Casino & Slots
BRANDING IN B2B: A NEGLECTED ELEMENT YOU CAN TURN INTO A WEAPON
Helmet Guy of PlayAttack Affiliates elaborates on branding, the eternal fight between reason and emotion, and the challenges faced by the B2B sector where branding is often neglected.
People often think of branding as a symbiotic relationship between art and science — something envisioned by spiritual hippies and transformed into a marketing weapon by men in suits.
Admittedly, the two worlds collide when it comes to branding. In essence, branding is both a form of art that manages to steal people’s attention and the science of communicating a message in a relatable manner.
However, as it usually goes with art, there is no perfect formula that guarantees success, and businesses sometimes struggle to come up with a solid branding strategy. This is especially evident in the B2B sector, the less glamorous sister of B2C, where branding tends to be neglected more often.
I’ll dive into more detail on the nature of B2B branding later in the article. Let’s take a moment to look into the importance of designing a solid branding strategy first.
The Art of Branding Something Imperfect
Make America Great Again…
As these words echo in your head, you immediately visualize an orange-faced man with an unnaturally bright under-eye area and signature flaxen hair.
Donald Trump is a brand. He is the man who promised to make America great again. He is planning to do so by building a wall to protect his little American dream from the nasty “animals,” as he likes to refer to the residents of neighboring Mexico. He’s also planning to make America great again by refusing to use the scientific term behind the recent global pandemic and calling it “Chinese virus” instead.
And there he is — an imperfect man leading a global superpower. Like him or hate him, Trump is a master brander who had managed to convince the majority of the nation to cast their vote for him in the 2016 US presidential election.
Trump’s example shows us that something doesn’t have to be perfect for you to build a successful branding strategy around it. You might not have the best product in the industry nor the infinite resources to market it. And you also have fierce competition driven by the very same goal of being the best. But while you’re trying to improve your product in the battle for conversions, you should never forget about branding.
Branding Is Not For B2B They Say
It doesn’t matter if you’re in B2B, B2C, or you’re Donald Trump. Having a solid strategy that will differentiate your brand from the competition is crucial.
B2B and B2C are both about selling something, be it a product or a service. However, branding is often viewed as not as relevant in the B2B sector, where buying decisions are primarily being made based on hard facts.
While B2C activities are in their majority transactional, rather than relational, and the buying process is often guided by emotion, the main priority of the buyer in B2B is the welfare of their business. And since the main trigger for any branding strategy is the buyers’ intent, it is essential to understand that branding in B2B requires a slightly different approach. Merely appealing to emotions won’t do.
In B2B, the buying process is primarily guided by logic and reason. The buyer persona is less about traditional aspects such as demographics and more about the roles of people within a company. PlayAttack’s target audience, for instance, is an Affiliate, not just a male in his 30s. This does not, however, mean that branding should not be a priority in the logic-driven B2B sector. The differences between B2B and B2C simply show us that the B2B branding strategy should mainly focus on building relationships with the audience rather than only appealing to their emotions.
I Want It, I Got It! (#not)
It’s simple. There’s no “Mummyyyyy I want it!” when it comes to business transactions in B2B. Your client’s “mummy” is their boss, and believe me, you’ll need more than cute puppy eyes to convince them to make a purchase.
The point is — people don’t always need the stuff they buy. Their buying decisions might be guided by boredom, consumerism, desire, or pure impulse.
That’s not the case with B2B, where you typically have a smaller range of customers your offerings can appeal to. These professionals will only go for it when they need it, and only if they trust your brand. Consequently, in B2B, you should tailor your branding strategy to their needs, focus on adding value to your product, and work on building trust. I’ll take PlayAttack Affiliates as an example. We are there to help people who act as business units or enterprises earn online by driving traffic to our casino brands. The value, in this case, is the money they receive as a result of this business collaboration. And this value is undeniable.
In B2B, you must focus on establishing your brand as a thought leader to appeal to your professionally-driven target audience. A B2B brand is something that has developed a personality beyond the product — you need to make it clear why the buyer should choose your brand from the ocean of alternative possibilities. And no, it’s not just your generous commission plan or the ground-breaking software you’re offering. It’s the effort you put into making your product distinct and recognizable. It’s your videos and the carefully crafted blog posts they might find useful, and your company values shining through each of these elements.
