Gambling addiction is a significant problem in the UK. Meanwhile, betting brands have become addicted to football sponsorship. Fans and their sacred football shirts have become walking billboards for betting sponsors. Paddy Power wanted to create meaningful change in the category.
Paddy had not previously entered football sponsorship, but would now enter into a deal with five UK clubs. But crucially, not put their name on the shirts.
However, rather than coming straight out with logo-free strips and waiting for polite applause, Paddy decided to first make the problem much, much worse.
We would use the very medium we wished to save - the shirt - to maximum impact before paid media kicked in.
It started with Huddersfield Town releasing a garish shirt design with the biggest Paddy logo possible. That evening, away at Rochdale it became a reality as ‘The Terriers’
played an official game wearing it. The outrage instantly made front-page news with the story covered by every major news outlet including the BBC and Sky News, before the paid-media campaign had even...
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