Customers are attracted to brands with familiar elements. These elements could be a combination of a memorable name, striking color scheme, or even recognizable graphics. Identifiable imagery, including mascots, is popular across entertainment to act as a shorthand for audiences for what to expect. But how important is distinguishable imagery in entertainment and how could the online casino industry utilize a mascot?
Recognizable Imagery in the Entertainment Industry
The film industry, for instance, has a variety of companies who want to leave their mark in audiences’ minds. They do this by including their name, logo, and often a jingle before the film begins. 20th Century (previously 20th Century Fox) is instantly distinguishable from the drums and trumpet combination that accompanies their searchlights.
MGM has popularized itself with the lion and its fearsome roar. We may forget the content of the film, but we tie together the imagery of the studio with the way the film made us feel and whether we liked it or not.
The gaming industry is also populated with mascots. The most famous of these are the Nintendo mascots from their bestselling franchise: Mario and Luigi. The presence of these mascots is important for future releases. By using such a successful brand as Super Mario to usher in a new game or franchise, Nintendo can cash in on some of the trust represented by the plumber character. By associating new releases with successful older ones, gaming companies are more likely to make the initial sales.
On the flip side, not being associated with one specific gaming franchise, like the Xbox and PlayStation have ensured, means that the consoles can attract a more versatile audience. They won’t be able to rely on the previous excitement generated from certain brands, which means the strength of the game itself will have to do.
How Would the Online Casino Industry Find a Mascot?
So, how would the online casino industry identify a mascot? Mascots could come from characters based in some of the most popular and prolific online casino games. As the range of video slot games to play online shows at Royal Panda, most games have enough of an identity of their own to establish a mascot from them, taking themes from all over to merge with slot gameplay and video graphics.
Rich Wilde and the Book of the Dead, for instance, is a highly popular video slot game, which uses the Indiana Jones-style character Rich Wilde to guide audiences through the gameplay. Other games are focused on Cleopatra and the Greek gods, who could also be memorable enough to be mascots for the style of gameplay.
Mascots for the online casino industry could come from the branding of the site itself. As Royal Panda shows, the site is based around the mascot of the royal panda. Not only does the panda help give a brand identity to the site, but it helps audiences remember the site they played on. When selecting between a multitude of similar sites, having one with such noticeable brand identity as the panda could enable people to make their decision faster. The motif also lends itself well to further branding and to keep to brand guidelines in a cleaner way.
The online casino industry does utilize its own range of recognizable motifs. These help to signpost players to the site and give them an immediate visual education in what they could expect from the site. The online casino industry doesn’t have a mascot, per se, but each site focuses on certain games or even a certain brand identity to help them be memorable. The online casino industry has already begun experimenting with various types of familiar brand elements.