AdMiration feature: Paddy Power “Europe’s Favourites”

For this week’s AdMiration feature, we researched Paddy Power’s “Europe’s Favourites” ad, which was created just in time for bets to start pouring in for UEFA EURO 2024. In this particular ad, Paddy Power took advantage of England being named as the top contender to drive feelings of celebration and association with their brand. 

Read on to get our 3-2-1 snapshot of the ad (3 facts, 2 learnings and 1 reflection) and learn how their ad was received based on our data.

The ad opens to Danny Dyer walking through a beer garden, announcing that the Euros are here and “England are everyone’s favourites.” The scene then shifts to a German man in an airplane, putting his luggage away in the top compartment, who turns to the camera and sarcastically states, “Oh yeah, England are my ‘favorites’ because they’re so humble about past accomplishments…” as a group of English men clad in England soccer uniforms start chanting around him. 

Another scene opens on a beach to a Spanish woman working at the beachside restaurant holding a beer who says, “England are my favorites because of how they blend in to new cultures.” Which is followed by an English man in a robe and swim trunks shouting for an order of chips, “por favor please.” 

Several more scenes of people from different cultures follow, each making their own sarcastic comments about why England is their favorite, including their style, wit, their exits (with a nod to Brexit). 

The final scene goes back to Danny Dyer at the beer garden saying “Jog on, we’re not that bad are we?” Which is followed by a group of England fans shouting and cheering “It’s coming home!” and an Irish man sighing “I really hope it doesn’t.” 

The ad closes with a pan out to all the fans gathered around with the words “Paddy Power” and the line “This Euros, Europe’s favourites are favourites.” 

3 facts

• The ad scores in the top 15% of all UK ads in potential to drive short-term sales and in the top 30% in potential to drive brand equity and long-term sales. 

• Tapping into pop culture references drives relatability and sets the ad and the brand apart from others in the category. 

• People found it lighthearted, lovable and highly humorous, with 31% reacting to it with a laughter emoji and a further 24% with a love emoji, driving a more positive feeling towards the brand.

2 learnings

• Stories and characters that the audience can relate to can elevate your ad — capturing their attention and driving further emotional engagement to ultimately enhance overall effectiveness. 

• The use of celebrities, personalities, or characters works best when they have a direct link to your brand or embody the message or feeling your ad is trying to convey. 

1 reflection

Are you capitalizing on all the moments, events or seasons that are important for performance in the category your brand plays? Activating during these times has great potential to set your brand apart from others and drive brand awareness and consideration in the moments that matter most. 

Major sporting events awaken dormant users of sports betting sites and are a great moment to bring in new players. Soccer, or ‘football’ everywhere other than the US, is the most betted on sport in the UK, so the start of the UEFA EURO 2024 is a great opportunity for gambling brands that offer sports betting services to engage with current and prospective customers. 

In the weeks leading up to the tournament, England came out as having the top winning odds across Europe. Capitalizing on this, Paddy Power launched a campaign to celebrate the fact that England are “everyone’s favourites,” but more importantly to drive brand awareness during this key moment for the category. 

The ad scores in the top 15% of all UK ads in potential to drive short-term sales (sales impact: 86) and in the top 30% in potential to drive brand equity and long-term sales (brand impact: 74).

The ad is completely unique (ad distinctiveness: 3.9 vs 3.6 norm) and has potential to set Paddy Power apart from other online gambling brands (brand distinctiveness: 3.7 vs 3.5 norm). It is significantly more relatable than the average UK ad (relevance: 3.6 vs 3.3 norm) because it playfully focuses on what England is best known for with plenty of pop culture references and a use of sarcasm that is particularly characteristic of the British. 

People find that it has great potential to be shared around online with a viral potential score significantly above the country norm (62 vs 47).

The call outs to English people’s dodgy behavior abroad, relentless bragging about past sporting accomplishments, questionable style with a cameo from the guys in the “Four Lads in Jeans” meme, and their “gracious” exits with a not-so-seamless Brexit make the ad incredibly emotionally engaging (overall emotion: 56 vs 42 norm).

When asked to select an emoji to represent how they felt about the ad, 31% of the audience chose a laughter emoji (compared a norm of 7% for UK ads). Every time there was a cheeky remark about England or English people, laughter peaked in the second-by-second reaction to the ad. 

While love doesn’t peak much during the ad as they are too busy laughing, viewers do reflect on how much they love it once it’s done (love reaction: 24% vs 18% norm) due to its lighthearted way of poking fun at the nation and how relatable and relevant it is with the start of EURO 2024. 

Known for his bold and loud personality, Danny Dyer captures the attention of the audience from the get-go (claimed attention: 4.1 vs 3.7 norm) and people really enjoy his presence in the ad (celebrity appeal: 4.1 vs 3.4 norm). He helps deliver the ad’s message by embodying English sarcasm, adding to the humor and making the ad all the more relatable.

A few people call him out specifically when talking about what they liked about the ad: 

• "It had Danny Dyer in it, which was funny and hilarious, and it made me laugh and made me want to keep watching to see what was going to happen."

• "Danny Dyer is a legend and it made fun and jest about England but was all in good fun."

• "It was entertaining from start to finish, caught my attention from the off & Danny Dyer was funny." 

Here’s what other people said they enjoyed about it:

• "I appreciate the Paddy Power advert for England in the euros for its clever and relatable humor. It brilliantly captures the rollercoaster of emotions that English football fans experience during international tournaments. The advert's narrative arc, star."

• "It was funny and at the same time got the message across about betting with Paddy Power. One of the best ads I've seen in relation to the football."

• "I liked the humor of how other Europeans describe the English perfectly. Our style, wit, class and how humble we are, but we aren't any of these things when it comes to football."

• "I liked that it wasn’t taking itself too seriously, and that it was different from other adverts I’ve seen for similar websites."

The ad was successful in making people feel more positive about Paddy Power (brand appeal: 3.9 vs 3.7 norm) and also more likely to consider using the brand in the future (persuasion: 3.7 vs 3.5 norm). 

What a timely and entertaining ad from Paddy Power! England may be the favorites, but this might become people’s favorite ad during the EURO 2024.

What did you think? Let us know by interacting with our coverage of the ad on LinkedIn.

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