Football Index reassessed their target market.
The football stockmarket, which allows customers to buy and sell shares in footballers, is a licensed gambling product. To do well, traders need an in-depth knowledge of the beautiful game, the patience to master a complicated platform and a touch of finance knowledge. Football Index wanted to channel these necessities into a campaign that appealed to their customer portfolio: male, aged 25-50, employed in the city, a knowledge of football and financial savviness.
After a competitive pitch process against some of the UK’s leading agencies, Arch Creative were chosen to deliver a campaign to entice the refined customer portfolio to the brand.
Our winning idea focused on the notion of high-value advertising. Extensive research into the sector had revealed that gambling products tended towards over-exaggeration, garish imagery, laddish humour and a who-can-shout-the-loudest attitude. For Football Index, we wanted to flip that notion on its head, taking our cues from luxury brands like Rolex and Hugo Boss and fusing them subtly with the Football Index brand.
The project had a tight turnaround time (brief to pitch was seven days) and needed to be ready within a month of winning the business. To fit the schedule, we proposed a two-step programme: step one would utilise stock imagery, and step two would incorporate photography from a choreographed shoot.
With any gambling business, compliance and adherence to regulations are of huge importance. Our imagery and copy needed to match up with the ASA guidelines on Gambling. Here’s a brief list of some of the things you can’t do when advertising a gambling product:
Of course, if our challenge was to create adverts for gambling featuring a successful, professional trader, it was going to be crucial that anything we created was cross-referenced with the ASA guidelines.
With all of this in mind, we set about crafting copy and campaign imagery that would reflect the audience Football Index were trying to attract and remain on the right side of the regulations.
We shot the Football Index campaign photography in London with the support of a network of creatives including top fashion photographers and stylists (all frequent Arch collaborators). The build up to the two-day shoot included sourcing models, locations and an E-Type Jaguar. Plus, of course, establishing the creative blueprints for the shoot.
Alongside the photography, we developed witty, football-based copy, a framework for social media assets and a complete set of campaign guidelines. Off of the back of the photography, we also filmed and edited a suite of social videos which incorporates the shoot, the copy and some 3D-rendered product shots.
