Launch of David Beckham ad campaign axed by Venetian Macao just 48 hours before roll-out
High-profile campaign featuring soccer star called off amid infighting and revenue fall
PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 10 February, 2015, 10:36pm
UPDATED : Wednesday, 11 February, 2015, 11:30am
Tiffany Ap [email protected]
David Beckham leaves his handprints for posterity during a press conference at The Venetian Macao in November 22, 2013. Photo: Edward Wong
The launch of a high-profile global advertising campaign for Macau’s biggest casino operator which was due to star David Beckham has been scrapped just 48-hours before its planned roll-out amid turmoil at the top of the company and an unprecedented slump in the fortunes of the world’s biggest gaming hub.
Two days before the high-profile launch of their “never settle” campaign – widely promoted on both traditional and new media platforms as having at its centrepiece a movie starring a mystery “world famous celebrity icon” – the Venetian Macao on Tuesday announced that Thursday’s launch event and the campaign had been “postponed until further notice”.
The one-line press release did not identify the celebrity but the South China Morning Post has confirmed that it is former Manchester United, Real Madrid and England soccer superstar Beckham who was appointed ambassador for Las Vegas Sands to promote its casinos in Macau and Singapore in November 2013.
The postponement notice comes as the former Portuguese enclave’s gaming industry suffers from a major revenue slump as a result of the combined effects of President Xi Jinping’s no holds barred anti-corruption drive and a slowdown in mainland China’s economy.
It also comes amid a series of top-level corporate changes and a long-running legal dispute involving a former top executive at the company’s parent operation, Sands China.
The Venetian Macao casino resort. Photo: AP
The campaign was due to be rolled out on Thursday with a senior executive from Las Vegas Sands, Sands China’s parent company, flying in for the event. The Venetian Macao’s Twitter account had been anticipating the television commercial with a ten-day countdown complete with a video teaser.
However on Tuesday, an email sent out to press said it was abruptly postponed “until further notice”.
Venetian Macao’s senior vice president, Ciaran Carruthers, told the Post: “They’re discussing to go ahead and launch as planned but maybe without some of the fanfare.”
Simon Oliviera, Beckham’s public relations manager, said that Beckham remained a key part of the advertising campaign, insisting that they couldn’t wait for people to see the film: “There is absolutely no issue or conflict, we have a fantastic relationship with the Sands Group which will last for many years,” he added.
Sands China’s planned campaign mirrors a marketing move from rival casino operator Melco Crown Entertainment, which recently hired A-list Hollywood celebrities to promote its casinos in Macau and the Philippines. The commercial, which features Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro, and is filmed by the Oscar-winning director Martin Scorsese, ran a reported cost of US$70 million. It was the first in a series of advertisements from Melco Crown Entertainment. Another one starring Brad Pitt is rumoured to be on the cards.
The decision to postpone the event comes a week after Sands China announced it would hand out a bonus equal to at least a month’s salary to almost all of its staff and on the heels of fourth quarter earnings that fell shy of market expectations.
Las Vegas Sands is locked in a court battle with Sands China’s former chief executive Steven Jacobs over a his wrongful-termination lawsuit. Jacobs claims he was dismissed in 2010 because he clashed with Adelson over collecting information on Macau officials in order to exert leverage over them
