William Hill Encourages People to Reappraise Their Betting Behaviour

Independent creative collective Who Wot Why has launched a new brand campaign for William Hill, establishing the brand’s position as the authority on responsible gambling behaviours. The agency was awarded the business in January 2025.

The challenge was to develop a creative platform that bucked the category, for a 360° campaign to support William Hill’s Safer Gambling responsibilities to the betting and gambling community. The ask was to create a bespoke campaign, set to normalise behaviour towards safer gambling initiatives, by creating highly watchable and light-hearted communications. This approach sets William Hill away from the category norms of driving tool usage or more functional responsible gambling communications, driving emotional appeal through creative that’s set to engage everyone, regardless of their relationship with SG tools.

The idea is centered around the notion of ‘Boundaries. Every game needs them.’ and dramatises just that. It’s a game of football but not as you know it. In an entertaining and surreal twist on reality, the pitch is presented without boundaries, and the game soon descends into chaos.

Brought to life across AV, social, OOH and print, the 30” film lands us mid-action in a football match, where not all is as it seems. The film features no lines and no goalposts, and without boundaries the teams and the match officials quickly lose the plot. There’s a penalty shot without markings. There are goalkeepers who can’t keep a handle on the game. There is an assistant ref who is out of control. These are all compounded by a surreal never-ending pitch. The film uses the metaphor of the much-loved game to show, not tell, consumers that they have more fun when there are proper boundaries.

Produced and directed through Pulse by Keith McCarthy, the campaign is supported by VOD, Social OOH, and print, and is the second campaign in quick succession for the brand, having been awarded the business in January.

Hannah Cooper Best, head of brand, William Hill Vegas, said, “We wanted to set ourselves apart from the category, with communications around Safer Gambling designed to drive reappraisal of gambling behaviours, instead of pointing to specific tools. With our partners Who Wot Why, we have created entertaining, light-hearted comms, that promote safer gambling behaviours as something everyone should adopt, not just those affected by gambling.”

Matt Gooden and Sean Thompson, Who Wot Why’s founders, and joint CCOs, said, “We’re always eager to work on the important Safer Gambling communication for a gambling brand. We want to get as many people as possible to set their limits. With this in mind, we aimed first and foremost to entertain, to have wide appeal through a mass sport like football, and to say that it’s essential to set your boundaries.”