Asking a nation of racing enthusiasts to Pick Your Nose

Our brief was to design a campaign to create cut-through in a very noisy category, with plenty of brands looking to capture attention around key race meets. And in order to create that cut-through, we focused on an idea which had humour at its heart.

In horse racing, it all comes to down to which horse’s nose crosses the line first. That’s it. That’s all that matters. ‘Pick Your Nose’ is a line rooted in truth, simplicity and horse racing vernacular, but more than that, it’s designed to raise a smile. Because horse racing, and betting, should be fun.

With ad campaigns, getting noticed (and remembered) is obviously the name of the game, and a fundamental part of the Sergeant Walnuts ethos. This becomes even more significant in a fiercely competitive category like betting, where odds and offers are shouted from the roof-tops. Betfred is known for having incredible history and prestige, and will always be at the forefront of offering fantastic value. We needed a vehicle to help us communicate their generous odds and specials in a way which would help us stand out from the pack, as well as being an eye-catching call to action. ‘Pick Your Nose’ ticked all boxes.

Pick Your Nose gave us a flexible platform which can be adapted to work across all key meets and festivals, and allowed us to highlight our offers and specials in an attention-grabbing way. By having a more playful approach to our comms, through an idea that is rooted in a fundamental truth about racing, we were able to appeal to both ardent racing enthusiasts as well as the more occasional bettor who might only engage with horse racing a couple of times a year.

The campaign is built with a wide variety of assets, some of which focus on awareness and brand building, prior to more tactical and offer-driven messages being utilised in key channels as specific race meets draw closer.

The campaign was multi-channel and was comprised of Press, OOH, Radio, Social, Digital Display and YouTube ads – as well as a variety of campaign touchpoints to be rolled out across Betfred’s many high-street shops.