TA L K I N G P O I N T S F E A T U R E
IF YOU DON’T HAVE PEOPLE THAT ARE ROBUST ENOUGH TO REBOUND AND JUST SHAKE IT OFF AND ASK WHAT’S NEXT, THEN YOU’LL NEVER END UP INNOVATING
Isaac Ward, Paddy Power
The ?nal part of the formula is possessing the willingness to fail. “If you don’t have people that are robust enough to rebound and just shake it off and ask what’s next, then you’ll never end up innovating. We de?nitely have a culture here where we‘re not afraid to fail – we’ll try something and if doesn’t work we learn quickly, drop it and do the next thing.”
together to come and with some information and insight, and then ruthlessly transact on that through our product and communication.”
THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT
Both internally and externally, and despite a long history of retail betting shops, Paddy Power views itself as an entertainment brand, not a gambling one. It’s a shift much of the industry is attempting to make but few are succeeding in the same way. You could argue that Gamesys, with its consumerfriendly brands and social gaming prowess, has set the bar for this change in mindset, but Paddy Power isn’t far behind. Again the idea of being an entertainment brand requires far more work than meets the eye. For Ward it is a question of staying relevant in the modern world, not just for Paddy Power but the entire industry. “The industry as a whole faces that challenge of moving away from a some dirty smoke-?lled gambling den vision. Anything we do to promote an alternative image would only be bene?cial to the industry as a whole. At the end of the day people tend to play games because it’s entertaining, not because they want to make money. So rather than going and buying a magazine or a beer they have a few spins on a slot machine or play a bit of bingo. I think more and more you’ll see us bring that to life.” And as the battle for market among Europe’s top operators rumbles on and differentiation becomes harder and harder to achieve, it’s the small changes occurring within Paddy Power that may have the biggest impact on its success.
PEOPLE COME FIRST
Ward himself, like the company’s innovation team, is someone constantly with an eye on how to improve the status quo, often looking at how other industries are evolving and how it can be applied to online gaming. He studied information systems at university and says he has a “passionate interest” in turning data into information. And that, for Paddy Power, is what it’s all about. But for that to stick as a company-wide culture, the operator places a great deal of emphasis on hiring the right people. Ward concedes that almost every employer rolls out the ‘it’s all about the people’ mantra, but adds that innovative thinking – which Paddy Power is clearly breeding – can only be achieved through bringing together genuinely inquisitive people. “The key part for me is how you foster that culture of innovation,” he explains. “If you hire the right people with the right mind set – people who want to go and push the boundaries and don’t accept the status quo as being implicitly rigid – then you’re already half way there. It sets you up for future growth.”
MOBILE GAMING IS CURRENTLY DOMINATING PADDY POWER'S AGENDA
WARD: "PEOPLE TEND TO PLAY GAMES BECAUSE IT’S ENTERTAINING, NOT BECAUSE THEY WANT TO MAKE MONEY"
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