Can we do that better?” is the easy question that drives massive change within the permanent technology revolution. The hunt for improvement works its way into every solutions-driven process on earth, and system-driven in-game marketing isn't any different.

What the leading systems providers are finding is that it’s not just possible to do more on the machine, but operators are starting to reply to the possible. Kiosk-style functionality continues to achieve real estate on the gaming machines. The standard of in-game interactions is improving as well, as operators work with system providers to more fully leverage player data. Mobile is playing a larger role, as system providers extend in-game and kiosk-type messaging to mobile devices. 

These were a few of the findings of Slot Management & Marketing’s interviews of the leading system providers at this year’s National Indian Gaming Association (NIGA) show. Here’s a summary of what they'd to say:

ARISTOCRAT TECHNOLOGIES

“We know that the sport isn't the only thing the buyer desires to consume,” said Angelo Palmisano, vice chairman of system product for Aristocrat Technologies. “There are numerous things that distract them; like kiosks, or promotional items which are tied to a wheel or a restaurant where you can visit get a chit or something like that. What we’ve done is create an ecosystem of these kinds of gaming and non-gaming events and taken them right down to the sport itself. So our nCompass that we're showing here provides increasingly features that weren’t typically on the game level.”

That means drink or F&B coupons manifest on the machine and that mobile capabilities are heavily leveraged since whatever is on the machine level may also be re-shown on the mobile level. “We attempt to push up to possible to where the buyer is comfortable, in preference to push them to where they're uncomfortable, which might be standing in line at a kiosk or a restaurant,” said Palmisano. “At one in all our sites, mobile opt-in was within the 54 percent range of carded players, which I BELIEVED was pretty good.”

Aristocrat’s spectrum of operators ranges from very small to very large, however the frequency of in-game messaging tends to change inversely with size. “The big operators use a softer approach, somewhat at a time, because they’ve always been burned up to now after they throw an excessive amount of on the customer too fast,” said Palmisano. “But now we have smaller operations who say, ‘our customers love this.’ It’s in line with customer demographics. They could roll out 10 or 15 marketing programs collectively on the machine, including at the mobile platform. That’s why we created a large ecosystem of applications because we wish to cover the whole range of operators, be they locals, mid-size, regional, heavy traffic or low traffic.”

Mass marketing to uncarded players is increasingly popular. Operators can throw out bonuses to uncarded patrons and, after they get hit with them, they’re allowed to go into a virtual session. “They earn points during that virtual session and someone is dispatched who says, ‘look, you’ve already earned this much, I’ll come up with that during dollars in case you just sign up,’” said Palmisano. “It’s basically player tracking for uncarded people. It’s a customer acquisition and satisfaction tool and it’s getting a large number of usage right now.”

Restraint is a recurring theme in Aristocrat’s current enthusiastic about system-based marketing. “Everything that we offer through nCompass, we only have the desire to make it available to the client when it's meaningful to them,” said Palmisano. “Not in-your-face marketing, just a bit at a time and it’s measured. We now have a behavior management tool that asks what number of times a customer pushes that site; don’t go in there each time with the similar campaign; change it. NUMEROUS what we learn comes from mobile applications. They appear at how often and the way you interact with the applying and, in accordance with that, it keeps changing as it doesn’t want you to get annoyed and close it off or turn off push notifications. The similar thing goes with the machine.”

In terms of broader marketing goals, Aristocrat specializes in connecting the operator’s brand to the consumer. “Little bits and pieces like bonusing include that brand connection; we glance at everything a customer is doing,” said Palmisano. “If they spend money at an F&B outlet, we tie that right down to the applications and the shopper experience, whether it’s on the machine, mobile or wherever. We would like that customer to be engaged with the brand, not just, ‘I gotta play X to get X.’ Sometimes you must disrupt that a little bit and don’t make it so automatic.”

That includes new wrinkles like social rewards that recognize status. “We’ve seen a few of our customers use that very effectively,” said Palmisano. “It’s not monetary; it’s achievement, badges, such things as that you just. might think nobody cares, however the social dynamic of these types of applications during the last 10 years has changed patron behavior such that they consume social badges and social interaction. It’s for those who love to say, ‘hey, by the way, I’m within the Top 5 on this VIP room.’ Personalization is significant and the slot machine and the cell phone are the 2 places where we will reach people.”

