The growth of online gaming has also led to a marked shift in player demographics. The most marked of these is ladies over 35 who play online bingo, but the shift that offers the greatest potential has gone largely under the radar, until now. With global spending power of US$1.3 trillion annually, so-called Millennials (Players under 35 in 2015) represent a huge opportunity.
This group represents the greatest potential of any demographic for both established forms of iGaming and emerging formats, such as paid online gaming, but it also presents a major challenge for DM professionals. Email marketing will struggle to engage due to the sheer volume of emails the under-35s are likely to receive, while Direct Mail may also seem an unlikely channel. But there you'd be wrong.
I started thinking about Millennials while I was reading this article. It focuses on the land-based sector mainly, but the key points are equally relevant to DM. One thing that immediately springs out is that younger players like to be 'active participants', which means they prefer to play an active part in any activity they engage with. This has a direct relevance to DM, which requires both engagement and interaction in order to succeed.
Young people have heightened expectations of what technology can offer them, both in terms of marketing and the gaming experience itself, and a DM campaign, if it's done right, can capitalise on this. Understanding the aspirations and tastes of this new generation will help you to develop campaigns that will appeal to them, and it can be done without abandoning your core markets and older players.
According to a recent study, engaging with Millennials requires different tactics. With 72% getting most of their information intake from a handheld device, they tend to take notice of media channels that are different from their daily norm, and Direct Mail can certainly fit these criteria. The successful campaign needs to 'advise, entertain or inform' in order to hit home.
Let us help you reach out to the next generation with a DM campaign that can hit the right note for this complex, technology-oriented market.