Sportsbet puts the ‘roid’ in Android in new campaign to celebrate launch of new app via BMF
To celebrate the launch of Sportsbet’s new juiced-up Android app, experts in the world of performance enhancement have come out in force to endorse it in a newly launched campaign via BMF.
Led by Ben Johnson, 100m Gold Medalist*, the group also includes an Eastern Block weightlifting team; a yellow jersey winning cyclist; and a champion Chinese swimmer. The new Android app has been years in secret development and has been injected with all sorts of scientific stuff that gives punters an unfair advantage.
The campaign was shot with Revolver’s Matt Devine in Romania, and will roll out across TV, digital, radio and social.
Says Cam Blackley, ECD at BMF: “There are times when you concoct an idea that makes you laugh so much you think ‘nup, we’re never going to get that made’. Well Sportsbet booked our tickets to Romania and here we are. And to work with Ben Johnson, my boyhood hero, that’s the icing.”
Says Luke Waldren, general manager marketing, Sportsbet: “Our new Android App is unfairly fast and everyone’s on it, so we felt compelled to tell the world.”
The campaign goes live this weekend with more endorsers getting on the band wagon in the coming weeks.
*for 48 hours
Agency: BMF
Executive Creative Director: Cam Blackley
Copywriters: James Sexton, Gooch Richards and Cam Blackley
Designers: Lincoln Grice and Matthew Hughes
Group Strategy Director: David Warren
Client Services Director: Dan Lacaze
Account Director: Will Woods
Account Manager: Siena Shuttler
Agency Producer: Mandy Payne
Director: Matt Devine
Production Company: Revolver/Will O’Rourke
Production Company Producer: Caroline Kruck
Post Production: Heckler
VFX Supervisor: Jamie Watson
Executive Producer Bonnie Law
Colourist: Scott Maclean
Editor: Dan Lee – The Butchery
Music and Sound Production: Rumble Studios
Sound Designer: Tone Aston
DoP: Adam Marsden
Client: Sportsbet
General Manager, Marketing: Luke Waldren
Head of Brand and Advertising: Simon Kennedy
Brand Manager: Kathy Schokman
Campaign Manager: Jason Thatcher
Brand Executive: Felicity Smith
Creative Manager: Raman Goraya
47 Comments
That is so fucking funny.
yes!
As a piece of creative, it’s great. Really stands out amongst the betting crowd.
I do though have reservations about a betting company paying cheats.
brilliant!
The ads your ads could smell like
Accurate. Nice.
That is hilarious.
I wanted to dislike these but can’t. Well written and executed. Getting plenty of earned PR today also. These spots will do their job.
Hilarious!
Especially enjoyed the Lance Armstrong reference.
Yeah…pretty good.
Cracking ad.
Finally, some balls in content + comms.
Kudos to Sportsbet for being bold enough.
Gold. Best use of an ambassador I’ve seen in a while. Keep up the good work.
In this market it’s fucking great to see a client that doesn’t take itself too seriously, knows its market and is ballsy enough to buy an idea they will love.
Hats off BMF. C*nts.
Pay that.
Well done for having the balls to go there.
One of the funniest spots to come out of Australia in fucking ages.
Lovely stuff BMF and yes, you Sportsbet. Would have been a ballsy call.
bland execution
Best ad on the Telly in a long time!
LOVE these! Humour as classy as old spice, but with a fresh new fragrance. Well done. People will love these.
That’s how you do a celeb endorsement – GOLD (bloom)
Nice stuff Luke!
Unbelievably bad, try hard and unfunny. All the above comments from people involved or with a vested interest in this campaign should fool no one.
Sportsbet are the king of this sort of humorous advertising in Australia! Great work guys.
I absolutely bloody LOVE the idea – but find the executions really rather disappointing by comparison.
I saw this on television and thought it was ordinary. Idea is ok but the execution is base level at most… with humour and style ripped off other well known ads. My face remained completely straight throughout. I’m surprised that this is all we need to do for everyone on here to get excited. I’m more disappointed in the response to this than I am to the actual work.
