Wagering company appoints new marketing leaders following departure of inaugural Ladbrokes Australian CMO
Ladbrokes Australia’s inaugural chief marketing officer has quit the post after three years to pursue new opportunities.
James Burnett was appointed CMO by wagering startup, Gaming Investments, to grow its Bookmaker.com.au brand but was then put in charge of launching the Ladbrokes brand in Australia after the UK company acquired Gaming Investments in September 2013.
Burnett was formerly national marketing and sponsorship manager at Tabcorp, and also held sales and commercial development roles at Fairfax Media.
Ladbrokes has appointed Simon Jarvis as its new CMO, who joins from a GM of marketing role at Australia College.
In a statement, Burnett noted Ladbrokes’ rise to the third-largest sports betting company in Australia, growing turning to $1.5 billion in 2015 and acquiring more than 85,000 new depositing customers.
Burnett was also responsible for the launch of Ladbrokes’ ad campaign using a cockney voice, which he claimed has helped the betting agency dominate the male 18 to 35 year-old category.
“The decision to use [cockney actor] James Kristian was polarizing but the results proved it to be correct,” Burnett said. “He gave us a unique voice in a cluttered market and the target audience, mean 18 to 35, loved him and the ‘Lock, Stock’ style of ads we produced.”
Other key initiatives included launching the Ladbrokes branded debit and visa card, along with a cash-in facility launched with Sydney technology payments startup, Blueshfyt, which is now running across 1000 newsagents nationally.
Burnett said he’ll take some time off before looking into new opportunities.
Follow CMO on Twitter: @CMOAustralia, take part in the CMO conversation on LinkedIn: CMO ANZ, join us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CMOAustralia, or check us out on Google+: google.com/+CmoAu
The third and final episode CMO’s 3-part video series on how CMO50 luminaries are achieving greater marketing agility is now live!
I always enjoy those oft-forgotten, in-between moments in any experience. These moments are not necessarily part of any defined experience per se. They likely wouldn’t show up in an organisation’s plans or ideas to help make the customer journey or user flow as simple, easy and seamless as possible.
There’s been a lot of buzz in the advertising industry lately about what’s coined the ‘attention economy’. And it’s fast becoming the new battleground for media channels to prove their wares and to develop and espouse new attention metrics.
Exceptional CMOs do exceptional things for themselves and for those they inspire. At your best you are creative, innovative and inspirational. We have a problem though. We now live in a corporate world that demands sensibility where everything you do is measurable and stakeholders demand predictability – the antithesis of breakthrough and transformation.
Introducing Branch's mobile referrals https://branch.io/referral/
Bruce Ma
How this ecommerce upstart is building its brand proposition
I couldn't understand one things why on earth people only talk aboutimpact of digital transformation on banking and finance field instead...
Rajesh Acharya
Digital take-up and experiences help drive Suncorp's solid FY21 performance
Good afternoon,This is a complaint of the process of refunds which does not comply with Australian legislation. Despite a exhaustive req...
shiree Gilroy
Catch Group combines commercial and marketing role
I really appreciate your article. Love your Article. By reading your article, its created an idea in my mind about loyalty strategy to ke...
Jack Reacher
Report: Marketers failing to realise the benefits of customer loyalty programs
One month’s research and we’ve handpicked this generation’s 50 most talented Women CEOs, leading the top multinational companies around t...
Vaishnavi Pillai
Women in leadership the focus on International Women’s Day