With the march madness just about to go down, DraftKings has already cooked up a plan to promote its business with a similar product. Judging from the events of previous years, the NCAA tournament is going to serve sportsbooks well in their balance sheets.
Coincidentally, the annual event falls on a month that is generally action-packed as far as sports betting in New Jersey is concerned. This has been the trend every year apart from 2020 when the entire sports fraternity came to a standstill to honor Covid-19 containment measures.
Since most people have been indoors for the better part of 2020, it can be expected that there will be above average activity in 2021 to compensate for lost time. Another factor that could significantly push up the numbers is the fact that the US market is generally growing in terms of sports betting regulation; there are much more states where sports betting is offered compared to the case two years ago.
How is DraftKings leveraging verticals though? When it comes to marketing of casino bonuses and rewards, cross-selling goes a long way as far as driving up the revenues is concerned. For DraftKings and other similar products in the market, the main attraction of players is in the sports markets they cover. It therefore makes sense for the sportsbook to advertise across to users looking for services which they support in their line of work.
What we cover
The entry of the march mania of the roulette at DraftKings
The roulette table at DraftKings is similar to what the provider offers to other special table in its casinos. The mechanism on which it operates is identical to that of the standard game of roulette. The major difference is that the graphics and sounds used are all features of the march madness.
Such themes definitely stand out and for serious basketball fans. They provide the much needed distraction in between games or commercial breaks. Fans know for a fact that they are different and this is exactly why they stand out.
Using in-house talent to draw new customers
It is no secret that DraftKings invests heavily in building capacity within. While notable competition uses outsourced talent, DraftKings is keen on growing muscle in its workforce for long term stability. While this may seem to be going against industry norms, the strategy employed by DraftKings epitomizes brand identity and differentiation.
A huge percentage of custom products designed and made by DraftKings’ in-house team, features sports-related themes. This has not been hard to accomplish because there are close to 24 games that the DraftKings marketing team can feature into any one individual casino game. For instance, the blackjack table has been customized into more than 24 versions using games such as soccer, baseball, basketball and hockey.
The game’s election when it comes to roulette is a bit narrow but basketball features prominently. Interestingly, the march mania which will be open for a limited time period is a slight variation of the game. This ability to customize and match events to others that makes sense only to the brand is what DraftKings hopes to achieve from in-house product development.
Even without any product development knowledge, it is obvious that the sportsbook provider did not spend a lot of resources to make the slight variations that characterized the march mania. If the brand spent less to generate a new feel in the market, then it can be expected that this trend will go on for a long time.
When it comes to competition wars, rival online betting platforms need not try too hard to copy what DraftKings has achieved. They can choose to sit back and wait to see what their supplier will present to them. The short duration of time for seasonal events means that the designs might borrow an aspect or two from each other even across sites.
When playing basketball roulette, all the action takes place on a court-like surface as opposed to the ordinary felt used in casinos. An announcer will be heard calling the spins and all this while using basketball language. The sounds and moves that follow thereafter mimic a real basketball court sucking players into the short lived action.
Among the many visual attractions that players have to the game is a basketball which they can either toss away or knock about in the play area. Another is a camera which zooms into the net area every time a player makes a move to drive up the numbers. Although the visuals and audio differ, the developers retained the concept of the game.
How branding differences can affect brand appeal
Just like with the march mania, the basketball roulette allows players to make up the play area to suit their preferences. The only downside is that DraftKings does not use the real team names nor their logos and this has a great impact on the games.
Originally, players could pick a city of their choice and then further choose a hometown to identify specific teams. These details appeared on the gaming court together with the official colors of the teams during play. Unfortunately, the same freedom applied in selecting city names is prohibited for choosing college names. This handicap has been passed on to march mania; whose original name is march Madness but copyright issues makes it off limits.
A player can toy with the jersey icon on the play screen to give their team different colored attire. While each of the available colors is a match to the real team on the ground, the other unique identifiers for the team will be missing.
Conclusion
There has been high level contention as far as college sports’ betting in the United States is concerned. This is the major reason for a lack of elaborate branding for NCAA merchandise for the March Madness craze. For those who have valid reason to miss out, there is an alternative in the March Mania.
