Television and movie star Colm Meaney fronts bookie Paddy Power’s new campaign promoting its offering around and sponsorship of the 2020 Cheltenham Festival with a focus on the sporting rivalry between Ireland and England.
The comic campaign, which adopts the usual ‘close-to-the-edge’ paddy Power advertising approach, celebrates the ‘Green Army’ arrival in the West Of England in the hope of Festival betting success.
The initiative is spearheaded by a hero spot, which debuted on television on 21 February, that sees the Star Trek actor fire off a series of tongue-in-cheek barbs and digs at England’s ‘slights’ against his nation.
The spot also runs across Paddy Power’s digital and social channels including Twitter
Colm Meaney gets a few things off his chest about England… pic.twitter.com/tjgqWL53yR
— Paddy Power (@paddypower) February 21, 2020
and YouTube.
Speaking about his ad role Meaney commented: “It’s a sort of gentle joshing, if you like, given the sporting rivalry that exists between England and Ireland. I think this is a nice gentle push back at that.”
The actor admits the current political climate on both sides of the Irish sea in the aftermath of Brexit has served to make the rivalry even livelier this year.
“It’s certainly given things a little more sauce, hasn’t it? A little bit more heat.”
Paddy Power himself added: “If anyone can air our grievances about the state of the pints served across the water and their complete lack of soda bread in dramatic fashion, it’s Colm. We’re hit and miss when it comes to most sports, but the arrival of Cheltenham marks our time to shine. Horse racing is the one sport we are consistently good at. This is our World Cup and we’re about to unleash our team of four-legged Zidane’s to win big on their turf. This ad is our battle cry ahead of The Festival, and we intend to leave our hoofprints all over it – with a little help from Mr Meaney.”
Comment:
The bookmaker styles itself as the ‘Sponsor Of The Irish Cheltenham Takeover’, but it is also itself is an official partner of the festival as it is the new sponsor of the Grade 1 Paddy Power Stayers’ Hurdle – a race worth OVER €390,000 – on day three of the 2020 Festival.
It also sponsors The Prestbury Cup which celebrates the famous and good-natured competition between both nations and is awarded to the country with the most winners at the end of the Cheltenham Festival.
Links:
Paddy Power
https://www.youtube.com/user/PaddyPowerVideo
https://twitter.com/paddypower
https://www.facebook.com/paddypower
Cheltenham Festival / The Jockey Club
https://www.thejockeyclub.co.uk/cheltenham
https://www.facebook.com/thehomeofjumpracing/
https://twitter.com/CheltenhamRaces
https://www.instagram.com/cheltenhamraces/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/11584642/admin/
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