bgo entertainment has appointed leading London agency MWO to handle advertising for Costa Bingo, as the fast-growing UK business allocates a £10m budget to marketing its brand portfolio.
bgo co-founder Alex Holt said the appointment of MWO, which has also been briefed to consider the overall bgo branding proposition, was in response to the rapid development of the UK online bingo market since 2009, when Costa launched.
“[W]e know the key players are investing big budgets into supporting their brands”, explained Holt, who added he was confident the appointment of MWO combined with the considerable budget allocated to the campaign would ensure Costa retained its position as one of the leading UK players in its market.
bgo’s announcement of its marketing push follows monitoring agency Nielsen’s recent publication of figures showing bingo operators are on track to spend £50m on TV advertising this year, more than double the figure invested in 2010, with Tombola alone spending £2.9m to the end of April.
The new TV campaign for flagship free-to-play brand Costa will air from the start of September, with celebrity endorsement also under discussion. bgo said the campaign will likely centre upon longer 30 second ads rather than the short and sharp formats Costa has run with in the past.
bgo, which went live with its multi-product operating platform bgo.com last October, said it had chosen MWO due to its “strong track record of brand awareness campaigns” as well as its understanding of the business model and space in which Costa operates.
MWO’s Duncan Barrow said his agency was “delighted” to be working with bgo, especially on the high-profile Costa Bingo brand. He said their first mission would be to build greater awareness not only of the site but also what it offered players.
bgo also confirmed that a slice of the £10m war chest would be be allocated to helping drive bgo.com forwards, the performance of which had “exceeded expectation” since launch, with TV creative also likely to form part of the marketing mix.
Holt said that innovation, not just in technology, but also in marketing, was “the key” to growing the market, revenues and margins, and that bgo still being small and independent was an advantage in this respect.
Bgo, formerly Mandalay Media Group, also operates three other bingo brands - Sing Bingo, Fancy Bingo and City Bingo – on the 888-owned Dragonfish network alongside Costa. Its bgo bingo brand, the successor to Mandalay’s XBingo, runs on the company’s own proprietary software. bgo also owns and runs the UK’s largest online casino affiliate, Casino Choice.
MWO’s TV creative includes campaigns for brands such as AXA, the FSA, Wickes, Alpro and Swiftcover.
Article written by Katy Stirland
