With the proliferation of online gaming companies all fighting for a share of the ‘poker pound’, William Hill took the decision to launch a high profile poker tournament in 2005 called the William Hill Poker Grand Prix. Sky Sports snapped up the rights to the televised finals – a genuine piece of advertiser funded content - prompting a second tournament in 2006.

prego* was charged with coming up with a strategic and creative campaign that dramatised the tournament, attracted players and reinforced the brand values of being ‘Serious about poker’.

Audience Insight

Poker players are a highly competitive lot, motivated by more than just money. They love the game and dream of taking on the ‘big names’ in poker to prove their skill.

The Big Idea

prego* created a campaign around the line ‘Take on the Gods of Poker’ that appealed to the competitive streak in many poker players and offered the chance to win a trip to the finals filmed in front of a live audience. In 2005, this idea was so successful that we decided to evolve the idea for 2006.

The Execution

We ran a high-impact creative campaign across press, online and direct mail. This stretched into TV studio design, which was seen by viewers of the eight one-hour programmes shown on Sky Sports.

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