Venetian Macao’s much anticipated “Never Settle” advertising campaign starring David Beckham has been unceremoniously dumped just two days before launch.
About a week ago this writer received an exciting “one-time opportunity” media invitation from Venetian to “be a part of the exclusive group that will be the first to see [the campaign] before it is released to the rest of the world”.
The invitation waxed lyrical about the campaign starring “one of the world’s most famous global icons” and “global celebrity stars” as well as being created by a “well-known and accomplished director”. Apparently the campaign’s TV commercial was “secretly filmed in one of the world’s most visited integrated resorts without it leaking out”.
David Beckham during a previous visit to Macau
Well it seems the secret may remain just that, with the Venetian issuing a blunt one line press release yesterday: “Please note that the captioned event on 12 Feb will be postponed until further notice. Thanks!”
Such was the haste of the cancellation the campaign still popped up on my Facebook feed yesterday as a paid promotion: “Never Settle! 2 days to go!”
Contact with the Venetian overnight produced nothing firm – just some rumblings that the campaign might still be on but the lavish launch event scrapped.
Why did Venetian suddenly pull the pin? Theories abound including a change of heart by Beckham, major managerial reshuffles at the top, respect for the current crackdown on gambling by the Central Chinese government or some kind of very senior management meltdown over the campaign.
Time will tell – and we may just have to settle for that.
