WA’s TAB ‘ups its game’ in major brand overhaul and new marketing campaign via 303Lowe Perth
Western Australia’s iconic TAB is upping the game for punters, with significant investment in a consolidated wagering offering, supported by the launch of a major rebrand and marketing campaign, created by 303Lowe Perth.
The campaign, which launched this week with an epic 90-second TVC, celebrates the TAB’s West Australian heritage and draws on local landmarks and sporting locations to reinforce the TAB as the home of racing and sports betting in WA.
The ad introduces an iconic hero on horseback as the voice of the TAB, and a charming and engaging personality for everyone to enjoy.
Says Richard Berney, creative director at 303Lowe: “The TAB is steeped in local pride, and is a classic part of our WA urban landscape – our creative drew a modern hero character from all this. He is the best of WA – strong and natural, with a streak of larrikinism. He is both serious and surreal, just like the very best sports and racing moments.”
With significant changes made across the business including its online offering TABtouch, the retail network and competitive product initiatives, the TAB promises a more personalised and rewarding betting experience for its punters, with this new brand campaign.
Says Derry Simpson, head of strategy & planning at 303Lowe Perth: “The TAB is a truly iconic West Australian brand and an institution for its punters. The opportunity to work on such a brand at both a strategic and creative level doesn’t come around very often and the journey has been an amazing one.
“With ever-increasing competition and an ageing customer base, our challenge was to redefine the TAB for a younger punting audience and celebrate the brand’s iconic status in Western Australia. It’s a new platform and a long term strategy for the TAB, which we will be rolling out over the next few years.”
Says Alister Shennan, general manager marketing at the TAB: “This campaign redefines who we are as a brand and reinforces our leadership position in the market. It’s the kind of move that only a leader could make and is a sign of our commitment to improving our offering for our loyal punters in WA.”
The rebrand is the first significant 
update to the brand in 15 years. It includes store signage, all new website and product improvements, in addition to rebrands of TABradio (previously Racing Radio) and TABform newspaper, all of which have rolled out this week.
The rebrand is supported by an integrated advertising campaign, which will run across TV, Press, Digital and Outdoor and also includes tactical activity around the AFL Grand Final and Spring Racing Carnival which will appear in the coming months.
Client – TAB (Racing and Wagering WA)
Agency – 303LOWE
Head of Planning – Derry Simpson
Business Director – Todd Baker
Creative Director – Richard Berney
Agency Producer – Kelly Dobbin
Co-Producer – Renier Ridgeway (Silver Lining Productions)
Co-Producer – Kate Downie (Beautiful Pictures)
Director – Michael Mathews
Business Coordinator – Jessica Bunney
Senior Planner – Bart Hodgen
Head of Design – Melissa Radman
Designer – Ting Sia
12 Comments
Well done team! Richy, love your work. Punter…my money’s on ‘Tiger in the woods’.
“The TAB is steeped in local pride, and is a classic part of our WA urban landscape” – pity everyone knows the spot was shot and posted in South Africa.
How is gambling giving anyone with a greater share of the future. Since when does promoting gambling become an honest product to be promoted. Shame on those profiting from this type of product.
I like it. Well done. Wherever you shot it, you’re competing with big budget brands. Although I’m pretty sure I saw the final scene being filmed in Subiaco!
I’ve got nothing against the fact it was shot in South Africa or that the post was done there, although i was disappointed in the post given that was country that gave us the awesome District 9. I quite like the tagline, “We’ve upped our game’ but sadly this spot fails to live up to that claim. We’ve seen this idea before, many times.There is no new twist and that is not only disappointing but is also a wasted opportunity.
Not quite true, this became a co-production out of necessity. Half the shoot days were spent in Perth with Beautiful Pictures, and the other ‘stunty’ half in Cape Town with Silverlining.
Jack,
Whilst I’d rather the post was done locally, comparing the work done on a US$30 million movie compared to a local TAB spot is pointless.
Visual effects passable. Main talent ordinary (dubbed?) but on the whole still pretty impressive. Good on 303 for thinking BIG.
I think it’s a good concept and directed well – the issue is it relied on way too many medium sized effects shots that probably weren’t correctly budgeted for in terms of time and cost . Making it worse, it seems the spot was shot under our recent winter clouds so post was given additional work doing lots of sky replacements which probably put even more pressure on the tail end. However, I do think that some of the crowd replacement shots are of a poor standard and any number of Perth facilities would have finished those to a much higher degree. You get what you pay for folks….
Oh Jack, District 9 post was mainly done by a Canadian post company.
Apples, i was just making the point that the post is awful. We’re visually spoilt these days and our expectations are high, obviously movies have huge budgets, but i’ve seen post executed here far better.
Once again, ad people reviewing work in context of the ad industry. The punters love it.
Who is the hot actor and what’s the horse’s name and breed?