Media mix: Havas PR; PushON; Betfred

HAVAS PR in Manchester has been appointed by national bingo club operator Mecca as its new retained agency.

The agency’s remit includes national and regional PR support for the Mecca brand, its 90-strong chain of clubs across the country and the meccabingo.com online and mobile channels.
 
The appointment follows a successful six month project Havas PR UK completed for Mecca earlier this year, supporting the brand’s nationwide Star Search talent competition, the final of which was headlined by X Factor and reality TV star Stacey Solomon.

Havas PR UK’s board director Nigel Hughes is heading up an eight strong team on the account, drawing on resources from the agency’s Manchester, Edinburgh and London offices.

He said: “Mecca is one of the country’s best loved brands with millions of people registered with its clubs and online platforms.

“The business is making a significant investment in PR support as part of wider campaign to attract new members with popular games, fun and entertainment in club and online. It’s a really exciting contract for Havasto win.”

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MANCHESTER-based digital marketing agency PushON has created an omni-channel offering for Nottingham Forest Football Club to help improve its marketing and customer experience.

The championship club has become one of the first clubs in the UK to offer a full service omni-channel solution to offer a seamless experience via its online and in-store shops.

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WARRINGTON-headquartered bookmaker Betfred is launching a new TV advertising campaign featuring owner Fred Done.

Seven new commercials have been produced and they feature nine different sports. The adverts were shot on location at Haydock Park Racecourse, Old Trafford Cricket Ground, Nottingham Greyhound Stadium, Widnes Vikings’ stadium and Liverpool Olympia.

Betfred’s head of marketing Gemma Strath said: “The idea of the campaign is ‘Be Part of the Action’ and after much consideration we decided to put the biggest sports fan in our office in our commercials and that’s the boss Fred Done.

“He may be a bookmaker but he lives and breathes sport, plus in a very competitive market place we decided to use Fred. Ultimately the message we want to get across is that you are betting with a real person here at Betfred.”

Shadowplay Productions and Liverpool-based Video Agency ‘Zut’ were commissioned to create the commercials which will be broadcast across the Sky Sports network, on their in store Channel Betfred TV plus on social media.