Popular genres used in the creation of bingo ads 

“Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything.” - Plato

Music always finds a way to make people feel inspired. In TV commercials, music plays an important component in order to send messages better to people. By providing the right tunes in commercials, people will feel more connected to them and therefore be inspired to know more about what’s being advertised.

There are a lot of bingo commercials around the world especially in the UK. In a published audience research of UK-based media agency Ofcom, of all gambling advertisements on television in 2012, 532,000 were bingo adverts. Many of them are accompanied by different genres of music. Funk music is being used to target an older demographic, rock music is being utilized to entice young adults and post-disco is used to lure audience from both demographics. 

Funk

Funk music is one of the most famous musical genres that are being used in bingo commercials. The reason for this is probably because bingo has regularly targeted the more mature demographic. Funk music has originated in the late 1960s and the people who were born in that era are the grownups of today. Checking out bingo adverts on YouTube will result into finding commercials that have integrated popular funk sounds such as I Believe in Miracles  and I Know Where All the Girls Go. Both tunes are catchy, upbeat, and they definitely provide hints of encouragement to their target demographic. I Believe in Miracles can make one believe that they can be lucky and win big through a “miracle.” On the other hand, knowing where “all the good girls go” can drive women who are inspired by the song into playing an actual game of bingo.

Rock

With the dawn of online bingo, more people were able to play the game with ease especially the younger demographic. After all, there are more young adults who stay online longer compared to the more mature ones. And since rock music is more followed by the younger generation, the genre is being used in commercials that target them. In fact, incorporating it to ads is becoming a trend in European shores. Rock music has also paved the way for cultural and social movements, leading to major sub-cultures including mods and rockers in the UK. The song, We are the Champions by Queen and The Secret of My Success by Night Ranger have both been used for several times in ads.

Post-Disco

This genre refers to a disco music movement initially from urban contemporary artists. They originated in the New York City area partly because of over-commercialization and downfall of disco culture. It is a historically significant period in popular music history beginning with the backlash against disco music in the US during the late 1970s and concluding with the mainstream emergence of house music in the late 1980s.

In Britain, musicians continued to produce both “old-fashioned” disco music and the new music coming from America, thus creating a characteristic scene. No wonder online bingo sites in the UK love incorporating post-disco music into their TV advertisements. Last January, as a backbone of its 2014 advertising and promotional campaigns, online bingo site Foxy Bingo launched a new TV advert wherein Foxy was cheering up flight delayed passengers with a larger than life rendition of the Pointer Sister’s classic, I’m So Excited.

The advert was produced by Biscuit Agency which took months of planning and getting the right cast and crew. The end results are a testament to that effort. The agency certainly liked a good song and dance number, as they had the site’s mascot Foxy dancing to You’re the One That I Want in a supermarket back in 2010.

Without the accompaniment of music, bingo ads will appear bland but with the presence of upbeat and encouraging music that the two genre offer, bingo ads will always be enticing and successful with the general public.