SCIENTIFIC GAMES

Scientific Games continues to bulk up its Elite Bonusing Suite (EBS) product so as to add relationship-building value to iView DM. “When we had the iView DM at the system with just player account information, you actually couldn’t put a ROI on it,” said Martha Langer, director of systems product management for Scientific Games. “The personal suite now has 12-plus promotions, including a couple of new ones which can be stepping into a distinct direction. They're really enhancing game play and keeping people on the machine itself.”

EBS comes with four promotional theme choices and operators can change it out each quarter. “It really helps the marketers build out the calendar,” said Langer. “We think and the shoppers feel that it keeps things fresh. For those who keep running the usual thing over and over again again, it gets a bit stale. That was in place a little bit over a year now, so persons are benefiting from the chance to devise for which promotions and which styles, be it floor-wide or personalized, they'll run each quarter.”

EBS sits on top of Scientific Games’ casino management system, so any promotion can also be set to another card level or different value lengths by card level and extracted to the consumer for special events. “If you need to do a penny promotion at a definite time around certain events, you'll have the promotions there,” said Langer. “You can define the promotion and make it eligible to a specific slot machine or slot machine characteristic, equivalent to denom, or a definite player using three different games: The 3D Wheel, USpin Wheel and Ski Ball.”

When the system opened at Belterra Gaming Park in Cincinnati, Ohio, people put their card in and saw five different wheel levels to correspond with the property’s five card levels. A progression bar gives players something to shoot for during DM’s virtual racing events akin to NASCAR and Horse Race. “Every race, if it’s qualifying, will need to have a qualifying bar,” said Langer. “When you spot the golf green bar moving up it makes you ought to stay slightly longer. Also, with the cardboard levels, should you can see people next to you with higher amounts, it really entices you to play to get to that next level.”

Another update, BetView, comes with three options, Casino Lotto, Monopoly and Clue. “It’s basically DM Wagering; you’re going so as to wage money off a credit meter to play an aspect game,” said Langer. “I think this leans toward the newer social gamer because they prefer to do two things concurrently. they’re playing the principle game, they may be able to now wager from the credit meter and play these side games. All applications may also be made available to a undeniable group of players; many are for re-start players; players who haven’t played for 6 months to a year.”

KONAMI GAMING

Konami Gaming has bulked up its Synkros system with new marketing capabilities in recent years, including the power to insert a driver’s license right into a card slot and churn out a player’s club card. Konami estimates that as much as 80 percent of all cards issued at a players club are reprints.

 “Operators like that we've got a whole eco-system,” said Michael Ratner, director of product management-systems for Konami. “There’s the EGM, CMS and a kiosk product integrated into the CMS, both on a mobile platform or a physical kiosk, and that i could have players either reprint cards or do enrollment on the kiosk. So far as in-game marketing is concerned, casinos are going to incentivize you for doing something. Or they are going to incentivize you with offers only for being a brand new member. Systems too can stream video similar to live physical activities or in-house video. You too can turn your game screen right into a kiosk.”

Konami’s SynKiosk product pulls the similar content that may be in a kiosk onto the sport screen. “Operators are still wrestling with the speculation of turning a slot machine into something rather then a slot machine, however it does give people the chance to not leave their seats and go and discover a kiosk,” said Ratner. “The casino can use this kiosk product to send you offers to boot. For example, you have got a promotion and it’s not what the machine is giving you, it’s coming from the casino management system. Rewards between the sport and the system are synched with the player’s club/player tracking. The facility to send new marketing messages to the EGM can also be done either throughout the system sending you new membership enrollment ideas or throughout the kiosk product sending it on to the sport screen.”

