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Making the M
most of
mobile
obile bingo is big
business, which is
why award-winning
Mecca is working hard
to stay ahead of the game.
More than 40 per cent of Mecca’s
digital customers play on their mobiles,
and bingo ‘rooms’ that are also available
on desktop devices bring in more money
than from PC players. That’s why there
are big plans for the coming year to make
the Mecca offer even bigger and better.
“We had two and a half years of being
the only bingo app in the app store, now
all our competitors have a mobile bingo
product out there so we have to keep
pushing further ahead,” said Simon Woolf,
director of mobile. “An example of how
we’re doing this is the integration of unique
IGT mini games in the latest version.
“We are already leading the mobile
bingo market in design and in
the experience we offer customers.
Any
ide
The team as?
keen to re is always
or feedba ceive ideas
custom ck from both
members ers and team
them to . You can email
executivemobile gaming
Sash
at sasha.h a Hutson
uts
rank.comon@
Bring Your Own on test
In another industry first, Mecca is offering customers the chance to play the
games they love on their smartphone or tablet, live in their club.
This exciting new Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) concept allows customers to
either bring their own and play or Mecca will provide the handsets. It is being tested
in four clubs – Mecca Stockton and Mecca Wednesbury are inviting customers to
bring their own, while Mecca Knotty Ash and Mecca Leeds Crossgate are providing
five of each of Samsung Galaxy Tab, Nexus 7 and Samsung S3 devices.
It works through the special My Max app which is accessible through the
in-club wifi page. Each club has three BYOD champions focused on helping
customers to try BYOD, assisting them with downloading the app, how to use
it and capturing the feedback.
“We are really engaging the customers in these clubs and asking them to
help shape the future for Mecca by giving us feedback,” said Clint Walker, the
business development manager leading the project.
“Customers trying BYOD are being asked to fill in a simple questionnaire
rating the experience and comparing it with Mecca Max. We will be learning
from this feedback and refining the experience in future phases.”
The trial was launched at the end of November and is being promoted
through in-club point-of-sale posters, direct mail shots, on the website and
through social media.
“It gives both Mecca and the customer some flexibility in the provision
of electronic bingo terminals on the busiest sessions where we can run out
of Mecca Max units, giving customers the opportunity to still play on an
electronic device,” explained Clint.
Paul Haden, tea m leader and BY OD
cha mpion at Mecca Wednesbury,
pictured helping customer Janet
Dangerfield, says the response so far
has been great. “The My Max app is so
easy to download for android devices
and gives the customers another choice
in how to play both bingo and cashline
in club. They can’t believe how simple it
is and how good the graphics are – lots of
Wednesbury customers asked for a tablet
or a Sa msung phone for Christmas!”
Did you know?
Implementation of games on mobile is as important as the brand or title. A good example of this is Deep Sea Treasure. While
not one of Mecca’s better performing games on desktop, the Edinburgh team has done such a great job that the mobile version
is one of the top games on the channel. Other big hitters on mobile are Alice’s Wonderland, Rainbow Riches and Cleopatra.
4 WOW! Issue 34 • January 2014
We have the widest range of slot content,
including exclusive games developed
by our team in Edinburgh, and are in
a great position to control our own
destiny in aspects such as content and
user interface. We also have more control
on how we can customise our products.”
The most valuable customers are
those who play across all channels
– in club, online and on mobile. Mecca
has led the way in de ٕ