After two Royal Commissions, can Crown’s new ad redeem its brand?
Crown Resorts has unveiled a new brand platform and campaign, signalling a major shift in direction after two Royal Commissions slammed the company’s gambling practices.
The new campaign doesn’t appear to mention gambling at all, instead focusing on entertainment and food.
But industry experts question whether it will be enough to shift public perception of the brand, after the Victorian Royal Commission found that the company had engaged in conduct that was “illegal, dishonest, unethical and exploitative.”
It is a major brand relaunch for Crown.
For the first time in nearly a decade, it has refreshed its brand strategy, visual identity and communications platform, as well as a new creative campaign – ‘Here’s Where Things Get Interesting’ – via The Monkeys, part of Accenture Song.
Crown Resorts’ chief brand and corporate affairs officer, Danielle Keighery, said: “Our brand strategy sets a new north star that shifts perceptions of the old Crown as just a casino and hotel to now being seen as a world-class entertainment destination.”
In 2021, the Victorian Royal Commission into Crown Resorts made 33 recommendations, including that the business operate under the supervision of a ‘Special Manager’ for two years. The Commission had heard damning reports of money laundering and organised crime links, with similar reports at a separate Western Australian Royal Commission held the same year into the Perth casino operations.
Since then, the company has undergone extensive work to improve practices across the business, and has seen significant leadership change. Crown Resorts was bought by US private equity giant Blackstone last year.
The new campaign is designed to “signal a new era” for the brand.
Tara Ford, chief creative officer at The Monkeys: “Crown is a place where you can be spontaneous and just see where the night takes you. It’s a place where things can get interesting. Nights like those that have a certain magic to them, that you always remember.”
The spot was shot by Finch’s Christopher Riggert, with the goal of reconnecting Crown with “feelings of energy and excitement.” It showcases marquee destinations and experiences, including live entertainment, awards nights, celebrity sightings and gala events.
In a media release announcing the brand relaunch, Crown described the spot as ending “in a drumroll; a sound universally understood as a symbol of entertainment. It tells us something is coming; highlighting the journey Crown is on.”
An OOH execution as part of the new campaign
But The Hallway’s CEO, Jules Hall, and Peter Wilkinson, crisis PR specialist and chair of Wilkinson Butler, both suggested the platform may not truly reposition the brand from the audience’s perspective.
Wilkinson said he doesn’t appreciate when ads conceal the truth, and Australia tends to do this often: “We have a history of them, made atrociously infamous with cigarettes, but also less notoriously with banks, weight-loss companies, political campaigns, and many more.
“This is a great ad. But, this ad belongs to that family,” he continued. “It tells an alluring, but deceptive story. Behind the compelling façade lurks a darker truth.
“Here is the unvarnished truth: there’s great entertainment at Crown, and while you are here, spend some time at the roulette wheels,” Wilkinson said. “I suspect though, and perhaps without forethought, it’s like the clever ads that once associated cigarettes with a glamorous lifestyle.”
Hall agreed, saying it is a great ad and a logical step for the brand: “The clue is in the name. Crown is more than a casino. And so it makes sense to be dialling up the other experiences they offer.
“The ads that have been PR’d clearly focus on the non-gaming audiences, showing them the other experiences on offer at Crown Resorts,” he continued. “That said, I’d imagine there are a fair few executions that haven’t been shared in the agency’s PR that talk to the gaming product.
“Will this be enough to overcome entrenched perceptions? Probably not – we know how they make their money. But it will hopefully move the needle in the right direction. That said, it’s been done before. In 2012 The Star launched a similar platform, ‘There Will Be Stories’, with a similar ad (made by a similar agency). At least they had a cursory nod to the gaming product.
“Ignoring it completely feels a little disingenuous,” he concluded.
Another client of The Monkeys is TAB, which went through a brand repositioning in August – interestingly shifting away from gambling, to focus solely on sport.
TAB’s general manager of brand and marketing, Vanessa Sanford, said at the time: “TAB is being re-born in this campaign…TAB is not ditching the famous green, but we’re certainly going to have more fun with many more shade of green.”
Ford said: “This refresh for TAB is a fun homage to our passionate, sport-obsessed nation. Even though it’s lighthearted, the debate is real.
“We are looking forward to seeing how it all unfolds, knowing TAB is here for it all,” she said at the time.
Credits:
Client: Crown Resorts
Creative and strategy agency: The Monkeys, part of Accenture Song
The Monkeys Group CEO & Accenture Song ANZ President: Mark Green
Chief Creative Officer: Tara Ford
Executive Creative Director: Barbara Humphries
Creative Director: Sam Dickson
Creative Director: Cameron Bell
Senior Art Director: Danny Pattison
Senior Copywriter: Max Rapley
Senior Creative Stills: Peter Citroni
Managing Director: Matt Michael
Chief Strategy Officer: Hugh Munro
Business Strategy Director: Tim Wilson Brown
Group Business Director: Katie Wong-Hee
Senior Business Manager: Celine Dinant
Head of Production/Producer: Penny Brown
Senior Film Producer: Simone O’Connor
Lead Integrated Producer: Vanessa Fernandez
Producer: Maria Cruz
Identity: Maud, part of Accenture Song
Executive Creative Director: Richard Smalley
General Manager: Grace Rennie
Strategy Director: Paul O’Connor
Senior Business Director: Kate McIntosh
Senior Creative Stills: Peter Citroni
Design Director: Thomas Clayton, Tomas Sabattucci
Designers: Lachlan Richards, Gary Corr
Typography: Margot Lévêque Studio and Weltkern
Motion: Federico Leggio and Eva Godney
Production Company: Finch
Director: Christopher Riggert
Producer: Kate Menzies
Casting:
Studio P – Peta Dermatis
McGregor Casting – Stevie Ray
Original Music & Sound Post: Sonar Music
Edit House: The Editors
VFX: FIN Design + Effects
VFX Supervisors: Mikey Brown, Justin Bromley, Stephanie Pocklington
VFX Producer: Isabelle Howarth
Head of VFX & EP: Alastair Stephen
Colour: Fergus Rotherham
Stills Production: Chee Productions
Photography: Simon Eeles
Retouching: Cream
Media Strategy: Initiative
National Managing Director: Sam Geer
Chief Strategy and Product Officer: Chris Colter
Managing Director, Sydney: Jo McAlister
Head of Communications Design, Sydney: Ryan Haesler
Head of Partnerships, Sydney: Daniela Rocchi
Client Director: Alison Bongailas
Investment Partnerships Manager: Sophie Hobson
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Lauren McNamara is a journalist at Mumbrella, covering the creative and PR beat. She joined in November 2022 as editorial assistant, after completing a Bachelor of Communications (Journalism) at UTS.
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Does it need to? It’s packed every weekend and churns over an unthinkable amount of money every day. People don’t care if you’re a bit dirty, if you’re also the only toilet in town.
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When it comes to food and entertainment, I think of all the fights I saw spill out of the complex and on to Southbank.
Good (wholesome) times.
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I tend to agree with Peter Wilkinson, but I will say it’s completely disingenuous rather than just a bit. It’s a nice campaign and well produced, but is it really a rebrand or just some schmancy words which don’t acknowledge any of the damage that was caused by Royal Commission findings?
But hey, they’re still bringing in millions of dollars, I don’t think they are bothered too much.
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YEAH…. NA , Nothing changes
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