“We’re Going To Need More Condoms”: How Online Casino PlayOJO Used ‘safe Sex’ To Educate Players About Gambling Safety

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Cubaka won at The Drum Awards for Content 2022 in the Music, Entertainment, Gaming, and eSports category for its Safe Bets campaign with PlayOJO. Below we take you behind the scenes of the 'for adults only' campaign.

Cubaka & PlayOJO Safe Bets Campaign

Safety gambling tools are provided by online casinos to protect players, but PlayOJO felt theirs were being underused. They needed a campaign that would encourage the use of these tools in a fun, lighthearted way that players would notice and engage in. They enlisted the help of the Cubaka agency who designed an unorthodox campaign that reframed the problem into one more relatable and undeniably eye catching.

The Brief

During the pandemic, online gambling surged in popularity creating a perfect storm of increased gambling with limited player knowledge of the available safety tools provided for their own protection. The need to keep online gambling safe and responsible was not only a protection for players, but for the industry itself.

PlayOJO already considered themselves a ‘fair casino’ and felt the need to exceed normal benchmarks as far as player safety. Their aim was to not only create awareness of the safety tools, but also embed the knowledge with a player self-assessment.

The goal was to encourage at least 1,000 players to take a quiz to evaluate their knowledge of player safety. To do this they wanted a campaign that would be relatable, draw attention, and speak directly to their target audience which was 70% female. They also hoped to see a dramatic change in player behavior by utilizing the safety tools.

The Idea

With an understanding that a funny, lighthearted approach would be their best strategy, Cubaka created a tongue-in-cheek campaign that equated online gambling safety to safe sex. They decided to call the campaign Safe Bets and filled the content full of innuendos, such as:

Take a break tool – chastity belt

Safe mate tool – sex doll

Deposit limit tool – condoms

Players who successfully completed the Safe Bets self-assessment quiz were to be given branded condoms that displayed various safe gambling messages on the wrappers.

They also landed influencer Olivia Bowen to host a retro 80’s educational video to deliver the safe sex (safe gambling) message while dressed in a white lab coat and surrounded with intimate paraphernalia.

The Results

Once the campaigned ended PlayOJO saw a dramatic increase in the use of their online safety tools, leading to the actionable behavioral change they needed for their players. In fact, they far exceeded their initial goal of 1,000 players taking the self-assessment quiz, with the actual result being 5,500 players. Other numbers were just as impressive:

• Deposit safety limit use increased by 400%
• Organic posts reached 300,000 accounts
• 15 pieces of media coverage

All in all, over 1 million people were reached by their cheeky safety campaign. They even ran out of condoms, needing six times more than was planned.

This campaign was a winner at The Drum Awards for Content 2022. You can see all the winners here.

The Drum Awards for Marketing are currently open for entry. Find out how you can enter now.