Most Creative Marketers: Michelle Spillane

To function as brand at a time when the cultural climate is swaying towards intense moralism has been far from easy. So how do you navigate these choppy waters and vie for consumer attention, especially when you happen to be the Irish bookmaker Paddy Power - made famous for being almost savage with its humour.

For Michelle Spillane, its marketing and brand director for the UK & Ireland, culture kicks in stronger in times of crisis and the brand has always been at the forefront of tapping into the pulse of popular culture. “Our business is entertainment. It’s not about chasing the next gag or just being outrageously funny. Entertaining content is bigger than that. It’s about being culturally relevant, and invites people in," she says.

“We used to call it rock and shock,” she adds about its sometimes outrageous humour. “And it often was polarising. But that was never really our DNA. Paddy Power has always been about being culturally relevant, and that means being inclusive.” As the first female marketing boss of the brand, Michelle’s been on a journey to seal Paddy Power’s legacy as a brand that is more than just the punchline, and about using humour as a relevant and sustainable marketing strategy.

Paddy Power, the entertainer

She joined Paddy Power in 2018 from Irish national TV broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTE), where she served as director of global marketing. A seasoned media and tech marketing executive, Spillane has also held leadership positions at Microsoft Ireland, Bank of Ireland and ITV.

Her background in media and entertainment meant that Spillane came armed with a lens through which she could see a bigger potential in the Paddy Power brand, which was not just about the brand being funny and provocative and doing comedy.

Michelle clearly enjoys not just her own brand campaigns and the creative vision she’s set out for the brand but also the content landscape. Films, she confesses, will always be her first love. Not a big fan of sci-fi genre, she however loves the reach and scale of the entertainment business. From working on the re-release of the Exorcist film (it was banned in Ireland until 1998) to the days when she was in-charge of flying over the Shawshank Redemption writer and director, Frank Darabont, for its tenth anniversary release, Michelle recounts several stories about her "first love" that is cinema and content.

"What my entertainment and TV experience taught me was - whether it's a comedy series, a drama series, or a brand wanting to entertain its audience - you're looking to break all of the barriers. You're looking to innovate. You're looking to forge new ground. So for us at Paddy Power, our partnership with VCCP has allowed us to not always stay in our lane, and try and transcend our category and go for true brand fame."

A rapturous laugh follows when she’s telling me about the campaign that transformed its Baggot Street retail store in Dublin into ‘Paddy Power’s Passport Office’, on the back of the supposed surge in applications from UK citizens eligible for Irish passports due to Brexit. Or when in 2019, the brand unveiled Rhodri Giggs as the face of Paddy Power’s new ‘Loyalty’ campaign. Directed by Peter Cattaneo of The Full Monty fame, in the tongue-in-cheek ad Rhodri pokes fun at himself, his brother and Manchester United legend Ryan, and their now infamous fall-out, and promotes the bookmaker's 'anti-loyalty scheme' - Paddy's Rewards Club. The UK advertising watchdog ASA has since banned the ad for glamourising gambling.

The alchemy that is marketing, creativity and brand building

She doesn’t fail to remind me that being Irish, Michelle grew up with an easy affinity and connection towards the brand. “I remember laughing with my family and friends, every time we saw Paddy Power on our screens or on billboards. It was the kind of humour that my granny could laugh at.” This is a legacy she wants to continue - whether urging people to stay at home and support the NHS by giving them the “best odds” or when crusading against shirt sponsorship in its very own unique way, the brand continues to build powerful connection with its consumers.

“I love the alchemy that's involved in marketing. I love building a brand, evolving a brand, writing that next chapter for a brand. I love charting a brand through difficult times, and leading teams through that.” She says Paddy Power has allowed her to flex her marketing and creative muscles, like no other, creating this “perfect blend of content, creativity, and building brand excellence. Building a market leading brand gives me so much joy."

Over the last four years, the brand has been re-evaluating both its tone and its potential. "We knew what 'being Paddy' felt like but did not have a clear articulation of what our brand codes."

She did not, however, want hard-coded brand codes for Paddy Power. “We’re almost an ‘anti-brand’ brand, so I couldn’t turn us into a business that adheres to corporate codes. But we still needed some parameters which we called ‘Paddy’s white lines’ that will help us actively shape the experience for consumers."

If no "hard brand codes" what about the role of data and measurement? "I've been doing this [marketing] for a very long time now. And I remember a time when we didn't have any data or measurement. So having to learn my craft and be a master of my craft without the benefits of data has been to my advantage because I can take a bet on me, my vision. And of course, business intelligence and data has stood me in good stead but as marketers we have to remember that there is no silver bullet."

Michelle and her marketing team have since identified four key pillars of humour as emotional triggers for their customers: to be daring; be sharp-witted and use intelligent humour; be on the ball; and to be one of the punters. She adds that VCCP has created some of the biggest, most talked about and successful campaigns as a result.

“VCCP and Paddy Power kinda' jumped out of a plane together. And suddenly we are no longer a brand known for its controversial tweets, but a brand that appreciates how culture, society and brands shape-shift.” Michelle goes on to give the example of another campaign she admires - the Jose Mourinho campaign from 2019, which poked fun at his ‘Special One’ nickname.

An entertaining brand message

But when the stadia were shut down, the horses stabled and the dogs kennelled, and now as the world starts its pandemic recovery process - did Paddy Power not need to turn off humour from its marketing communications? “Not just a betting brand, we are an entertainment brand,” reiterates Michelle, adding: “We're a business that believes in investing in our brand. And what delights our customers, brings new customers and retains our customers.”

With this in mind, Paddy Power went full throttle instead. She adds that the brand increased its content production output during the first few months of Covid to about 300 percent.

From the release of scripted comedy series The Mascot to content celebrating the wonder of Zoom video calls and all-star darts matches, Paddy Power and its marketing boss Michelle know where it’s going next. It's a business that knows how to demonstrate a good sense of wit and intelligent humour, and ultimately position itself as a mainstream entertainment brand, to capture consumer attention.