Mark Wahlberg fronts Ladbrokes campaign as chief entertainment officer Mike Iceberg
Hollywood actor Mark Wahlberg has taken the lead in Ladbroke’s latest brand campaign, starring as the betting brands’ new chief entertainment officer, Mike Iceberg.
The campaign, from Thinkerbell, sees Iceberg inject some excitement into the Ladbrokes office, coining the brand’s new tagline ‘Ladbroke It’.
“Part of our creative challenge was literally this: Use Mark Wahlberg to help us make racing even more exciting. Cue big shiny red Harley Davidson Horse and a dancing ATM…” said Jim Ingram, national chief creative tinker at Thinkerbell.
“Our creative strategy in this was to use Mark as an actor playing an actual role, Mike Iceberg, rather than a celebrity endorsement. Christopher Riggert brought all his crazy and the whole Finch team did a brilliant job bringing Iceberg to life.”
The campaign is the latest to leverage the host of Hollywood talent in Australia to shoot film and television projects in light of the pandemic. Uber Eats’ Australian Open campaign for this year featured Sacha Baron Cohen, who has been residing in Sydney.
James Burnett, Ladbrokes group chief marketing officer, said: “Ladbrokes is committed to encouraging Australian punters to gamble safely and stay in control of how they bet and play. ‘Ladbroke It’ is about making having a bet even more fun and unmissable for punters, whilst simultaneously being enjoyed sensibly.
“The ‘Ladbroke it’ platform is our way of injecting some more fun and entertainment into the world of racing and using Mark to play the role of Mike Iceberg to deliver our message is just the beginning. We’ll be committing to ‘Ladbroking it’ across our platform, products and communications over the next 18 months and will be asking ourselves a lot ‘What would Mike Iceberg do?’.”
The 60 second film will also be broadcast in 30 and 15 second cut downs. The campaign also features a dedicated ‘Responsible Gambling’ commercial in which Iceberg enjoys some karaoke with the office cleaner.
The campaign will run nationally throughout the year across broadcast, print, digital, social and out of home platforms.
Credits
Client: Ladbrokes
James Burnett Group Chief Marketing Officer
David Rebetzke General Manager Marketing
Louise Gallagher Communications and Production Manager
Sarah Green Campaign Manager
Brand strategy: Element insight and strategy
Ewen Pettit – Founder and Head of Strategy
Creative Agency: Thinkerbell
Sesh Moodley – Head Tinker
Lauren Shelley – Head Thinker
Chris McMullen – Lead Tinker
Gerry Cyron – Brand Thinker
Katie Dally – General Manager
Jim Ingram – Chief Creative Tinker
Jacq Henderson – Thinker
Paul Leaning – Lead Production Tinker
Grant Anderson – Head of Production
Natalie Duncan – Head Thinker Earned
Taylor York – Lead Thinker Earned
Director: Christopher Riggert
Production Company: FINCH
Producer: Catherine Anderson
Executive Producer: Corey Esse
Edit: Stewart Reeves, The Editors
Post Production: Blackbird VFX / Atticus / Cutting Edge
Sound design: Ballad
Sound Mix: Squeak E. Clean / Cutting Edge
Photographer: Toby Burrows
Stills Production: The Kitchen Creative
Retouching: Limehouse
Media Agency: IKON
Talent management:
XXYV
FOURWARD
WME