A ribbon at the bottom of the screen has icons which might be system-driven. “When we send you an advantage you'll keep playing while the bonus goes on,” said Ratner. “We’ve sent you, say $10 in free play, which might be the programmed business rule for the day for brand spanking new members. Should you stay at the machine, a green button lights up and tells you concerning the $10 in free play. For a brand new player, it'd be an issue of what do I do now? But you’ve got players to the left and right who're seasoned gamblers. Plus, it’s incumbent at the casino’s players club to coach their players on find out how to use the system. There’s little need putting in place a $5 million casino management system if you’re unlikely to show your players the right way to use it. It can be employees at the floor or on the time of enrollment.”

Offers can also be delivered on the screen in addition. A “You have offers available” message scrolls on the bottom of the screen, players touch an icon, enter a PIN and five offers come up—room nights, F&B credits, free play, tournaments, etc.  “Players wish to be aware of the in-game messages or they’ll fail to notice benefits like free play and tournaments,” said Ratner. “Once mature players know how the CMS works, they are going to get essentially the most benefit out of it. Your regular customer goes to get it. The tourist who visits 3 times a year…this is somewhat over their heads.” 

IGT

“Being capable of have a dynamic offer in real time according to an excessively deep set of qualification criteria is the evolution of where we’ve gone,” said Matt Hiu, senior manager, systems for International Game Technology PLC (IGT). “That’s challenging and it’s not cheap.”

Hiu said IGT has learned that the qualification engine must be more robust. “In the past, operators would say, ‘I wish to do a marketing extraction. Give me the entire females over a undeniable age from this zip code so I WILL BE ABLE TO give them a chit for the buffet.’ That was typical. Now it has become much more sophisticated—I want the entire females over a definite age from this zip code who've visited five times within the last number days or months with an ADT of X. So it’s getting much more detailed.”

Casinos also want the ideas in real time, “so once I run the list it’s outdated,” Hiu said. “If that female of a undeniable age and ADT from a undeniable zip code shows up and cards in, she’s not in my list and she or he didn’t get the offer. So we’re saying, ‘let’s get that very same robust intelligence but do it in real time.’ So when the player cards in, we ask the qualifications engine if the player meets specific criteria. In the event that they do, give them this offer. If they’re new, give them a welcome offer. If they’ve been around for an extended time, give them a distinct offer.

“When you're thinking that of all those permutations and all those factors, every operator has a distinct approach,” Hiu added. “Some operators are religious about ADT. Other operators are about average trip worth or they could have a special approach. Looking to accommodate all of the different mindsets of selling in real time is hard. But that’s where we have now spent numerous our time and effort, expanding the qualification engine and having the ability to deliver things in real time.”

IGT’s Point Pursuit now rewards loyalty with higher levels of personalization. In case your points profile is 47 per day, a player might get a goal of 47 points plus 10 percent, or 51 points. If you hit your mark, a game will show up, and this game might be customized. You choose a prize (that's pre-determined) and the system tells you automatically what you’ve won.

“By using tailored themes and a call of prize icons, there are elements of personalization and participation,” said Hiu. “The same player profile within the system will yield different game themes in accordance with player preferences [i.e. Paris or NASCAR]. The choices are unlimited because it’s all web-based. That is in Valley View and Cosmopolitan currently. Operators just like the ability to personalize and provides an overly special, niche-type experience. If you’re a top-tier player, you are expecting certain things and also you don’t need to be treated like everybody else. Top-tier players know what everybody else is getting. Once they see a unique game only for them because it’s their birthday, they love the truth that the casino took time to create a unique experience for them; that implies something to them.”

Services can also be personalized as well.  AN ORDINARY tourist player will see a basic drink menu. If you’re a high-end player, IGT can customize content for high-premium alcohol. “So we will be able to tier drinks the similar way we do bonuses,” said Hiu. “Google does click tracking so, let’s say you visit a web site and also you need to buy a camera and also you click throughout but you don’t order the camera. The following time you visit Google, the camera is at the display. We've got the similar click tracking, so for those who go all over but don’t order the Bud Lite, we’ll say to you, ‘here’s a unique on Bud Lite.’ Should you always order a Bud Lite, the following time you card-in, that’s what's going to pop up. That sort of stuff, that we take without any consideration at the web, is getting into the sport experience.” 

Read More... [Source: Gaming Industry News]