Exclusive: William Hill chases global gains with transformed Mr Green character

William Hill has initiated a realignment of its Mr Green brand strategy, EGR can exclusively reveal. The revamp centres on growing Mr Green’s brand identity as William Hill seeks to turn the business into a global brand, while also making the character of Mr Green more aspirational for consumers. William Hill decided to reset the brand after its commissioned research concluded that the relevance and appeal of the Mr Green character had begun to ‘drift’ from its core identity, despite the high brand awareness. Hills’ portfolio of research, which began at the start of 2020, included focus qualitative groups in which participants were asked about perceptions, opinions, beliefs and attitudes towards the brand. EGR understands this research revealed the character was seen to be drifting and perceived as a host, rather than as a player comparable to the firm’s key demographic of customers. William Hill chief brand officer Charlotte Emery said the firm needed to modernise the Mr Green identity as it was first launched in 2008. “At the time of the launch, the brand was growing quickly, so we needed reusable, easily deployable assets as we moved into the digital environment,” Emery explained.

“We felt coming through, particularly with the Covid-19 pandemic, that it was time to bring the warmth of his personality to the fore and create that connection between him and other players. “What we’ve done is gone back to the roots of Mr Green and brought back all of the original qualities about him being a player as opposed to a host. “We wanted to make him feel a little more real and a little warmer, rather than as this character sitting in a mansion house while showcasing a digital world. “We’ve brought him into the world of the casino by making him a player among other players, which I think makes him much more accessible, although the setting is still aspirational,” she added. Three distinct advertising strands have been developed as part of the revamp. Casino, Sports Bar and Cirque will each focus on a unique aspect of Mr Green’s character. Each advert will be accompanied by a secondary version incorporating the Green Gaming responsible gambling brand. The campaign was developed in-house and the TV ads were shot in Australia. The campaign is live today in four of the firm’s key markets; Ireland, Spain, Finland and the UK. The Mr Green revamp will then be deployed in Denmark, Latvia and Sweden by the end of September 2021. Addressing marketing spend, Emery admitted that a “significant” investment had been made. “This is the first time we’ve pulled together as a real global campaign with all of the international teams,” she explained. “Much of the previous inconsistency was just that different markets were putting out different depictions which may have been right for them. “Driving a more global approach gives us really strong production qualities and allows us to put the weighted investments against the media rather than an individual production and individual markets. “All of our markets are signed up for this new campaign and I’m really pleased with the high production values that we’ve been able to create by pulling all the budgets together,” Emery concluded.