It has been a long time since we saw any online poker commercials here in the United States. Those of you who have been around poker for at least a decade may remember the awful “bad poker face” PartyPoker commercials (perhaps better known as the “OOOOOOHHHH PARTYPOKER!” ads). And of course, before Black Friday, we had some decent, humorous Full Tilt spots with the sites many star players. But now, not so much, for obvious reasons.
But in the United Kingdom, it is a different story. Recently, 888poker launched a new ad campaign in the UK that continues the now multi-year trend of targeting recreational players. Rather than showing a hardened, calculating professional player conducting mental gymnastics and looking serious behind mirrored shades, the “Live the Game” campaign conveys a more silly, fun approach to the game of poker.
In an eGaming Review piece, 888 PR and Marketing Director Sivan Finn said, “The idea behind the concept is that for true poker players, the dynamics of poker are reflected in everything they do – it’s how they view the world. Whether they are in a dance-off, diving into a pool or even just chilling on holiday, they love to outplay each other in whatever game they’re playing. They live and breathe the game.”
In all three commercials, a group of three friends (the same three in each spot) are playing poker somewhere other than their house: at a pool, at a jazz dinner club, and at a beachside bar. One guy does something, the next friend decides to raise him by one-upping his act, and the third goes “all-in” by outdoing the others. For instance, after one guy scoops the pot as they sit in a booth at the jazz club, one of the friends heads to the dance floor to put on some fancy moves for the crowd. One of the trio sees that and “raises” him by whipping off his jacket, hopping up on stage, and doing a little upside-down piano playing. The final buddy makes his all-in move and leads the entire club in a version of the Macarena.
You can probably imagine what might be going on in the other two commercials. They aren’t particularly funny, but they get the point across. Poker players have fun out-doing each other in any situation. Perhaps more importantly, they are telling potential players that poker is first and foremost fun, that it’s a game. It’s not that sharks need not apply, but if you like games, if you like contest, poker is for you.
888poker is currently the second largest online poker room on the planet Earth, according to cash game traffic statistics provided by PokerScout.com. With a seven-day average of 2,300 cash game players, it sits comfortably in that second spot, 600 players ahead of Bodog. 600 players might not sound like a ton for a poker room that attracts players from around the world (but not the U.S. *sigh*), but consider that a) that is more than one-third the traffic of Bodog and b) 600 players would rank 15th on PokerScout’s charts.
Barring the apocalypse, 888poker won’t catch first place PokerStars any time soon, as the world leader has a seven-day average of 17,000 cash game players.