Final Thoughts
David Ogilvy, who is commonly known as the “Father of Advertising,” once said that a brand is something that remains us when our factory is burned. There is no arguing — branding should be an essential part of your marketing strategy if you want to be remembered. It boosts conversions, builds trust, and can even win you a presidential seat. Worth investing in, don’t you think?
Businesses are continuously evolving through their battle for recognition and diversification. They come up with sophisticated methods to convince their buyers, gradually ditch automated messages in favor of a more personalized approach, and focus more on their values.
It’s true — there is no universal formula that can guarantee that your branding strategy is going to succeed. You do, however, have a great chance to elevate your brand when you develop an approach that goes way beyond your product.
Images courtesy of and © PlayAttack Affiliates, all rights reserved.
Entain, the global sports betting, gaming and interactive entertainment group, has announced exclusive McLaren Racing content for Formula 1 fans.
The partnership between the team and Entain’s PartyCasino and partypoker brands launched at the start of this year’s F1 season with the Monaco Grand Prix in May. The company will now be running international TV adverts until the end of the season in late December, and is promising customers “special access to the McLaren F1 team” through the two gaming brands.
“We want Party to be a destination for customers around the world who enjoy games and sharing experiences around the sports and activities they love,” said Paris Anatolitis, Managing Director of Party Brands and Commercial Director of Entain. “This is about creating recreational content which encourages people to take a look and explore new ways of enjoying themselves with our brands.”
A range of new offers are also being launched to coincide with the new campaign, including Super Fan competitions, videos giving fans a look behind the scenes at McLaren Racing, and an exclusive free-to-play McLaren F1 game.
Further exclusive content and experiences are also planned for 2022.
Dive deeper into the world of @McLarenF1 with Entain and even more exclusive content this #F1 season.🏁
To mark the next stage in our partnership, we’re unveiling new and exciting experiences to our customers that are exclusive to our brands.
Read👉https://t.co/211KBf9e4j pic.twitter.com/lDa0OfBk32
— Entain (@EntainGroup) October 28, 2021
Pragmatic Play, a leading content provider to the iGaming industry, is back with another instalment to its iconic John Hunter series in latest release, John Hunter and the Quest for Bermuda Riches™.
As the title suggests, the 7×7 slot title invites players to hunt for hidden treasure in the pink-sand beaches and deep waters that encompass the territory of Bermuda.
Thanks to the Tumble feature, symbols that have been part of a win will disappear, and the symbols above will tumble down and take their place. The game will then play with this new collection of symbols as a new game with no cost to the player. This process may be repeated until there is no win.
Regular golden Wild symbols will occasionally turn into Cursed Wilds. Cursed Wilds are upgraded with an x2 multiplier, or extra wilds will be randomly placed on the grid.
Money symbols with random cash values will land on the grid in the base game, and if players land a Collect symbol at the same time, all the values are collected. The only catch is that there are four different Collect symbols, each with its own unique requirements and rewards.
Landing three or more Scatter symbols can trigger wins worth up to 100x the player’s stake and will unleash the Free Spins feature, along with 12 free spins. Players willing to buy this feature can, but it will cost them 100x their total stake each time they want to access it.
The Quest for Bermuda Riches™ is the latest instalment in the wildly successful John Hunter series, following his adventures in The Mayan Gods™, The Book of Tut™, The Tomb of the Scarab Queen™, Aztec Treasure™ and Da Vinci’s Treasure™.
The new release arrives in the wake of recent hits Cash Bonanza™, Mystic Chief™, and Piggy Bank Bills™, which reside amongst a collection of over 200 HTML5 titles in Pragmatic Play’s award-winning games portfolio.
Yossi Barzely, Chief Business Development Officer at Pragmatic Play, said: “The John Hunter series has become a staple of our portfolio, and we’re thrilled to inject new life into it with the launch of John Hunter and the Quest for Bermuda Riches™.
“We’re always looking for new ways to entertain our customers with exciting content, and the John Hunter series presents us with the perfect opportunity to continue an epic narrative with equally thrilling mechanics.”
