The Ball of Yarn
Winamax
TBWA\Paris
Overview
In a city that seems to be populated only by cat-like humans, a bright red ball of yarn suddenly interrupts the peace and quiet as all instantly set off in its pursuit. A frantic race takes place throughout the city and as the ball of yarn rolls down the avenues and alleys, a swarm of competitors join together in a compact mass to try their luck and catch it. The film ends with the brand’s new signature: “Unleash Your Player Instinct”.
The Challenge
Each time a World Cup is coming up, Europe faces an overdose of advertising fueled by gambling companies producing promotional campaigns that all look the same.
On top of that, in some countries like France, there are now heavy legal constraints limiting the ability of brands to talk concretely about bets and gains.
It is for these reasons that the main challenge of this campaign was to break the codes of the gambling sector and to come up with a totally new approach.
The Solution
We created a film based on various cinematic references like Asian action films and U.S. Blockbusters to depict gambling in a new and unique way.
Following a frantic race for a red ball of yarn in a city populated by cat-like humans, the campaign serves as a fun reminder that the primary motivation in gambling is to win.
The Results
By breaking the codes of the sector, Winamax really stood out during the highly contested World Cup period by becoming the most recognized sports-betting-brand in France thanks to this campaign.
According to an Odoxa post-campaign survey, among all the brands who massively communicated during the World Cup, Winamax was the most recognized betting-brand (64% of recognition), far ahead of all its competitors (more than 5pts ahead of its first rival).
With this campaign, Winamax has also become the only betting platform to significantly increase in brand perception compared to October 2021 (+13 points).
This Film is now considered by many French people as the most memorable of the World Cup (according to the survey, 24% of the French say they remember it with certainty).
For all these reasons, both in terms of reach and brand perception, this campaign is now the benchmark for the entire category.
