Close Up Magazine

Close Up is a high quality, glossy, sports and betting quarterly which Ladbrokes distributes free to 30,000 Ladbrokes customers as a loyalty reward, mailing it directly to their homes. Grand Parade has produced Close Up for Ladbrokes since 2008. It is edited by former Sunday Times sports editor Nick Pitt.

Every issue, without fail, the magazine provides a line up of the UK’s finest sports writers and photographers, who gain access to some of the most influential and controversial figures in international sport. With a modern, energetic design, Close Up delivers terrific professional insight in an inspiring visual environment which easily stands comparison with newsstand publications.

The world of betting is a place of conflicting opinions and cross-currents of information. So rather than instruct or suggest what customers should do with their money, Close Up is primarily a sports magazine which discusses the factors most likely to influence the outcome of big sporting events. In this way, it provides the sort of detail and analysis that enables an intelligent betting audience to draw their own conclusions.

In an era when marketers are shying away from investing in print in favour of digital formats, Close Up has demonstrated that it is still possible to make a compelling, stimulating and attractive magazine that both satisfies the client’s needs and leaves readers feeling valued and rewarded for their loyalty, rather than intrusively marketed to.

There is nothing comparable to Close Up in the entire betting industry, in terms of quality of product, contributors or audience relationship, and further proof of its vitality lies in Close Up being spun off into other formats – a mini edition to target lapsed customers, special issues for major tournaments such as Euro 2012, and a free iPad version with dynamic, up-to-the-minute content.