January Thirteen created a new TV spot for online casino brand PlayOJO

Cristina Blanaru Ads, Creativity

Creative Consultancy January Thirteen has created a new TV spot for online casino brand PlayOJO. Set in a fantastical pinball machine, the 30-second commercial showcases elements from just a few of the 3,000 games on the PlayOJO site, as well as their new live Blackjack tables.

Created by ex-VCCP and DLKW Lowe Creative Directors, Jonny Watson and Dan Harrison, they enlisted former Dare colleague Alex Dunford to develop the motion graphics.
Positioned as a more approachable online casino than its more serious rivals, this riot of colour and noise is a dynamic metaphor for the fun-filled PlayOJO experience.

Launched up the table, the silver pinball bursts through the Western saloon doors and ricochets off the bumpers, triggering a full moon and gameplay sequence. Then a giant tentacle smashes a barrel into the table, dislodging the ball, which emerges from the mouth of a tiki statue, spins past the flames, hits the wolf and gets fired back up the table by the flippers.

Hitting the letters V, I and P ‘unlocks’ the velvet rope and the ball sweeps up the red carpet, lit by paparazzi flashes, into the belly of a pirate ship. Finally, the ball is fired from a cannon on deck, down a spiral into the bullseye in the table, triggering an 8-bit firework celebration.

“It’s like an amusement park condensed into a pinball machine with the ball bouncing from one game to another – just like you can flip between games on the PlayOJO site,” Jonny Watson explains. “If you imagine going back in time and getting all your favourite toys out – regardless of whether they go together or not – that’s the spirit we were trying to distil.”

January Thirteen picked up the project without a pitch. In fact, it came through social media:

PlayOJO approached us through Linkedin, which caught us off guard. You never expect a brief to just drop into your lap. But they trusted as to deliver and we hope that trust has paid off.

It makes perfect sense for a client to have a virtual creative agency on the side. You get direct access to the talent and the lines of communication are short, so the whole project can progress at speed.

It’s a lot of work for such a small team. Managing the creative, client and the production was a challenge but hugely satisfying, as the sense of ownership goes much deeper when there are just three of you putting it all together.