The power of the right brand

InterCasino is one of the pioneers of online gaming - the world's first online casino. Since it was established in 1996, it has offered a wide range of casino games, and since 2002 has also offered a poker product. Alexandra Gal is vice president of Global Marketing for InterCasino's marketing agency Ads Dot Com. Alexandra joined from 888 at the beginning of 2009 and is an expert in building winning brand strategies. We talked to Alexandra and head of poker, Colin McCreadie about what players are looking for from a brand, and why 2010 could be a huge year for InterCasino and InterPoker.

How has InterCasino fared in the last few years?

Alexandra Gal InterCasino was a leading online casino, but while other brands picked up InterCasino lost its leadership in terms of market share. It is clear that the main thing that will drive change will be to rebuild the brand. On the one hand, the brand has existed from 1996 - it has a lot of assets that no one can take from this name. But we recognise that there was no real understanding of the strategy, no emerging brand personality and the language was very dated. So, if you open our website still, the logo is very old fashioned. This is a very profitable business and we have a huge customer base. Many of our customers love the fact that we are traditional but to be a leader you need to be more coherent with a consistent brand language and a more stylish look.

I'm a strong believer that building a brand is the path to the customer's heart, to achieve their trust, recognition and engagement. Not only that, but you engender loyalty and love for the brand. It's a very cluttered industry, both in casino and poker, not to mention, sports, bingo and other areas. There are a few brands that stand out from the crowd and we aim to be one of those big brands.

What do you think customers are looking for from a brand?

AG There is clearly a difference between what casino and poker players are looking for in their preferred brand. For casino players, trust is key. There are thousands of brands out there that look very similar to each other. And there are many stories about problematic gambling so trust is definitely a key issue. Losing money is inherent and if you win you need to know you'll get your money back. Our longevity and history is an amazing asset and in terms of mentions in the marketplace we are everywhere. That's part of us being here for so long. Once the customer is engaged, it is obviously all about quality customer service.

Colin McCreadie Poker players will always look for brands that allow them to live the dream of achieving financial successes and fame.  Beyond this, players are becoming educated in the quality of poker brand that they chose to play with, and in 2010, customer service and player experience are going to have a bigger impact than ever.  Developing player experience will no longer be just offering players a platform on which to play their poker, and increasingly will involve the development of communities where customers choose to spend their leisure time.

AG Poker players in a similar way to casino players, would like to be associated with what seems to be a strong brand, a different brand which appreciates their money and their loyalty. That's very similar to other industries. We are constantly thinking about promotion and ways to surprise our customers and cater to their gaming nature. We currently offer poker, casino and bingo (just for the UK); but we are thinking of expanding our bingo and launching sports betting as well as other gaming opportunities. 2010 is going to be a huge opportunity and a festive comeback for one of the most prestigious brands in the industry.

How do you go about doing that?

CM The continual growth of social media platforms and online communities are offering new insights and opportunities all the time, and we are striving to build our own community within the brand to take the relationship between players and the brand beyond one that is simply service provider and user.

We already have long-term relationships with a large number of our players, we interact with them as much as possible, and try to engage them for feedback regularly.  The building of our InterPoker player community within the brand will be integral to our success in acquiring and retaining loyal players. We are also developing promotions that encourage players to interact with the brand and increase the number of brand advocates in the market. InterPoker are also looking to target existing poker communities for alliances and opportunities.  In 2010, InterPoker will be sponsoring the established Poker Player Grand Prix and working with other strong poker communities to build the InterPoker brand.

Is player retention difficult in the crowded poker market?

CM Many of the developed poker markets are extremely saturated and increased competition in emerging markets will give players a wider choice of localised brands and make player retention even harder. Those brands attempting to differentiate by simply providing enhanced margins to players and affiliates are going to find this is not a long term sustainable business, as they will not be able to continually buy the loyalty of players.

At InterPoker we have a high level of integrity, and retention has always been one of the key strengths of our operation. We've got retention, support and CRM teams that know how to offer a customised and personalised service at the entire customer base level. What is a standard for retaining high rollers is now being implemented across our customer base on a wider scale.

AG We have built our new brand strategy with a leading branding agency, Michael Peters & Partners. We had discussions about what players are looking for, what is the gambling experience all about and we realised that online gaming is a very exciting intimate activity. Based on that, the brand essence is all about individuality and being 'one of a kind'. This means we treat our customers as individuals and acknowledge the fact that they have differences. To build a strong brand it's not about having a nice logo and a nice website - it is all about what you do. Unlike with casinos where high rollers are the main target audience, with poker it is important to keep on bringing all levels of players including the ones that will play with the high rollers. You have to treat everyone well, and that is a huge challenge which we are well prepared for.

And all this will cumulate with the relaunch of the brand next year?

AG The launch is planned for the end of February and it's going to be the start of an extraordinary year for us. Our feeling is that with the Inter brands' branding project we are creating a fairytale story. The brands are a 'sleeping giant' - with a loyal customer base and a great reputation, with some of the best casino software as part of the Cryptologic network. And with a new management team on board we are all very excited to be part of this fairytale, and to be the ones awakening this sleeping giant.

How will this translate through to the marketing side?

AG Again, because trust is such an issue and numbers for poker is such an issue we are going to launch a TV campaign. We are working with Isobel advertising in London on our TV campaign. We are working to ensure a consistent and coherent message across all our communication channels.

What role do affiliates play in this and how does an operator work effectively with them?

AG We value our affiliates highly. Our last addition to the new management team is our new head of affiliate department, Fotis Bachtsevanis, who joined us from Ladbrokes. We consider our affiliates to be our closest partners. They are also responsible for one of our main marketing and communication channels. We are working very closely with our affiliates to better our mutual results. There is no golden solution that fits all, it is all about exploring, testing and finding the optimal solution for a certain time with a certain affiliate. It's working very nicely. We are planning to launch the brand first to our affiliates around the end of January at the London Affiliate Conference. This will be followed by our 'official launch' to the industry, and finally - to the marketplace.