Paddy Power: Save Our Shirt

Paddy Power, an Irish bookmaker, created change in the betting category and encouraged brands to stop placing huge logos on football shirts by releasing a fake, sponsored Huddersfield Football Club shirt to enrage the public before unveiling the real, sponsor-free shirt.

Executive Summary

Gambling addiction is a significant problem in the UK. Meanwhile, betting brands have become addicted to football sponsorship. Fans and their sacred football shirts have become walking billboards for betting sponsors. Paddy Power wanted to create meaningful change in the category.

Paddy had not previously entered football sponsorship, but would now enter into a deal with five UK clubs. But crucially, not put their name on the shirts.

However, rather than coming straight out with logo-free strips and waiting for polite applause, Paddy decided to first make the problem much, much worse.

We would use the very medium...

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