William Hill awards media account to Wavemaker

UK marketing source CampaignLive has reported that WPP Group’s Wavemaker Global has been awarded a UK media and planning account from betting group William Hill.
The London-based advertising agency is set to replace Vizeum (Dentsu Aegis Network), as William Hill’s lead UK media planning and buying agency after Vizeum were invited to re-pitch their strategy to the bookmaker in February. Havas Group Media and one other agency were involved in the process.
The yet to be confirmed update sees William Hill close its ‘media review’ which is reported to have been led by new Global Brand & Marketing Director Charlotte Emery, who joined the bookmaker’s team last November as part of William Hill’s executive team restructure.
Launched in 2018, Wavemaker prides itself on being a new ‘audience engagement and activation focused’ media planning subsidiary of WPP Group, formed through the merger of MEC and Maxus agencies. To date, Wavemaker has held no prior gambling advertising arrangements.
William Hill has become the most recent industry giant to carry out a review of its marketing strategies, following on from Betway and Kindred Group’s reviews in 2018.
The gambling industry has been under increasing pressure in terms of advertising. Several brands, including Bet365, Betfair, Betfred, Ladbrokes Coral Group, Paddy Power, Sky Bet, Stan James and William Hill, have agreed to a voluntary live sports ban.
Wavemaker and William Hill are yet to comment.