The new campaign, which launches Unibet Online Sportsbook in the United States, reflects the universal truth that when you have money on the line, the experience is intensified to a rather absurd degree.

“We’re winking at bettors, acknowledging that when you have skin in the game, you may be reacting in ways that are perceived as odd by less-invested fans,” said Gary Resch, FCB New York EVP, Executive Creative Director. “For instance, why are you on the edge of your seat when it’s 49-3 while everyone else is filling out? Well, you took the over at 52, so the result is still in the balance.”

In Europe, Unibet has earned the trust of serious bettors, demonstrating for over 20 years an understanding of what players need in order to make informed bets and amplify their sports-watching experience. They seek to begin earning that trust in the U.S. by celebrating their kindred spirit with these bettors.

“We wanted the campaign to be an inside joke between Unibet and the savvy sports bettor. Not everyone will understand the dynamic portrayed in the ads, but the ones who do will know in an instant that we’re the brand that gets them,” said Arnas Janickas, Head of U.S. Marketing at Unibet. “They have a lot of choices out there, so we want to prove that Unibet is the one they want to be watching the games at the pub with.”

In this vein, the new campaign focuses on the raw emotion underlying sports betting moments. With different vignettes for different sports, the campaign will be relevant in every season.

For instance, two hockey fanatics have oddly been converted to tennis fanatics because of a simple bet. Two other bettors make a scene just seconds into a basketball game because they had money on who wins the tip-off. A gentleman pulls his own hammy celebrating a winning bet of a stolen base. While onlookers may think it pretty strange, FCB and Unibet understand that having a bet on a game amplifies the experience to the extent that exhibiting odd behaviour is absolutely normal. Thus, the campaign rallying cries, “It’s not odd, it’s the odds.”

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At Unibet, we treat every game like it’s the championship round. Remember, there is never a meaningless moment when you have money on the line. ????

A post shared by Unibet Sportsbook (@unibetus) on Sep 11, 2019 at 7:36am PDT

Unibet, which offers online sports betting, casino games, poker and bingo in 20 different languages for over 25 million customers throughout the UK, Europe and Australia, announced that it would expand into the U.S. in 2019, and tapped FCB as its key launch partner for the Unibet brand. Unibet is live in New Jersey and looking to roll out in Pennsylvania later this year.

As legislation enabling online sports betting expands into states across the U.S., Unibet aims to deepen its authentic connection with its target audience while broadening the appeal to more casual sports fans who want some more “hell-yeah” moments.

Crazy About the Odds consists of online videos, digital radio spots, geotargeted paid social assets, as well as out-of-home and OTT video ads.

Unibet joins FCB New York’s impressive roster of iconic brands, which includes FDA, LG Electronics, Burger King and Lincoln Financial Group. This campaign launch is the first from FCB New York since its momentous showing at Cannes Lions, as the agency took home an unprecedented three Grand Prix, including the coveted Titanium honor.

About Kindred
Kindred Group is one of the world’s leading online gambling operators with business across Europe Australia, and the United States offering over 25 million customers across 11 brands a great form of entertainment in a safe, fair and sustainable environment. The company, which employs about 1,500 people, is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm Large Cap and is a founding member of the European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA) and founding member of ESSA (sports betting integrity). Kindred Group is audited and certified by eCOGRA for compliance, with the 2014 EU Recommendation on Consumer Protection and Responsible Gambling (2014/478/EU).

Credits:
FCB New York:
Ari Halper – Chief Creative Officer
Gary Resch – Executive Creative Director
Hernan Ibanez – Associate Creative Director
Justin Batten – Art Director
Nick Romano – Copywriter
Jon Gruber – Copywriter
Todd Sussman – Chief Strategy Officer
Adam Isidore – Director of Integrated Production
Henna Kathiya – Senior Integrated Producer
Jesse Morris – Project Manager
Janice Katz – Business Affairs Manager
Jared Shell – Account Director
Miles Brickley – Account Executive

Unibet US:
Arnas Janickas – Head of Marketing, US
Manuel Stan – SVP Kindred, US
Mateusz Samolyk – Brand Manager, Global

Director:
Adam Goldstein

Circle:
Chris Bowles – Executive Producer
Chuck Ryant – Executive Producer
Steve Schofield – Executive Producer
Kevin Johnston – Executive Producer
Vanessa Lenarduzzi – Producer
Production Manager – Chelsea Ruckle

Lost Planet:
Krystn Wagenberg – Executive Producer
Casey Cayko – Senior Producer
Charlie Johnston – Editor
Rachel Butler & Kenji Yamauchi – Assistant Editors

Black Hole – Finishing/GFX:
Felix Cabrera – Finishing Producer
Reginald Butler & Andre Sam – Animators
Tim Farrell – Flame Artist
Isabel Gomez – Flame Assistant

Honey Mix:
Mary Tomasiewicz – Owner/Executive Producer
Eric Thompson – Sound Mixer

Photography:
John Keatley – Photographer
Sean Frith – Producer

The Mill:
Fergus McCall – Colorist
Rochelle Brown – Producer

With support from Unibet, the campaign will launch with simultaneous live events and tournaments of Queen Rules poker on March 8th in London, Stockholm, Malta and more to be announced. A social experiment film, created in partnership with production company Archer’s Mark, will be released on the same day.

