Every business has to think about branding. It’s an important part of any business development plan, fusing a company or product with recognisability and helping build appeal among your target market. We could write a book on the different ways that businesses use branding to attract customers, but here we want to concentrate on the unique way online casinos, or more aptly, software developers for online casinos, appropriate pop culture for branding. Moreover, we want to ask the question of whether it is effective or not.
To start, let’s look at what we mean by pop culture branding. Essentially, software developers, who build games and licence them to online casinos, have realised that they can create crossover appeal by developing games based on popular entertainment. It’s similar to something like a video game based on The Simpsons or a Star Wars version of Monopoly – basic crossover appeal.
These days, almost all the major casino software developers – Playtech, NetEnt, Microgaming, SG, Blueprint, etc. – will create games with licenced materials. So, for example, Playtech has a range of games based on DC Comics superheroes. Often, these releases tie in with current trends, so you can find a Justice League or Suicide Squad slot to partner with the movie.
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire Among Most Popular Games
But the games are arguably more effective when they go beyond superficial branding. A good example is Who Wants to Be a Millionaire online slot. Not only is it branded with all the elements of the popular television quiz show, but the game incorporates the gameplay of the quiz – 50/50, phone-a-friend, a jackpot ladder, and so on. For fans of the television show, therefore, it goes beyond simple design, tapping instead into a wider experience of fandom.
You can see why Who Wants to Be a Millionaire offers a good platform on which to base a casino game. After all, the central premise of the tv show is about winning money. However, it might surprise you to how creative developers can be when coming up with branded games. For example, Narcos – the smash-hit series about drug trafficking – has become a popular casino game. Created by NetEnt, Narcos fuses standard slot play with the imagery of gun battles and bombs. It doesn’t feel like it should work as a casino game, but it’s certainly popular.
Games Often Have High-Value Jackpots
The pertinent question, then: Does it work? Well, these developers are very tuned in to what is popular among players. But ask yourself this: If you entered an online casino and were asked to choose between an unremarkable slot game featuring, let’s say, bells, bars and cherries, or a game based on the latest Batman movie – which would draw your eye? It’s almost guaranteed to be the latter. Developers know this, and you will often see those branded games placed at the very top of the game selection on the sites.
It should be said, though, that casino players expect more than just branding. The games must have at least some payout potential to get excited about. Otherwise, the players would simply return to games that they perceive as more likely to pay. Again developers are aware of this, and they will often combine these games with huge progressive jackpots. The DC Comics games are a good example of this, with four large prizes connecting all the games. The top prize could be worth well over $1 million.
It’s over 15 years since Microgaming released the first branded casino game online – Tomb Raider slots. Developers have been creating games based on everything you can think of in that time. However, it really seems to be accelerating as we go through the 2020s. That’s a sign that the numbers are telling developers that it is an effective marketing strategy.
