INSIGHT
MARKETING:
5 DEFINING EVENTS
To mark our sister title iGaming Business reaching its 100th issue milestone, we asked Pinnacle’s
Marketing Director Harry Lang to provide his top 5 most significant marketing-related developments or
events since the magazine launched back in 2002.
1. UIGEA. Or The Unlawful Internet
Gambling Enforcement Act for those too
young to remember that fateful day in
2006, has got to open this list. An act of
biblical proportions in iGaming that halved
the share price of PartyGaming and many
other giants overnight and paved the way
for PokerStars to begin an uninterrupted
assault on the summit. Quite how it was
allowed to happen is still up for debate, but
in a country that holds the right to bear
arms as number two in its national rule
book, the deep south Christian far-right
voting masses were given a sacrificial lamb,
and the American betting public have been
paying for it ever since.
2. Paddy Power. I want to give these guys
a nod for no other reason that they’ve
kept marketing fun. Yes, their irreverent,
devil-may-care approach to PR and
campaign creative might be driven out of
a data bunker in Tallaght and yes, they
recently merged with a banking operation
masquerading as a betting exchange, but
anyone who can get away with a 100-foot
Roy Hodgson Jesus on the white cliffs of
Dover and still be on brand deserves some
applause. By the same measure, it would be
a gross dereliction of duty not to mention
Pinnacle’s entry to the market in 1998 as a
major milestone. The introduction of the
high-volume/low-margin model to sports
betting set the standard for sharp bettors
that has yet to be beaten.
“Anyone who can get away with a 100-foot Roy Hodgson
Jesus on the white cliffs of Dover and still be on brand
deserves some applause”
3. HTML5. Mobile was always going to
make this list in some guise, and the app
revolution seems to be a good place to
deliver at least some credit. Having mobile
web products wrapped in apps has become,
more and more, the ‘done thing’ – it’s
easier than straight app development and
allows more flexibility to develop mobile
products quickly across platforms.
4. Google. If you’re talking about digital
marketing, then ‘those that couldn’t be
evil’ have to get a name check. From
PPC to SEO, with most other things in
between, Google literally owns the digital
media landscape and anyone who doesn’t
implicitly follow their rules is going to
lose. Like it or hate it, the big G is here
to stay, and with a raft of acquisitions it’s
only getting more influential. Ignore them
at your peril.
“More and more talented people are starting and developing
their careers in the industry and much of the dead wood has
been found out and banished to the rail”
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iGB Affiliate Issue 59 OCT/NOV 2016
5. People. When I started in gaming as a
marketing director for a poker start-up in
2006, it was like the Klondike gold rush.
You couldn’t sniff for dodgy ‘executives’
trying to blag and lie their way to an online
gaming fortune. It was a mess. But 10
years on, the industry has grown up; more
and more talented people are starting and
developing their careers in the industry and
much of the dead wood has been found out
and banished to the rail. Bad habits are less
common, good processes more prevalent
and the industry has greatly benefited from
this richer seam of talent.
HARRY LANG has worked
in the egaming world for
10 years, recently joining
PinnacleSports.com as
Marketing Director. Pinnacle
is the Number 1 sportsbook for
astute bettors looking for the best odds,
highest stakes and lowest margins.