72andSunny and Mansion Poker raise the ante
for online poker
Multi-platform
ad campaign launches MANSIONPOKER.NET and TV series
“Poker Dome Challenge” on Fox Sports Net
Advertising and
design firm 72andSunny has just launched the first
international campaign for
Mansion (See Web Site Here)
, the
world’s leading free-play online poker site.
72andSunny created six spots for television and web
as well as a print campaign, all introducing the new
brand idea, “Welcome to The Game.” This stylish
effort establishes the MANSIONPOKER.NET brand idea
of taking poker back to its proud roots as a game of
wits and human competition.
On Sunday July 2,
the first round of ads debuted nationally across the United States, promoting the
free-play online gaming site MANSIONPOKER.NET while
encapsulating the idea that Poker is a competitive
and sophisticated game. A second round of ads will
specifically promote the MANSIONPOKER.NET POKER DOME
CHALLENGE.
Said Ashley Lang,
Head of Marketing for MANSION, “Poker is enjoying a
huge resurgence in popularity in recent years, so
more people than ever are learning the game. Our
goal is to educate new players—and remind seasoned
ones—that poker is a game of intelligence and
strategy, not just about winnings. 72andSunny has
been a great strategic and creative ally for us,
really helping us bring poker back to its roots.”
As part of
MANSIONPOKER.NET’s strategy to further popularize
the game, the Poker Dome show, a 43-week
live-to-tape tournament series is televised on Fox
Sports Net (FSN); it has the world’s best amateur
poker players vying for a $2.2 million series purse
in the fastest and most technologically advanced
poker series on television. The show airs on FSN
through March 2007 on Sundays at 11:00PM PST.
Said John Boiler,
Partner and Creative Director, 72andSunny,
“MANSIONPOKER.NET is easily the most exciting new
entrant into the world of online poker, and ‘Poker
Dome Challenge’ debuted at a time when more and more
tournaments and poker-themed shows are on the air.
So this was a great opportunity for us to launch the
highest-profile entrant into this fast-growing
category with a distinctive point of view.”
The TV campaign
consists of six TV spots directed by Antony Hoffman
of @Radical Media, which were shot over four days in
Prague
in a luxury casino and in poker rooms created
largely from scratch. The look and feel of the
campaign evokes the sophistication of Monte Carlo or
classic Vegas. Each ad plays like a mini film and
focuses on a different insight into the game, and
features professional MANSION-sponsored poker player
Erica Schoenberg, and narrations from well-known
actor Dougray Scott (Mission Impossible: II,
Armageddon), who serves as “the guide.”
In the :60 launch
spot “War,” the poker table becomes a battlefield
where skirmishes are won and lost through a
challenge of wits. Cinematic camerawork follows a
man dressed in a dark suit as he walks through the
casino and surveys his opponents. He provides
commentary: “Winning is about understanding
yourself…before the other guy does. Knowledge and
skill wins war. Not luck.”
The same man
coolly regards another poker player, ostentatiously
hording his winnings in the :30 ad “Shambles.”
Leaning against the bar, he readies himself for the
pounce. “If you bruise a man with your fists, he
may come back stronger for it. But if you take all
of his chips at the poker table, you can leave him
broken in ways that may never heal, and send him
away in shambles,” says his inner voice. All ads
close with the tagline, “Welcome to The Game,” which
is both an invitation to play as well as a statement
about Poker.
“Many newcomers
to online poker seem to be exploiting the game with
promises of free-rolls and high payouts and have
neglected the fact that the heart of the game is
about competition, not just earnings. In a poker
world increasingly dominated by retail gimmickry and
promises of high stake winnings, MANSIONPOKER.NET
celebrates the strategy, matching of wits,
competition and human drama of poker,” said John
McGonigle, Brand Director, 72andSunny.
The stylized
MANSIONPOKER.NET TVC campaign premieres first in the
United States on FSN, and will
receive worldwide market exposure across
Canada, the
U.K., Scandinavia and other
parts of Europe, as
well as the Asia Pacific region via international
distribution rights secured for the MANSIONPOKER.NET
POKER DOME CHALLENGE televised series.
