About betting in the critical period and new normalcy with Radu Ciuperca, Brand Manager Fortuna Entertainment Group (Fortuna & Casa Pariurilor)
What percent of the media mix to be represented by brand and what percent to be attributed to promotions…
How was it for you the lockdown in both online and retail? But the re-opening?
Without hiding behind the words, the lockdown-ul was a shock for everybody, because we never encounter before such a similar situation. Though, thanks to the wish to adapt, fueled by the adrenaline to work with the unknown, we did good projects.
Broadly, the plan was to streamline the costs, to maximize the online revenue and attract as many as possible punters abituated to bet in shops.
Strategically, we chose to comunicate new clients that retail games are available online and to existing ones the variety of non-sport options. Tactically, we created promotions dedicated to the most popular Slots, Virtuals or Loteries and we treated eSports matches similar to the real ones.
Special circumstances generated special decisions, that in a normal reality we wouldn’t have take it, as the cross between brands, alike the Ladbrokes and Coral or Paddy Power and Betfair Xsell.
Retail colleaguess, with one eye at the government ordinances and one eye at the anti-covid measures, prepared the re-opening since the first day of closure. The restart of the retail business brought a lot of happines to 3.500 families having one member employed in Fortuna or Casa Pariurilor shops.
Do you have new launches for the customers?
First of all we are focused on creating a safe environment for both employees and clients.
The news is that, soon, we will offer customers the option to pay in all shops with the credit card.
Does it exist a new approach in the new reality?
If into the past the sports betting was our acquisition engine, now we offer the same attention to Online Casino and Virtual Games.
The volume of bets placed on eSports is growing fast year after year, but we are far from the numbers registered in West Europe. For example, Mercedes-Benz droped the contract signed with Joachim Löw team to become the sponsor of the German National eSports team.
About betting in the critical period and new normalcy with Radu Ciuperca, Brand Manager Fortuna Entertainment Group (Fortuna & Casa Pariurilor)
What challanges is facing a brand manager in our days?
During the state of emergency we dealed with many challanges: what percent of the media mix to be represented by brand and what percent to be attributed to promotions, what tone fo voice to be used in communication, how to attract on 2 platforms, perceived as sports betting sites, players from offline casinos, how to create demand for eSports betting?
In the new reality, we keep the brands positioning and stick to our mission, to be the main partner of the Romanian football, as the sponsor of the National Teams and the competitions Liga 1, Liga 2 and Romanian Cup, but we will extend the brands identity as an omni-channel și multi-product services provider.
Do you expect M&As during the next period?
I don’t expect mergers and acquisitions on the Romanian market, because the betting category is already very crowded. In all the countries around us we can see 3, 4 betting companies. In Romania we have more than 10 players.
About betting in the critical period and new normalcy with Radu Ciuperca, Brand Manager Fortuna Entertainment Group (Fortuna & Casa Pariurilor)
