Costa Bingo has begun a concerted TV push ahead of unleashing its brand new ads developed with creative partner MWO from January.
The leading exponent of the free bingo model is currently running last year’s short CGI animated ads in primetime slots on ITV1 and and across digital channels, as shooting on the brand new TV ads gets underway in the UK and abroad this autumn.
Costa’s parent company bgo (pronounced be-go) has allocated an overall budget of £4m to the campaign, with Costa’s chief marketing officer Christian Colton emphasising the importance of maintaining a TV presence ahead of January “as research shows that players are back from their summer holiday ad returning to online gaming.”
Costa Bingo’s parent company announced in June that it had appointed leading London agency MWO to handle advertising for Costa as the fast-growing UK business allocated a £10m budget to marketing its whole brand portfolio.
bgo co-founder Alex Holt said the appointment of MWO was in response to the rapid development of the UK online bingo sector since 2009, when Costa launched and successfully leveraged the free bingo model to become one of the UK’s busiest sites. MWO, whose TV creative includes campaigns for brands such as AXA, the FSA, Wickes, Alpro and Swiftcover, has also been briefed to consider the overall bgo branding proposition.
The new TV creative will likely centre around longer 30-second ads rather than the short and sharp formats Costa has run with in the past. Celebrity endorsement has also been under discussion.
bgo’s announcement of its marketing push followed hard on the heels of monitoring agency Nielsen publishing figures showing bingo operators were on track to spend £50m on TV advertising this year, more than double that invested in 2010, with Tombola alone spending £2.9m to the end of April.
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.
The UK bingo market has become increasingly saturated and competitive of late. 888, which also operates the Wink Bingo brand, recently announced a restructure of its consumer-facing bingo business in the wake of revealing a 23% dip in revenues, with boss Brian Mattingley blaming new entrants “just giving away bonuses ad lib”.
Bingo Godz, the new site from the founders of Foxy Bingo, also went live earlier this month supported with a multi million-pound TV campaign, further ratcheting up competition in the UK sector.
Article written by Stephen Carter