Piss-funny stuff, nice one.
i like these, well done guys and girls.
Very enjoyable. I love beautiful, well crafted ads. And I love this. I don’t think they’re necessarily one in the same but it’s right on target for an Aussie sports lover.
*Enjoy Responsibly
Saw it first on the news, national outrage etc.
2 minutes later, slowed down the x30 speeding through the adbreak on Foxtel IQ to watch the proper ad.
Downloaded the app.
Job done in about 3 minutes.
Well done Cam and Sportsbet team for backing a solid idea.
Fucking brilliant!
Funny how the sentiment on this blog is all positive, and most regular people think this is disgusting. Glorify drug cheats, advertise gambling to kids, spam the sports broadcasts with this garbage every single ad break, film it in Romania for what reason?? Oh so the guys can have a junket. Wank wank wank.
@nonadman, why are you commenting on an advertising blog?
This campaign has offended the outrage-brigade of Xenophon & Co, and also apparently you, which is exactly it’s purpose.
The responses I’ve seen from punters in Social have been overwhelmingly positive. People appreciate the wit and the cheekiness.
Even The Project has a laugh about it last night.
So its not PC but it is funny and the Sportsbet client must be pissing themselves.
A junket….? To Romania…? As your nom-de-guerre suggests, you clearly have no idea what you’re talking about, specifically in regards to the necessities of production. Also your reference to the phony outrage is pathetically facile, regurgitating the tired media tropes. Have you read below the line on any of those stories you’ve lapped up? Stick to commenting on the Herald Sun. Jerk.
Brilliant
Cracking idea. Poor execution. Chasing laughs way too much.
Laughed so hard.
Well done to all involved. It certainly got the world talking about Sportsbet.
Judging by the sheer joy and happiness expressed in the comments, looks like BMF got their whole network to jump here and heavily promote the ad. I didn’t think it was funny, but get it how some people might think it is. I hated the concept of celebrating cheaters and steroid takers – if it was meant to be tongue in cheek sarcastic – meh. And in general I have a problem about being sooo ecstatic and infatuated about the ad which promotes gambling… and why the hell was it shot in Romaina? No gyms and running tracks down under?
I’d bet my bottom dollar you’re not a creative. Maybe a suit who pretends to like creativity but secretly resents it? Or a disgruntled client? Or you work for the competition?
@cryptic
We don’t have a network at BMF, and most people at our agency really have more important things to do for our clients than astro-turf comment threads.
Go read the comments on the Herald Sun story or Sportsbet’s Facebook page. That’s where the rubber hits the road.
Mr Criptic, you are such a goose. If you are so devoid of humour, that you can’t celebrate something that is so genuinely funny, then you are a double goose. That you then have to dissect it!!!!!! For fuck’s sake, mate
. And then have to wonder why it was shot in Romania. Have you ever heard of budgets son. Goose.
“most people at our agency really have more important things to do for our clients than astro-turf comment threads.”
What are you doing oi?
“I’d bet my bottom dollar you’re not a creative.” The type of comment that gives ad creatives a bad rep. Self indulgent and unable to accept different opinions or respond to them. You haven’t been in this game for a long time, have you? 😉
Points for honesty. Cheats abound in the gambling industry, from the top down.
I can’t wait for the next round in this campaign, with NRL stars riffing on their rampant cocaine use!
There’s no denying it’s great creative. Bold and funny.
I think though, it would have been less controversial had all the ‘atheletes’ been lookalikes. I feel it’s the point at which a betting company pays a cheat where it can be seen as crossing a line.
Definitely done it’s job in exposure terms though.
“I’d bet my bottom dollar you’re not a creative.” The type of attitude that gives ad creatives a bad rep. Self indulgent, unable to accept different opinions and can’t articulate their argument. You haven’t been in this game for long, have you? 😉