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Saturday, February 16, 2008

More Online Bingo Ads, More Of The Marketplace Alienated...

Why is the vast majority of existing online Bingo marketing continuing to get the message so wrong by so heavily targeting the female demographic? I don't mind saying that it's getting me cross - I can't see the sense in trying to sell a product to only 50% of the potential marketplace. Why is online Bingo so hell bent on making itself the domain of ladies? Why are sites and adverts targeting just women? Why is their this big misconception that only women want to play Bingo?

Well, I have my own ideas on why. Many in online Bingo don't know actually know much about the actual game, other than it's a great money spinner for them. I doubt many have ever set foot in an actual Bingo hall, or actively involved themselves in the culture of the game beyond actually making the sites. My own anecdotal evidence points me to this conclusion. At one point in last year's Online Bingo Summit in London, a room full of online Bingo industry people were asked how many had been to a Bingo hall. Less than half the room raised their hands. At another point the fact I actually played Bingo was laughed at by some high ranking execs in one online Bingo company.

This lack of grass roots understanding carries across to the marketing and targeting the companies go in for. Ok, so in recent times it's believed that women have been spending more time online than men and possibly catching up with men in the amount spent online (one older study has men outspending women by about 15% online.) However, I would argue that doesn't necessarily make the women the best (or only) demographic to aim for.

I think Foxy Bingo claim that about 85% of their players are female, compared with around half for Sun Bingo. Coincidentally, I praised The Sun's marketing for being gender neutral before, whilst Foxy's is aimed squarely at the women. Now, to my mind that's a lot of male business that Foxy is missing out on simply because of simple things like colour schemes and a lazy marketing plan.

Once again, I say it loud and I say it proud, men like playing bingo. Simple as that. We don't mind spending money online, and we enjoy the game. We'd play it more if we didn't feel we didn't fit the clichéd view of your average Bingo player that these adverts reinforce. In the real world, the Bingo halls I've played at have lots of men there. In the real world Bingo halls don't paint themselves pink, and make the men feel like invaders with feminine promotions and marketing. If they did, they'd be out of business a lot quicker.

So, once again I ask, why are so many online Bingo sites hell bent on alienating so many of their potential punters? Here's the latest batch of adverts for online Bingo sites that I won't be feeling like spending my money at on a regular basis. Talk about off-putting.

First up, Vic Reeves feels the need to dress as women to play at the 888 Ladies site, which as it happens, doesn't actually mind men signing up and depositing money. Does this make me want to sign up? Nope, but it does make me want to go somewhere with a bit more of a masculine feel.

Then we have Think Bingo's latest female fest. Ladies in a health spar surrounded by floating Bingo balls and all that jazz. Will I be thinking Think Bingo next time I'm looking for an online Bingo to try? Will I heck. And nor will about 50% of the market place.

It's a little bit older, but the PartyBingo.com advert has also been back on the screens once again. And once again, it's made plain and simple who the site is aimed for. Well Party, it's worked. I won't be spending any money with you.

PartyBingo.com More Of What Women Want

All these adverts are reinforced by the design and promotions at the sites. I think there are plenty of sites out there that get the balance right, and work as places both men and women can play at without either feeling they shouldn't be there. Notable examples include Sun Bingo, Ladbrokes Bingo, Gala and Mecca Bingo. But then again, these sites have some background in the retail world of Bingo and gaming, so maybe it's not so surprising they want to make as many players, whatever their gender, as welcome as possible. Until more online only sites twig this, they'll continue to hamper their efforts to pick up players and generate profits.

Posted at 11:34 AM |

3 Comments:

Anonymous Lester said...

Hi there,

My name is Lester and I'm a manager at JackpotCity.com Online Bingo

While it is true that there are many male bingo players out there, we've conducted and purchased loads of market research that points to the fact that the ladies are the leading players in Online Bingo . In addition to this, there is also the stereotypical blue rinse mob view (which i personally don;t agree with) that further fuels the gender biased marketing tactics.
Interestingly we found that further along in Eurpoe (in Spain for example) the bingo 'climate' if you will is a lot more masculine, with the marketing and advertising being a lot more neutral.

have you been able to find any examples of male-orientated online bingo halls in the UK? If so, I'd be very curious to see them.

My 2c,

Lester
JackpotCity.com Online Bingo

3:00 PM  

Blogger Dio Bach said...

Hi Lester, I'd suggest that you're research is flawed from the off. It's like a self fulfilling prophecy, if the research was being done at sites that are already heavily gender biased, then it would indeed point to that demographic playing more.

But as I've already mentioned - The Sun Bingo has a far more equal share of players, as do places like Ladbrokes. Not only that, those sites and in the retail world as well) don't tie their brand into one market. They make it welcoming to all comers. I think in Spain more men play bingo online than women do.

The point is, halls don't need to be male-orientated to succeed in attracting male players. They just need to be less blatantly female orientated. Look at the Sun or Gala's site to see what I mean.

3:26 PM  

Anonymous Lester said...

Very valid point about the research being a self fulfilling prophecy, I'll definitely be taking this into consideration for the next bout of research (due to be conducted later this year).

It might be an interesting excersie to conduct a poll among the readers of your forum/blog to see what the gender split is like.

(We are still a new bingo hall and learning all the time, and our goal is to make it a friendly and fun community for all players, regardless of gender. That being said, we have flavoured the site to cater for the ladies (like I said - our research pointed in this direction) but at the end of the day, i guess that if we're not willing to learn/change, we won't be getting very far. Thanks for taking the time to reply Dio.

Lester
JackpotCity.com Online Bingo

7:50 PM  

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