Betway aims for top with Dream Bingo brand relaunch
Overhaul of bingo product to be driven by TV ad campaign starting next week
Betway is targeting a leading position in the online bingo sector following a strategic overhaul of the vertical which will see it focus investment on its Dream Bingo brand.
The operator, which also runs Betway Bingo and BingoOnTheBox.com on its own closed, Microgaming-powered network, has released a new-look Dream Bingo site and will launch a big-money TV ad campaign next week.
The renewed efforts follow the appointment of former Boylesports CMO James Arnold as bingo director – Betway account six months ago, who has since hired former GTECH and Playtech man Lee Knott as head of bingo – Betway account.
Arnold told eGaming Review Betway has lofty ambitions for the bingo space and said the firm no longer sees the product as an acquisition funnel for its larger sports and casino divisions.
“Betway had a decent sized bingo business across the three brands but we have ambitions to make Dream Bingo one of the leading bingo businesses in the sector,” he said. “We want it to be a standalone business which is five or six times bigger than it is at the moment.
“We’ve stopped pushing free cash which cut acquisition volume but increased quality of traffic, and now we are pushing the volume back up and converting at 70% as opposed to 30%.”
The TV adverts highlight Dream Bingo’s new offer allowing new and existing players to submit three dreams – “anything from a new car to a box of chocolates” – which will then be made true for selected customers every week by the ‘Dream Team’.
“I think we are offering something genuinely unique in the market,” said Arnold. “It’s still clearly [aimed at] the female demographic but we’ve tried to be a little bit more sophisticated in terms of the marketing and position ourselves differently around our USP.”
Betway opted to focus investment on Dream Bingo as it allowed for greater creativity than the Betway brand, which is now positioned predominantly as a sportsbook.
Arnold also cited the challenges of promoting a bingo brand attached to a sportsbook in terms of Google’s rankings. “It’s always going to be less efficient if you’re pushing a sportsbook-led brand,” he said.