New Campaign Interview: Holland Casino

 

The objective of the repositioning is to strengthen the current position of Holland Casino as market leader. A 360˚ campaign has been developed for this, which will go live on June 18th. The repositioning and new campaign are part of Holland Casino's strategic renewal plans.

Joost Rombout, Manager Brand Strategy & Campaigns at Holland Casino, stated: "We chose INDIE because they show passion for their profession and for our brand and company. For the repositioning we go back to the primal strength of the Holland Casino brand: the excitement of the game. That is exactly what makes the casino thrilling. We will also use the principles of our roots: the reliability, quality and hospitality that we as the only real casino in the Netherlands have built up over 40+ years."

Lode Schaeffer, owner and ECD of INDIE, stated: "The gaming market is in development.
We are very pleased with the opportunity to reposition the Dutch market leader Holland Casino and to prepare them for the future. In the brand campaign we focus on the crucial role of the smallest details that ultimately determine whether you win or lose: the little white ball of the roulette game or the edges of the dice. We zoom in on these details to make them ultimately exciting.''

The new brand positioning is being launched with a campaign consisting of TV, cinema, radio, print, outdoor, trams, outdoor spectacular and digital. 

What was the original brief for this campaign?

Holland Casino has a lot of different target groups. High rollers, the occasional group of friends, and retirees, for example. There’s only one thing that they all have in common: they visit the casino for the excitement of the game. The tension between losing or winning. That one moment right before the outcome when it feels like time almost stands still. The campaign is based on that insight.

In a few words, tell us about your role in the creation of this work

This is the first campaign INDIE has done for Holland Casino. It all started with a repositioning, a whole new strategy, resulting in a 360º marketing campaign.

What inspired you to approach the campaign in this way?

The thrill of the game can always be found in the tiniest details of the casino: The roulette ball, one card, the edges of the dice. While all these objects are very small, in the heat of the moment they can feel immense. That’s why we decided to blow up the tiniest details of the casino to an epic scale. This way the campaign makes you experience the exact thrill you feel when playing a real game in Holland Casino.

How difficult was it to sell the idea to the client?

The client was totally on board from the first presentation and gave us a lot of freedom and confidence. The fact that we focused on the essence of their product - the game - probably helped.

What was the biggest challenge you faced during the process?

The biggest challenge was to reenact the true feeling of excitement you have when you’re in a casino. I think we got pretty close.

Also challenging was capturing the perfect movement of the dice while shooting at 2000 frames per second.

What did you learn from the experience?

If you give experts in their field the freedom and trust to do what they think is best, you’ll get rewarded. Eg. our director Oskar Wrangö and his team.

What’s the “behind the scenes” story that only you know about – until now?

There was a Swedish magician on set who could do all kinds of amazing tricks. But in the end we only used the shots where he simply threw the dice like anyone else would. Sorry :)