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Opinion: Localising social casino

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Vicenc Marti (new)

Vicenç Martí and Alex Cohen, CEO and CPO of Akamon, explain why a localised offering could be the way to go for smaller operators

The now four to five year old, lucrative, competitive and appealing social casino sector has remained predominantly focused on English-speaking markets such as the UK, US and Australia which, despite monetising better, are now the exact defi nition of a red ocean. The new blue ocean, where the relationship between customer acquisition, competition and returns is attractive, is in emerging markets like Latin America and Asia.

From a business point of view, at Akamon our raison d’être is to lead in LatAm, which offers an amazing opportunity for gaming companies if they are willing to understand the region. We understand that by becoming experts on local distribution, content, affiliate markets and payments systems, we can leverage this knowledge into financial results much faster than if we were only competing with the same weapons in the Anglo-Saxon markets. We prefer to lead alternative markets rather than follow in prime markets.

The new world
First, from a platform perspective, dot.com destinations are still the dominant platforms, which need to be combined with the Facebook canvas (for social casino) and mobile. Some might even argue that LatAm is somewhat late to the mobile transition. At Akamon, we would agree but not for long because even in LatAm, if you are not mobile soon, your company is likely to die.

On one level, focusing on localised markets would appear to limit the appeal of companies like Akamon who specialise in alternative markets, but we believe that holding the number one or two position in markets like Brazil, Mexico, France or Spain is a more valuable position than being number 10 in the UK, for example. The key is to actually be in the top two in these markets because it doesn’t make a particularly compelling proposition to limit yourself geographically and not be a leader in your key markets.

Let’s focus on Brazil for a moment, which is Akamon’s main market. When Akamon entered this country, which is the size of a continent, we knew it held huge long-term potential. Brazil encapsulates in one example all the good and bad of Latin America: huge potential, complex regulation and the need for local knowledge.

In Brazilian social casinos, for example, if you operate under a Brazilian legal entity, your relationship with the indispensable local payment systems will be exponentially easier. The flip side is that you will have to be careful on the use of virtual currency, particular with bingo and poker, as unclear regulation can bite back precisely because you decided to be closer to the market and create a Brazilian company.

Cultural familiarity
Creating a localised offering is not simply offering a game in a different language. Operators looking to successfully establish a customer base in a specific territory need to gain a strong understanding of these markets.

One of the easiest ways to turn players off is to make them feel that an app or a game is meant for someone other than them. In that sense, there are many themes that have an appeal to a specific market, but do not resonate with any cultural familiarity in a targeted market.

It’s important to understand this when expecting that performance in one particular geographical area will translate elsewhere. Additionally, a game with the most beautiful artwork can suddenly look cheap if the translated game or marketing message is translated clumsily. That kind of mistake is more easily spotted in advance by a team that is focused on several key markets.

Perhaps the most important aspect of a localised package is to build a familiar gaming experience. Although there are individual games that perform well in nearly any market, the environment of a social casino application and the overall experience are best when tailored to a particular market’s desires and expectations. For example, a typical casino in Mexico would include a mix of bingo products that would look completely unfamiliar to a player in the US, and many games that have a following from real-money players in the US would be unfamiliar to Brazilian players.

Solid mix
For those companies with applications that are familiar to their players and who are able to relate to them on their own terms, the opportunity to penetrate localised markets with high-quality content should not be underestimated. However, for those that are unable to relate to players in a familiar way, a market may appear difficult or impenetrable.

The typical player’s expectations also influence the best strategy to appeal to players in a target market. It’s naturally important to have high-quality games and a wide selection of games available, but the games that work well for acquisition and retention can vary. In that sense, a successful strategy relies on a solid mix of games to acquire players and an equally solid mechanism to convert them to higher-monetising games.

For instance, it would be an uphill battle to try to enter Brazil with a slots-only application. But with the right mix of products to appeal to players and the right mechanisms to convert them over, the opportunity is enormous.

In other markets, there are certainly other product strategies that would work to acquire and convert players. The opportunity is certainly there for developers who are familiar with the target market and their expectations.

Needless to say, it is easier to make and market products using a team that is familiar with the target, and this is especially true with smaller localised markets. Aside from simply being able to avoid easy mistakes, a team that is intimately familiar with the target market will be able to identify opportunities to appeal to players and suit a product to their tastes.

Genuine opportunity
Even single-player gambling tends to be a social experience in many players’ minds. On a typical visit to a land-based casino, players are probably used to chatting with other players around them, sharing their excitement when they have a win, and feeling a combination of shared joy and envy when their neighbours hit a big win. Generally speaking, online social casinos only replicate this experience with limited success.

For some regions, this doesn’t particularly matter, but for others, it is a vital part of the experience. In these cases, the opportunity is much easier to tap into for those applications that have synchronous social features built in from the beginning. On the other hand, social casinos that have limited or no channels for interaction will find a
genuine challenge in appealing to players.

For the most part, the high-quality social casino applications have been concentrated in Anglo-Saxon markets, and most applications with a localised flavour have been of lower quality. However with the cost of acquiring players in the US, UK, and Australia rising, there is a genuine opportunity for developers that can compete with the quality level of the best social casinos, but target their content to more localised markets.


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