There are all kinds of ways that celebrities can increase their visibility and remain prominent in the public eye once their first flash of fame has cooled a little. And one method that quite a few celebs are using to add to their income these days is by providing celebrity endorsements for different products and services.

Take Mel B of Spice Girls fame. When the world’s biggest girl band ever split and Scary Spice went to live in Los Angeles, all of a sudden we didn’t hear so much about what she was up to. However, Mel’s not been twiddling her thumbs. Since the band split (and reformed every now and then for special occasions) she’s had three kids, a successful solo singing career and carved out her own celebrity life in the States, including appearing as a judge on America’s Dancing with the Stars. And now she’s back on UK TV screens as the new judge on this year’s X-Factor, looking better than ever.

And if you ever play online bingo, you may also have noticed that Mel B is the face of Costa Bingo, one of the UK’s most fun and vibrant bingo sites. Costa Bingo gave Mel her own corner, with a whole range of special promos for players to take advantage of. The site is a perfect fit for Mel’s vibrant and fun personality, and her smiling face goes well with the Costa mascot – Sunny, a cartoon sunshine that shows players around the site.

Mel’s role as an X-Factor judge is proving to be as useful for Costa as it is good for her. In order to celebrate the beginning of this season’s X-Factor, Costa has been running its special X-Factor promo games – the first of which was called the Costa Factor. This was played in three rounds – Audition, Boot Camp and Live Finals, following the format of one of the most popular shows on TV. From the beginning of September, players were invited to spend 1p on Audition games and if they landed a bingo win, they won a share of £300 but also got through to the next stage – Bootcamp. Any winners of Bootcamp games got a share of £100 jackpot and then made it through to the Live Finals. The winner of the final round won a celeb makeover valued at £1,000. Many of the players on the site are going to be big fans of the X-Factor too, so there’s plenty of synergy going on for Costa and the X-Factor through the lovely Mel B.

Another famous face who’s now the face of a bingo and casino site is Troy Verner, aka Mini-Me from the Austin Powers series of films. Troy is now the ‘boss’ at bgo and challenges all players to ‘beat the boss’ in a series of different challenges on the site. If players succeed, they win extra spins and can become eligible for extra promotions. Again, you can see why bgo chose Troy – he brings a sense of fun to the site and it’s clear he’s drawing a lot on his Mini-Me character for his casino and bingo ‘boss’ character.

But if you asked anyone in a pub which famous face they most associated with a bingo site, in the UK the most likely response would be veteran comedy actress and soap star, Barbara Windsor. Babs is a face that generations of British TV viewers have grown up with, and when she started appearing in the Jackpot Joy ads on TV as the Queen of Bingo, it seemed a very fitting role. Babs is yet another example of a celebrity who’s happy to have some fun and not take life too seriously as ambassador of the popular bingo site, and you get the impression she’s had a real laugh starring in the Jackpot Joy ads.

One thing all three of these celebs share is their sense of fun and not taking their ambassadorial role too seriously – which is perfect for sites that are all about having some quick and easy entertainment online.