Pragmatic Play currently produces up to five new slot titles a month, while also delivering Live Casino and Bingo games as part of its multi-product portfolio, available through one single API.
Rush Street Interactive (RSI), operator of the BetRivers, PlaySugar House, and RushBet online casino and sportsbook brands, has unveiled RushArena™ – a new multiplayer tournament engine.
The new platform was created to offer peer-to-peer promotional games that extend player experiences, allowing players to compete head-to-head on their own time, and builds off RSI’s success with its popular bingo games.
RSI’s initial execution of RushArena is RushRace™ which offers the following:
- Permits players to join at any time in the tournament window
- Tournaments are designed so players can choose from a wide number of game selections
- Players can switch games during the tournament to try their luck at a different title
- Players can start with different balances and win based on a wide range of different outcomes
- Players can adjust wager amounts based on desired strategy
- Leader boards and player positions are updated in real time and can be viewed while competing
- Tournament entries may be awarded by a wide range of methods, including purchases from RSI’s proprietary bonus store using bonus store points
“Enhancing the player experience remains our top business strategy,” said Richard Schwartz, CEO of RSI. “We listen to our customers, and by owning, building and innovating the framework, we can tailor our games to deliver what our casino players, or insights obtained from them, have told us they want. We use these ground-breaking game mechanics to create new experiences, which is consistent with our goal to increase retention, loyalty, and business KPIs.”
The engine used to create RushArena and its RushRaces will also soon be employed to create peer-to-peer competition events, which will allow BetRivers.com, PlaySugarHouse.com, and RushBet patrons to challenge each other in fun and rewarding battles.
Renowned content provider, Betsoft Gaming, once again shows its provenance as the market leader for true cinematic iGaming slots with stunning release Return to Paris™. Following the smash hit A Night In Paris™, the Thief with an eye for an antique is back – and so is the Cop, looking to hunt him down! Loaded with frequent wins, Multipliers, explosive Wilds and an engaging Free Spins round, this five reel 20 payline slot is the cartoon crime caper of the year.
Welcome to Paris by night: the romantically lit boulevards and shimmering Eiffel Tower are the backdrop to the museum, full of priceless artwork – including the Mona Lisa – and the crown jewels. On duty is the Cop, ready to protect Paris’ artefacts from the light-fingered Thief. Each piece of stolen artwork has its own Multiplier – the more you recover of each symbol, the higher the Multiplier! It’s a race against time as the Thief must put his loot in the unique bar-counter under the grid and build up the Multipliers before the Cop catches up with him.
Studded with fabulous graphics, Return to Paris™ showcases Betsoft’s trademark cinematic skills. Jewels and statues are the high value symbols and a Monet-inspired painting is the WILD. The Thief steals a nearby symbol and stashes it in his collection whilst taking its place on the reels. Each theft increases the on-screen MULTIPLIER COUNTER by one and a random symbol will replace the stolen one as the Thief moves on. Spin the reels to find the Cop. With a screech of tyres and a wailing siren, he will chase the Thief around the grid to put him behind bars and return the stolen goodies. The player gets a win PLUS the built-up Multiplier. The Multiplier is then reset to 1 and the chase starts all over again.
The big draw is the Mona Lisa and this fulsome lady is clearly loving her starring role as the SCATTER. Appearing only on reels 2, 3 and 4, when THREE Mona Lisas appear, the FREE SPINS round is triggered. You’ve seen the Mona Lisa but we bet you have never seen a FREE SPINS round like this!
The open-ended round starts with the Cop and the Thief in opposite corners of the grid. Each spin moves them vertically or horizontally in a random direction. The Thief continues to steal everything in his path, adding constantly to the Multiplier as the Cop chases him down.
Until they meet on adjacent squares, Free Spins will keep triggering – with up to 1,000 FREE SPINS to be had!
The trusty law enforcement officer will return all the stolen art at the end of Free Spins and the player will receive a Five of a Kind equivalent payout PLUS any built up Multipliers from the symbols. The Multiplier is then reset to 1 and the chase is back on!
The Cop is no pushover however: not content with just chasing the Thief and returning his ill-gotten gains, when they both appear adjacently on the reels – horizontally or vertically – things get hot. A bundle of dynamite rolls on to the screen and BOOM! All symbols become Wilds in the WILD EXPLOSION feature bringing even more big win chances your way.
