Other focal areas
The Ladbrokes Brand
Ladbrokes has in 2008 maintained its position as the leading betting brand in the UK according to an independent survey of betting shop customers by TNS (Taylor Nelson Sofres market research).
The survey revealed that in 2008 the Ladbrokes’ brand continues to have the highest level of spontaneous awareness among both the general public and bettors. Ladbrokes recorded 40% spontaneous first mentioned awareness compared with 14% or below for all our competitors. It also continued to register the largest share of visits at the end of 2008 with 31%, while William Hill accounted for 27% and Coral for 14%.
Following changes introduced by the UK Gambling Act 2005 in September 2007, Ladbrokes became the first company in the UK to air TV advertising for sports betting. Since then the Company has run additional Ladbrokes brand advertising around the European Championships in June 2008, while the television advertising for Ladbrokesbingo.com and Ladbrokescasino.com form key initiatives in the eGaming growth strategy. In addition the eGaming business has sought to improve brand awareness abroad with Ladbrokes television advertising in the Nordic region.
2008 has also heralded the introduction of the industry’s first brand loyalty card, OddsOn! The scheme promotes brand loyalty by rewarding customers with points for the amount staked, which they can accumulate and redeem for odds enhancement, free bets or bonus points.
The Board and senior management recognise the importance of the brand, both in the UK and overseas, and will continue to develop it and monitor performance to ensure Ladbrokes stays ahead of the competition.
Other – International development operations
In April, Sportium, the Spanish joint venture with Cirsa, was awarded its licence to operate in the Madrid region and at 31 December 2008, 38 outlets had been opened.
Our international team continue to explore a number of growth opportunities around the world, with a particular focus currently in China.
Corporate costs*
Corporate costs fell by £6.2 million to £14.9 million, mainly reflecting lower generic TV advertising costs.
*Before non-trading items.
Technology
Technology remains a central pillar of Ladbrokes’ strategy and is pivotal to providing the best solutions and services in the betting and gaming industry. Irrespective of whether customers are playing on one of Ladbrokes’ websites, using the call centre or in-store, Ladbrokes’ industry-leading technology infrastructure and operating platform are critical in determining the quality of a customer’s overall experience. We have created a system which integrates the core competencies of being a retailer (providing our customers with a full breadth of products), a bank (odds/managing risk) and a media company (providing dynamic and static content across various channels) with the additional complexity of doing so in absolute real-time.
Our technological infrastructure enables:
- on average, three new betting opportunities every minute;
- almost 20,000 bets per minute at peak times;
- over 26,000 live markets per week; and
- over 4.5 million customers to gain access to our betting and gaming content around the globe.
Overlaying this are compliance requirements of the industry and differing regulatory regimes adopted by the various countries in which we operate. Security and compliance is paramount in the overall design and operation of every Ladbrokes environment, with advanced, real-time, integrated security systems installed to protect personal, financial and transactional data. To ensure fail-safe integrity of our data, Ladbrokes has implemented a series of storage systems. Infrastructure, software systems and communications services are always up-todate, ensuring the best possible service and experience for our customers.
Ladbrokes partners with best-of-breed third parties, qualified in the development and delivery for specific services across channels.
These suppliers are integrated into the overall infrastructure and services that guarantee the delivery and support of our sophisticated technology platforms, which are deployed consistently at installations throughout the world.
The technology requirements
Ladbrokes PLC 2009