Competitors will be playing with limited edition cards that celebrate powerful women of all different shapes and sizes, drawn by sixteen unbelievably talented female illustrators from womenwhodraw.com, a website that champions female illustrators – especially those of colour, LBTQ+ and other minority groups.

All proceeds from the live events and merchandise, including T-shirts, art prints and playing cards, will be donated to HeForShe, a solidarity campaign for the advancement of women initiated by UN Women. We truly believe that play can be a powerful tool for change, and hope that with enough support for the campaign, we can help fight for a fairer world, one hand at a time.

The Queen Rules project started when a five-year-old girl questioned why King ranks higher than Queen in a deck of cards. This simple, yet powerful, idea is one way of sparking conversation around the unconscious gender bias that surrounds us – because sometimes the bias we don’t see, is as damaging as the bias we do.

Change the game play queen rules

Global Campaign Features New Games Where Queens Rule Supreme.

The agency is challenging people everywhere to change how they think and play with the new rules. For examples of how to play, and which games work with Queen Rules, visit queenrulesproject.com or join the conversation with #QueenRules.

FCB Inferno’s CEO Frazer Gibney says: “It’s one small change, but one that we hope will have a big impact. If we can spark both debate and real behaviour change around unconscious and ingrained forms of gender inequality, then the campaign will have been a success.”

FCB Inferno’s CCO Owen Lee added: “This crushingly simple insight came from a five-year-old girl asking a simple question that we all struggle to answer. We are all guilty of unconscious bias and as a communications business we have a chance to do something about that. Queen Rules is a way of playing any number of card games that will change the way people think. So, the next time a little girl asks ‘Are Kings better than Queens?’, the answer will unequivocally be ‘No, it depends how you want to play the game.”

Nataly Sopacuaperu, Head of Events at Unibet says: “Unibet are proud to be involved in the Queen Rules project. It is a fantastic idea that highlights where in society we have gender bias. As a brand, our ambition is to make all of our Players feel understood, and challenging these kinds of stereotypes is one way to do this.”

Glenda Stone, Partnerships Director for International Women’s Day explains: “Challenging the status quo is an important part of the journey toward gender parity. This is what makes the Queen Rules project an exciting, innovative and powerful campaign for awareness raising. Questioning a familiar circumstance to provide an alternative is clever. Unibet and FCB Inferno are clearly innovating with impact when it comes to forging and making a #PressforProgress.”

Unibet
Unibet (part of the Kindred Group) is a premium all-product brand with a passion for online gambling, offering all types of Sports betting as well as Casino and Games, Poker and Bingo in 20 different languages across more than 100 countries. At Unibet, their ambition is to be the experts in understanding what players really need to make informed bets that enhance their passion for the game. That is why they proudly say they’re ‘By players, for players’.

About International Women’s Day
Marked annually on March 8, International Women’s Day (IWD) is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The day is also a call-to-action for accelerating gender parity. IWD has occurred for well over a century, with the first​ ​March 8​ ​IWD gathering supported by over a million people in 1911. IWD belongs to all groups collectively everywhere. IWD is not country, group or organization specific. ​ The IWD 2018 campaign theme is #PressforProgress and calls for greater gender parity. For news, resources and a general global round up of activity, head to www.internationalwomensday.com

Women Who Draw
Women Who Draw is a resource for people to discover talented women, women of color, queer women and non-binary professional artists. You can find them at: http://www.womenwhodraw.com

HeForShe
HeForShe is a solidarity campaign for the advancement of women initiated by UN Women. Its goal is to achieve equality by encouraging men and boys as agents of change to take action against negative inequalities faced by women and girls.

Archer Mark
Archer’s Mark is an award-winning modern studio, renowned for creating timely, bold and innovative work across commercials, feature films and interactive experiences. They have produced campaigns for some of the world’s biggest brands and agencies. The company’s most recent feature film, Notes on Blindness, earned three BAFTA nominations.

Credits:
Agency: FCB Inferno
Chief Creative Officer: Owen Lee
Senior Art Director: Ben Edwards
Senior Copywriter: Guy Hobbs
Senior Art Director: Jack Walker
Senior Copywriter: Ali Dickinson
Senior Project Manager: Bridie Scriven
Senior Designer: Sarni Strachan
Senior Account Manager: Sabrina May
Director of European Communications and PR: CC Clark

Women Who Draw illustrators
Karla Hernandez – Mexico // Sally Reynolds – USA // Paolo Saliby – Brazil // Zixuan Zhou – China // Christine Suggs – USA // Maya Sariahmed – USA // Jenna Stemple – USA // Louise Rosenkrands – Denmark // Nicole Rifkin – Canada // Paola Villanueva – Spain // Linny Malin – Canada // Nikki McClure – USA // Pearl Law – UK // Heather Hardison – USA // Anna Wanda Gogusey – France // Cecile Gariepy – Canada

This Womens Day Ad is related to:
FCB Inferno, illustrator, Unibet, #QueenRules, HeForShe, Gender Equality, Queen Rules, Women’s Day Campaign, Women’s Day Ad, Digital Campaign, Print Campaign, Creative Ads, Gender Bias, Women Who Draw, Archer Mark, International Women’s Day, Gender Stereotypes, This Girl Can, Social Experiment