With high frequency hit rates in the base game and super high frequency hit rates of 82.97% in the Free Spins round PLUS 1056x your stake to be had, it’s not surprising that everyone will Return To Paris™ this autumn!
Anna Mackney, Head of Account Management, Betsoft Gaming, said: ‘Betsoft Gaming has surpassed even its own legendary cinematographic skills with Return to Paris™. The incredible attention to detail makes this release fresh with every replay. The atmospheric soundtrack, with its Parisian street music, sirens, explosions and humorous mutterings, reinforces the theme fantastically well. This release sets a new bar in iGaming content and we anticipate a very positive response.’
Scheduled for release 28th October 2021, Return to Paris™ will join Betsoft’s constantly growing and award-winning portfolio of desktop and mobile video slots.
Fast Track has revealed a first-of-its-kind product that enables iGaming operators to deliver 1:1 experiences to players.
The Singularity Model features an engine that observes every action the player makes in real time and uses advanced machine learning and computations to establish a comprehensive player profile. Once this is established, the Singularity model hand picks the content, times and channels that are best suited to the individual player and creates a relevant, timely engagement.
“We have been working towards delivering this solution since the early days of Fast Track. Within the iGaming industry we have spoken about creating 1:1 experiences with our players for many years but have not had access to the right tools to make it a reality. I am excited and proud that Fast Track is making 1:1 player experiences possible for the first time with the Singularity Model,” commented Simon Lidzén, CEO and Co-founder of Fast Track.
Operators are given full control of the data, decision-making framework and tech stack and can customise every aspect according to their unique needs. According to the company, this technology marks the beginning of the next generation of player engagement within the industry, fundamentally changing the way operators interact with players.
To further support 1:1 experiences, Fast Track is also rolling out a completely new data analytics platform: Fast Track Data Studio. Sitting on top of Fast Track’s real-time data feed, the Data Studio will allow users to carry out complex queries in lightning-fast time, assisting users to make more informed decisions about their business with easily digestible and customisable dashboards.
Fast Track’s partners will also have access to the Singularity Project, a comprehensive intelligence hub managed by a dedicated data science team. The team will be publishing the results of relevant experiments and sharing insights that can be used with the Singularity Model.
Scientific Games has announced the sale of its lottery business to Brookfield Business Partners in a deal worth up to US$6.05 billion.
Under the agreement, Brookfield Business Partners will pay $5.85 billion in cash, and a further performance-based earn-out of up to $225M. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2022, subject to applicable regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions.
Scientific Games Lottery currently has long-term partnerships with around 130 government and non-government run lotteries in more than 50 countries. The business provides turn-key solutions covering the entire lottery ecosystem, including instant and terminal-generated games, sports betting, lottery systems and retail technology, and the iLottery market. The company says it powers around 60% of all instant product retail sales globally.
Regarding the news, Barry Cottle, President and CEO of Scientific Games, said: “This transaction is transformative in accelerating the delivery of our stated strategy to optimize our portfolio, aggressively de-lever our balance sheet and position us to invest in future growth. We conducted a thorough review of paths to divest the Lottery business and we are confident that this transaction maximizes value and certainty while minimizing complexity and execution risk, and positions both Scientific Games and SG Lottery for continued success along their unique growth trajectories.
“The significant near-term proceeds from this transaction as well as our previously announced sale of Sports Betting will transform our balance sheet and provide the financial flexibility to invest organically and inorganically to accelerate our strategies. This marks a major milestone and puts us on a clear path to achieve our vision to become the leading cross-platform global game company and unlock our full value for shareholders.”
David Nowak, Managing Partner, Brookfield Business Partners, added: “The Scientific Games Lottery team has built a leading business, which has innovated its industry, at the convergence of games, technology and services, across retail and digital channels for its global customers. With our capabilities and global reach, we look forward to supporting management in the continued growth of the business.”
Just last month, Endeavor Group Holdings, the NYSE-listed global sports and entertainment company, agreed to acquire content, platform, and service provider OpenBet from Scientific Games Corporation for US$1.2 billion.
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