Bingo Adverts

Going back 15 years or so there would probably not have been a chance of any bingo adverts on television that could be linked to any form of gambling. It appears that since the launch of the National Lottery and more relaxed gaming laws that this has changed. Bingo is certainly the softer face of the gambling industry and certainly this is more likely to be due to the customer demographic than for any other reason. If we think of bingo then we don’t usually think of anything sleazy, there is not the slightest hint of a smoky male dominated environment, we think of grandma’s out with their friends or groups of young women looking for a midweek get together and the possibility of adding a few pound to their purses at the same time.

This softer side has made the transition from the high street bingo halls to our living rooms a lot easier than say some other gambling institutions might find. Certainly the large bingo names have made sure that in promoting their products via television advertisements that they are still maintaining the respectable image of the bingo industry. You have the ‘likeability x-factor’ of Sharon Osborne for Gala and of course the never to be forgotten (and quite frankly advertising genius) ‘Foxy’ character for the Foxy Bingo adverts. The placement of these adverts in the television schedule is critical too, although sometimes even the biggest names do get it wrong., recently Coffeebreakbingo (DailyMailbingo) decided to position its television advertising campaign on the Sky Sports channel, which is clearly not where their target audience is going to be. So looking at market is essential but the industry still always seems to be mindful that there should not be any association with anything shady, so advertisements are likely to be aimed at the more traditional ‘Mum market’ such as Family Fortunes which is now sponsored by Wink Bingo.

Certainly the most dominant factor in not only the bingo industry, the television advertising, and the client base is that humour, friendship and fun are the main ingredients – shame the whole world can’t take a leaf out the bingo book!