William Hill cranks up focus on social media

Lexis has been brought in to support its social media work, in the first move of its kind for the industry heavyweight.

William Hill is locked in a fierce battle over the increasingly competitive online gambling marketplace. Last week it announced a 14 percent increase in operating profits for the first half of 2012, largely driven by a huge 30 per cent jump in online revenue.

Kate Miller, PR manager for William Hill, said: 'We've got a very well established high street presence with 2,400 shops in the UK but the reality is we're going into other channels and we've expanded internationally.'

Miller explained that the online brief follows the opening of online offerings in Spain, Italy and Austria in the past year.

She said: 'Social media have become more and more important with sports fans and others, as you can tell from the Olympics. For example, Twitter is a recognised comms stream now, and for us it's about working to make the best of the content we're producing.

'The internet and social media allow us the opportunity to promote to other markets as we expand internationally, and tailor our content to various different marketplaces.'

The project is set to run for three months and covers campaigns beyond social media, with FA Cup and England team deals and the WilliamHill.com UK Snooker Championships included in the brief.

It will be led by Lexis senior associate director Gareth Griffiths, and follows previous partnership work on the WilliamHill.com Greyhound Derby in May.