iGB Affiliate 55 Feb/Mar | Page 66

RED ALERT! In a crowded casino space, having a distinctive brand can be the key to success. With a radical relaunch imminent, Maria Casino hopes to stand head and shoulders above the competition. Saying that the casino marketplace is crowded would be an understatement akin to saying that this year’s London Affiliate Conference might attract a few delegates. Whilst consolidation and other market factors are leading to some sportsbook and poker brands falling by the wayside, or at the very least operators choosing to focus on one or two brands in those verticals, multi-brand is the strategy of choice when it comes to casino for many, with a new casino seemingly popping up every week. look, with a completely new website and logotype, and for the first time a model playing the part of the eponymous character. With so many online casino brands competing for attention, many of which are essentially reskinned versions of identical products, it’s becoming increasingly tough for established operators to differentiate their offerings and inspire brand loyalty amongst players. The current market and media landscape is extremely cluttered, so in order for us to The Maria brand has a particularly interesting history. Having launched as a female-oriented bingo brand for the Swedish market in 2006, it was acquired by the Unibet Group the followin g year and grew into a market-leading brand particularly in the Nordic territories. Having Unibet’s backing enabled Maria to gradually improve its casino offering, to the point where it evolved into a casino-first brand with, perhaps most surprisingly, a predominantly male customer base. Now, almost a decade after its initial launch, the team behind the brand have decided to give Maria Casino a new We caught up with the Head of Maria, Dersim Sylwan, to discuss the reasoning behind this highly differentiated strategy: The casino vertical is high margin, but highly competitive. How do you go about building market share in the current market landscape? that they are being offered when playing with us. We are now really looking forward to revealing to our customers and affiliates an updated brand and a completely new Maria Casino site in the coming weeks. Can you tell us about the updated brand and the new site? The brand name will be Maria Casino in all of our markets and we’ve created a new brand strategy, tonality and visuals including a new logotype. With these updates, we believe that the new branding “The brand will [...] represent the core values of the new site which are very much about being transparent, inclusive and personal.” stay on top of the competition we’ve tried to focus on the factors that make Maria Casino unique. Being one of the first bingo and casino operators, having a brand with a clear feminine touch and offering a wide and exclusive product portfolio has given us several effective ways to stand out and break through the clutter in the gaming landscape. We strongly believe in innovation and a key goal for us has been to continuously improve how our customers perceive the Maria Casino brand and the experience will better reflect our identity as primarily a casino brand, inviting everyone to play with us. The brand will also represent the core values of the new site which are very much about being transparent, inclusive and personal. Customers will be welcomed by Maria herself to a personalised online casino environment which is exciting and thrilling for both men and women, offering them a fully responsive experience on mobile, tablet and desktop. The old Maria logo (left) and new Maria Casino logo (right).