Below, Gambling Insider catches up with the marketeer to find out all about the move, how she reflects on her time at Relax Gaming and what’s on the immediate horizon for Sportingtech.
Congratulations on your new role! What is your main aim when it comes to making a difference at Sportingtech?
A premium product with untapped potential has always been paramount for me, followed by the company’s vision, ethos and structure. Ivo (Doroteia, CEO) and Sportingtech have it all – it’s an ideal move as the initial need is brand building and awareness, so our goals and experience are aligned. Just keeping the wheels in motion at an already established brand wouldn’t tick the right boxes for me. Since Sportingtech’s Quantum platform is already award-winning and selling itself in its relatively short time on the market, the difference will be in supporting the company’s commercial efforts and communicating the benefits of the platform. It doesn’t need to be oversold. It’s already robust and provides a huge amount of customisation with local market tailoring.
From online casino to sports betting, what prompted this switch?
It is a change but one incremental enough to have the right balance of both challenge and familiarity. Sportingtech is a full-service platform – there are distinct wagering and promotional variations, and the verticals we cover are broader, creating more marketing opportunities. That’s exciting after almost 10 years; however, Sportingtech is also a retail provider, as well as having a full online casino suite including poker, live table games and slots. Comprehensive would be an accurate description. Platform is also very familiar to me and B2B marketing is already firmly in my wheelhouse – it’s about a good product, sales triggers and ultimately communicating why you’re a better option than your competition.
There is an advantage to our size in terms of how we care for our customer, the agility of the technology that powers Quantum and the level of control those customers have to run their promotions and their businesses. This maximises their revenue potential. Any platform, serving any sector within the industry, needs to appreciate the responsibility that comes with being integral to someone else’s business. Getting the foundation, tech, tools, price point and services right impacts your customers’ bottom line and that’s what they care about.
What are the biggest lessons you take from your time at Relax Gaming?
Any platform, serving any sector within the industry, needs to appreciate the responsibility that comes with being integral to someone else’s business. Getting the foundation, tech, tools, price point and services right impacts your customers’ bottom line and that’s what they care about Victoria Bonner, Sportingtech CMO
I don’t think we got much wrong but there are always things you would change in hindsight or improve if time and resources were no issue. There was a lot of imitation of our marketing efforts, which generally means you’re leading and doing it well. Perhaps the key takeaway was the quality of the people within the current marketing team. Every day was a pleasure because they were talented, tight-knit and enjoyed what they did. That vibe is rare – I’m proud of putting that together and was of course sad to leave it. My job in building the marketing to that level was done and I could better serve another company that was on a similar trajectory Relax had back in 2018.
You’ve been in the industry for several years; how – and how much – has it changed in that time?
It’s almost unrecognisable. When I joined, Flash was still widespread and back in 2013 one of the first talking points I was pushing was the value of HTML5 games. Mobile was increasing but only just becoming a consideration. Since then, there has been continued fragmentation of the regulatory landscape that impacts all verticals and both sides of the B2B and B2C fence. It’s led to an increasing requirement for localised knowledge, content and tech that can be agile enough to remove as much of the burden of serving multiple markets as possible. It’s no secret that being ready to move into newly regulating markets early is vital for market share and a one-size-fits-all approach isn’t going to give anyone the edge that a tailored strategy can.
So, the development, compliance and commercial teams need to accurately future-gaze to predict shifts and trends. That was impossible, of course, with Covid-19 but those companies that had established a level of technological agility to pivot more quickly have arguably fared better across the board in this industry. Things have a habit of changing quickly and as a platform supplier, the responsibility to respond quickly is greater anyway.
Finally, what’s on the horizon for you in your first few months in the role?
Initially, that will be planning a roadmap to ramp up our marketing activity in key areas and review the positions we need to open to support that. Events will be a clear priority for us, as they steadily return. We’re in a growth phase and commercially things are moving fast. My goal is to accelerate that and start communicating the strengths that sold me on Sportingtech in the first place. Overall, the company’s growth this year is looking strong across the board and marketing will be here to ensure we capitalise on that.
