Bingo! As soon as someone calls that word, everyone knows what they are talking about. The power of the word ‘bingo’ is emblematic of how long it has been circulating in some form and how popular it has been over its long history. That level of brand association is coveted by businesses around the world. Some have achieved it – Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Amazon – and are instantly recognisable from just a singular word. The amount of brand association a business has does have a bearing on market potential. The more people who know about your business, the more likely it is to make sales. So, what can bingo teach us about brand association?
The main thing that the game of bingo can teach us in business is to create a concept so strong that it immediately invokes images in a customer’s mind. This can be utilised by a business in many ways. For instance, the brand can then launch new products and services with more surety that their customer base will understand and adopt their new venture. A culture begins to be created around the brand to become not just a logo on a commodity but to bring with it values and beliefs associated with that brand.
One of the benefits of being immediately associated with a product or service is that you can readily go into another sector and people understand your presence there. Airbnb, for example, has expanded into the flight industry – offering customers the same hassle-free, convenient service as they do with their accommodation.
Tesla moved from electric vehicles into energy storage – taking with it the same commitment to be innovative and push the boundaries of technology. Even Uber did this with their UberEATS side of the business, transporting food instead of people but with the same core ethos. And they succeeded by doing this - https://www.forbes.com/sites/bizcarson/2019/02/06/ubers-secret-gold-mine-how-uber-eats-is-turning-into-a-billion-dollar-business-to-rival-grubhub/.
Bingo itself has used its own evocative name to help online casino providers attract new customers. As the slots associated with bingo show - https://bingo.paddypower.com/c/bingo-slots - the theme of bingo has been taken and applied to a wider umbrella to encompass other kinds of online game. Some of the slots have a similar progressive jackpot system to bingo but retain typical slot gameplay. They are offered under the umbrella of the bingo games due to the fast-paced nature of both.
The branding here helps those unfamiliar with slots immediately know what they are to be playing – something similar to bingo. The association of bingo helps showcase slots to those who may have only played bingo when it comes to online gaming.
Brand association is one of the most powerful tools in business. Most brands on the YouGov Brand Index - https://www.brandindex.com/ranking/2019-buzz - have instantly evocative associations with their name. A lot of the brands are disruptors in traditional industries. When it was first developed, bingo would have been a challenger to some of the more classic games played. Through the iconic ‘bingo’ being called, the game developed an immediate association with most of the population. If nothing else, budding businesses should strive for this brand association.
