Big Betting Is The New Big Tobacco

Sports betting advertisements are replicating Big Tobacco's playbook exactly: glamorize an addiction, and do it everywhere.

So NCPG is referencing old cigarette ads to make the point that sports betting needs cigarette-style regulation.

OOH

NCPG billboard campaign

All executions come with a surgeon general-style warning about the dangers of sports betting.

NCPG billboard with surgeon general warning
NCPG billboard execution
NCPG billboard execution NCPG billboard execution

Print

We are targeting the same placements that are currently inundated by advertisements for sports betting.

NCPG print magazine ad

Socials

NCPG social media campaign

Activations

Flip the Card

NCPG vintage-style playing cards NCPG vintage-style playing cards

NCPG is flipping the script and printing playing cards that look like vintage baseball cards, distributing them at stadiums, sports bars, and tailgates. The cards have the same format, the same nostalgia, but instead of batting averages on the back, the cards carry the educational stats the sports betting industry intentionally leaves out. And yes, you can also play cards with them.

They forgot to mention...

Guerrilla teams are hitting major US cities during peak sports betting season (Super Bowl and March Madness) and slapping surgeon-general-style warning labels directly onto sports betting ads in the wild — billboards, bus shelters, subway cards.

The labels mimic FDA tobacco warnings but address gambling harm, turning every slick sports betting ad into its own PSA.

Every person who photographs it becomes a volunteer media channel.

NCPG guerrilla marketing execution

Copywriter: Paolo Iacovelli  |  Art Director: Abby Pallant