Changing your marketing model in a GDPR world

Friday 25 May: a date marketeers have had circled in their calendars for a long time.

It’s the day that many traditional marketing jobs will be turned upside down with the enforcement of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

As the years and months have become weeks and hours, getting ready for GDPR has been a major challenge.

For many, it’s been a countdown of considerable consternation, confusion and chaos, but it’s not all doom and gloom: stepping into this new era presents companies and brands with opportunities.

The advent of GDPR gives the chance to question marketing department set-ups and consider models like the brand and market independent one that we have undertaken at group level Global Gaming for the last two years operating the no registration Ninja Casino.

The new laws are born out of changes in customer expectations about how personal information is collected and held, with the recent Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal shining the brightest of lights on the unchecked scale at which private data has been gathered and, in some cases, abused.

Global Gaming CMO Morten Madsen

Marketing permissions used to be taken for granted; now they are not and, more importantly, users are becoming ever more aware and concerned about their privacy and how their personal data is utilised by companies in the wake of such offences.

As organisations, we must adapt to this as legacy structures are not adept at handling and optimising these challenges on a company-wide level – in the UK, for example, estimates suggest that up to 75% of marketing data could become obsolete in a little under two weeks’ time.

While earning permission becomes more important, it also becomes harder. It is patently obvious that we must be less reliant on obtaining direct marketing permissions to drive user retention and loyalty.

Instead, organisations must commit to alternative means of communication to users and, particularly, to providing a unique and entertaining user experience that speaks for itself and acts as a key retention driver in its own right.

That a no-registration casino like Ninja Casino has been established and proven successful ahead of the tightened data rules demonstrates that there is an appetite from players for this kind of approach, and highlights how operators can thrive without relying on direct and unsolicited marketing.

Rightly, customers want to have more control over their data – and they are about to get it. We have seen – and proven – that demonstrating this is being taken seriously, and putting it at the heart of your marketing strategy, will be profitable in the long term.

We introduced this strategy at a time when it defied convention – people asked how we could make a casino work when we were unable to communicate with players in the normal ways. To make it a success required a new way of thinking.

We ripped up the rulebook – as everyone will now have to do – and switched the focus to users’ needs and how we could increase their experience, instead of simply considering the optimum way to harvest their personal data in direct marketing. We have realised that to create truly scalable and efficient marketing and growth units across multiple brands and markets, we have banished old brand and market focused structures, and instead created hubs of expertise within the organisation.

Following this approach enables the scalability that is needed to operate efficiently, independent of us operating with multiple brands in multiple markets.

With this approach, we are also able to create the perfect environment for people that want to make their mark on the future of the gambling industry – whether they are newcomers or experienced within the sector.

For companies not self-motivated to clean up their databases and customer communication strategies, the mammoth fines available to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) – up to €20m or 4% of global turnover – should soon expedite the process.

And while it may be a European initiative, firms based outside of the continent will be subject to it if they operate or obtain personal information there.

As an industry, we are used to the introduction of new regulations and legislations, so let’s take the opportunity to not only establish a more responsible sector but to create better gaming experiences.