Each month, The Adquirer provides insight into the creative and media strategies of industry-leading advertisers in a particular sector. Estimated cost per web visit results are provided by our data scientists, utilising sources including Hitwise, Nielsen and BARB.
This month, we look at four different Bingo advertisers, all fighting to elevate their offerings above those of their peers. We explore the similarities and differences in their campaigns and unpack how they apply creativity to classically homogenous products to set them apart.
Gala Bingo brings the light-hearted fun to their 30 second spot, as they look to promote a specific offer, which is the chance to fly to Spain to play for a £50k bingo prize. This offer is delivered by a beach scene – complete with sand, buckets, spades, inflatables and a cocktail umbrella – bursting through a living room window as the assumed husband, Gary, returns home from a shopping trip. Cue the husband in Speedos and a (Mexican?) Mariachi band appearing as Gary correctly surmises that his wife, Jules, is playing Gala Bingo.
Unfortunately, it isn’t abundantly clear who is providing all of the fun and games, as no logo, URL or brand name are shown on screen. The Gala Bingo logo does appear for the last 3 seconds, but even when the ad shows Jules on her tablet, a voiceover outlines the prize whilst the two app download logos are shown for Apple’s App Store and the Google Play Store, without displaying what to actually download from these outlets. The brand name is mentioned once throughout the spot by Gary, but more brand exposure could have boosted the response credentials of the ad, especially with so much taking place on screen. The end frame delivers the tag line “Are you playing Gala Bingo” as their oft-used theme song (set to Steam’s “Na Na Hey Hey”) plays out the last few seconds.
This type of bizarre, over-the-top silliness forms a common thread throughout bingo creatives, as all attempts are made to differentiate and essentially spice up what is actually a very simple and aged game. Gary playing the maracas in Speedos is a testament to this amusing approach.
So, how does this translate to performance success? Our data scientists estimate that Gala Bingo achieved a cost per website visit (CPV) of £62.64 for this campaign, with by far the biggest TV budget of the four. Further analysis showed a fairly even distribution of impacts across each day of week, indicating that each day provides similarly efficient response for the advertiser. With almost half of Gala Bingo’s impacts appearing on five daily shows such as The Chase, Coronation Street and Tipping Point, it would be interesting to know if a broader programme and station mix would lower that CPV.
