Betfred is rolling out a 60-second promo to promote the betting brand’s sponsorship of the Cheltenham Gold Cup – ‘At The Heart Of Cheltenham’
The stats-led film – showcasing everything from the number of pints sunk to the number sticky toffee puddings scoffed – fronts a campaign who’s objective is to capture the excitement in the build up to the race.
According to Betfred’s Head of Media Mark Pearson, the film aims to focus on the spirit and passion of the audience and event.
Betfred has been a partner of the world’s greatest National Hunt racing festival since 2012 and is the title sponsor of the meeting’s flagship race – The Cheltenham Gold Cup.
Created by 422 Vision, the film, which features a voice over from Louis Mellis (known for several blockbuster Guinness ad campaigns), will air on Betfred TV and YouTube.
‘This was a great project to work on and has demonstrated 422 Vision’s full service capabilities, working with Betfred on such an iconic event was a great experience that the whole production team enjoyed and the feedback from client has been tremendous,’ says 422 Vision’s creative director Rob Pickard.
In addition to the film, the bookie brand’s campaign also ranges from on-track signage to race meeting logo rights.
For those going to the Festival, Betfred also has several on-track betting shops, while for those watching the meeting on TV the betting outfit has signed up a trio of Channel 4 presenters and experts to its own Betfred TV channel specifically for Cheltenham.
Former Channel 4 racing presenter Derek Thompson will front the Warrington-based bookie’s own festival Preview and he will be joined by Channel 4 betting experts Tanya Stevenson and Tom Lee.
‘The Cheltenham Festival is an annual pilgrimage for thousands but if you are not lucky enough to be going we want to bring the unique atmosphere to our betting shops plus provide our customers with information and insight that you won’t get anywhere else,’ promises Betfred’s Pearson.
‘A Cheltenham Preview is very much part of the build up to the festival but we decided why not do it live to all our shops, and with top jockey Tom Scudamore appearing it should be very popular,’ says Pearson.
Betfred TV typically broadcasts live to its 1386 betting shops from its custom-built studios in Salford’s MediaCity, but for the festival it will also broadcast live from the trackside.
Betfred TV employs eight editorial full-time staff, while the company in total has a total workforce of around 10,000.
As well as live screening all 27 races, the Gold Cup sponsor has also commissioned a set of preview films about leading trainers and jockeys ahead of the Festival with programmes edited for online and the television channel.
For The Cheltenham Festival, the busiest week of the year for all UK bookmakers, Betfred TV will also post race highlights online and encourage customers to ask questions to their guests through Twitter and Facebook.
Comment
In 2013, Betfred sponsored more than 600 horse races – making it the largest single sponsor of racing.
Earlier in September 2012, the bookmaker extended its title sponsorship of the Betfred Cheltenham Gold Cup to 2015.
This move came after Betfred took over sponsorship of Cheltenham’s most important race earlier in 2012 following its purchase of previous Cheltenham partner The Tote (ending Tote’s 33-year relationship with Cheltenham).
‘We are delighted to be associated for three more years with the greatest steeplechase in the world and look forward to working with Cheltenham to making the race even bigger and better,’ said Betfred’s Managing Director John Haddock at the time.
The deal and ongoing Gold Cup partnership sees Betfred continue to boost its profile – as the Gold Cup is the second highest profile jump race in the world and The Festival is National Hunt Racing’s top annual meeting.
Incidentally, in March 2014 Betfred signed three-year deal to be ‘Official Betting Partner’ for the Crabbie’s Grand National Festival at Aintree which sees the bookie take sponsorship of three races at the three-day meeting.
Links
BetFred Cheltenham Campaign Promo YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HOqWU6cpgg
BetFred Corporate Website
http://www.betfredcorporate.com/
BetFred Website
Chelteneham Festival Website
http://www.cheltenham-festival.co.uk
