William Hill Vegas Campaign Raises the Bar for AR with First-Ever Virtual Slot Machine

Wavemaker UK, Smart Media Technologies, Kinetic and Ocean Outdoor have collaborated to create the world's largest AR powered virtual slot machine for William Hill Vegas. This ingenious Out of Home (OOH) gaming competition is the first of its kind, not just for William Hill, but for the gambling sector and the ad industry. 

William Hill Vegas is fast becoming one of the UK’s most-loved entertainment brands. By bringing interactivity and addressability to 12 cities and  23 OOH screens across the UK, it is delivering an unforgettable experience for its customers. 

The campaign and concept created by Wavemaker in collaboration with William Hill, and with technological prowess from Smart Media Technologies in conjunction with Ocean Labs, will see digital and static billboards facilitating a two-way interaction with the audience. The power of AR has been harnessed to bring immersive gameplay to a user’s OOH experience, enabling them to play a virtual slot machine that’s in front of their eyes, triggered from an interactive billboard. This campaign pushes the boundaries of innovation as a user can grab a digital token from the billboard via a QR code. They then spin the slot machine on their mobile in AR via a WebApp Wallet - to enable users to enjoy AR on their mobile without the need to download anything. The digital billboards will animate in real time to denote the user has interacted and been entered into a prize pool - The top prize is being a £15k trip to Las Vegas. We’re also further incentivising users to download the William Hill app for a further entry into the prize pool to be drawn.

The decision by Wavemaker to use Ocean Outdoor’s OOH screens as the media channel for this was simple - it's public and it’s a great way to ensure the campaign is delivered in a safe way to a broad audience (18-44 adults). Added to this, the potential for innovative tech integrations/solutions is unmatched. This has given William Hill the opportunity to deliver entertaining advertising, responsibly, in a whole new way for its William Hill Vegas brand. This has truly raised the bar for the use of AR in the gambling, entertainment and advertising industry.

Michael Sheehan, director of strategic marketing UK, William Hill, explained: “William Hill is on a mission to become synonymous with delivering the ultimate experience in entertainment. By creating the world’s largest slot machine to be powered by AR we are truly achieving that feat. We’re incredibly excited to be able to work with Wavemaker, Smart Media Tech, Kinetic and Ocean Outdoor to deliver this groundbreaking and innovative campaign. We look forward to seeing the reaction from our audience.”

Sian Runnacles, client managing director, Wavemaker UK, said: “We are constantly looking for new ways to reach, capture the attention of, and engage with William Hill’s target audience. We’re proud to have been responsible for the overall campaign and concept creation of this first of its kind AR gaming competition. We have no doubt this OOH campaign will ensure that the William Hill Vegas brand remains top of mind for people wanting a fun and interactive experience.

Dominic Di Talamo, VP commercial EMEA,  Smart Media Tech added: “We are delighted to deliver this exciting project for Willam Hill which pushes the boundaries of innovation via Web3 Technologies. Central to this activation is the Wallet;  a new DTC channel that facilitates the user experience whilst capturing rich audience data and consent for future marketing. We're excited to support a revolutionary new layer of interactivity and attribution to OOH whilst driving better outcomes for our clients”.

Melanie Blood, head of project management Ocean Labs, commented: " “The combination of large format out of home, augmented reality and a giant virtual slot machine introduces a real life dimension to this campaign on a scale not seen before. The interactive element between audiences and Ocean screens is fun, entertaining and suitably presented to reach the target audience.”

The overall campaign concept creation and media planning was delivered by Wavemaker. Kinetic was responsible for the media buying and Smart Media Tech for the technical innovation.