting creative with screaming odds and shouting prices and instead focuses on the bettor.

“Our challenge was to rise above the general noise in the market. We’re already delivering dramatic improvements in our products and services, and it’s time to make a real statement and say to customers that Ladbrokes understand you, knows what you like and how you bet,” explained Andy May, brand research and retail marketing director at Ladbrokes.

‘The Ladbrokes Life’ heroes five characters, each representing a different quality and type of bettor, and will be introduced in a 60 second film shot by Gary Freeman of the Glue Society.

Dan Staples, head of brand and advertising at Ladbrokes and Guy Tal, head of offline marketing at Ladbrokes Israel, added: “We knew we had to be bold. The sector approach is to be loud and brash with a single focus on the moment of the bet. We’ve created characters based on real customer behaviour and we’re portraying the betting man in a positive light.”

BBH London creative director’s Sam Oliver and Shish Patel commented: “It's not a very PC thing to say these days but betting is fun. When not taken to excess of course. It's exciting, it's social and it's full of interesting characters. Ladbrokes has been around for over a hundred years and knows the betting man better than anyone. We wanted to show that in the work and to speak out for all of us who like a flutter.”

As well as appearing in the TV creative the five characters will also be championed across all aspects of the campaign including press, outdoor and social. Five 30-second adverts featuring the individual characters are also set to roll out over the course of the year.

Ladbrokes

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Bartle Bogle Hegarty is a Global advertising agency. Founded in 1982 by British ad men John Bartle, Nigel Bogle, and John Hegarty, BBH has offices in London, New...

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