Saatchi & Saatchi in the UK has been appointed to handle the global Betway account, one of the betting firms that seems to be taking over the world.
The business moves from Above & Beyond, which produced some of the more acceptable work in this market.
You can’t blame agencies for lapping up the bookies’ shillings – and Saatchi seems to be on a roll at the moment, stung, no doubt, by losing the Asda account – but these companies are driving a coach and horses through so-called UK ad regulations (there’s supposed to be a 9pm broadcast watershed) by carpet bombing every sports broadcast around. Sky, in particular, runs them wall to wall through daytime football and cricket. Sky Bet, in which it has a stake, is the grossest of the lot.
Sports betting has now been legalised in the US, God help them.
Will betting firms be the financial saviour of the global creative business? They might be, until the legislators catch up with them. But the old saw about playing piano in a whorehouse comes to mind.
