Venetian Macao overcomes ‘technical issues’ to launch David Beckham campaign
A leaked video, technical hitches and mixed messages as campaign kicks off
A day after Macau's biggest casino operator put the brakes on a major advertising campaign featuring David Beckham, a glitzy video starring the global superstar was leaked on the internet and within hours the gaming giant issued a statement insisting the launch had gone ahead "as originally planned".
The campaign by the Venetian Macao - called "Never Settle" - was to have been announced at a much-hyped press conference yesterday. However, on Wednesday the company issued a one-line statement saying the launch had been "postponed until further notice".
In the wake of the delay, the South China Morning Post revealed that the unidentified "global icon" at the centre of the pre-launch publicity was Beckham.
An initial statement reacting to the Post's story was given to a Macau gaming website - which also ran the leaked video - and blamed technical difficulties for the delay.
That was followed by a statement from Dave Horton, chief marketing officer at Las Vegas Sands Corp.