The copy and findings below come directly from Alex Pratt, Head of iGaming Business. We (Ihre Consulting) thought the London Affiliate Conferences was one of the best and busiest events we have ever attended. We met some amazing people and caught up with a lot of our friends and peers.
If you have any feedback on any comments below, Alex welcomes you to contact him directly on Alex@iGamingBusiness.com.
So first, what were the scores on the door? Overall event attendance was excellent and although we didn’t smash the 4,000 barrier we did get 3,481 people through the door of which 63% were affiliates which was a record on both counts. Interestingly this year was the breadth of affiliates, which included attendees from areas such as football clubs, radio stations, broadcasters and major consumer publishing companies. Personally speaking, it makes me really happy to see performance marketing becoming such a major force within acquisition and how the whole industry is embracing it now.
In terms of what the affiliates are promoting…. Not much has changed here year on year, although oddly we have seen mobile reduce and poker increase albeit fractionally but still an interesting trend which goes against what is currently happening in the wider market. Another interesting point was that affiliates seem to be diversifying more with increases across finance, non gaming and skill gaming which makes perfect sense as we mature as a sector and look to apply our models and learning into other high value areas.
So, What can we do better?
iGB Affiliate Awards
The awards were without doubt one of the best ones we have hosted since there were conceived in 2008, and at last we managed to find a funny comedian!! This is a far harder task than you can imagine. Even with the success I do think they can be improved in a big way. At the moment only around 15% of our delegates attend the awards with price being one of the obstacles. Unfortunately we can’t do anything about the price as the event literally is breakeven.
However, this throws out an opportunity, because if we don’t make money on it, we don’t have to continue in the same way. Personally I would like to look at alternative ways of delivering the awards so they can be more inclusive with the vast majority of attendees in attendance and to make it a really unique event that is like no other. I would also like to review the categories themselves as well as the judging process. In connection with this I would invite you fill out this tiny survey with any ideas you have so we can genuinely revolutionise the awards for 2015.
Venue
As you know this year we moved from Old Billingsgate to Earls Court which on the whole was received really well, although there were definitely some issues with it. Firstly many people commented that it was smaller than Old Billingsgate and felt claustrophobic at times with all the people at the show.
The venue was actually 45% bigger than Old Billingsgate in terms of square metres so when we booked Earls Court I was really concerned it would feel empty and lack atmosphere. How wrong was I! The good news is that in 2015 we will be moving to Olympia which we will be staying at for the foreseeable future and importantly it adds another 50% more space so hopefully can cope with the ever increasing attendee numbers.
In connection with the space and crowds we also didn’t provide enough seating and tables for meetings. This was a mistake by us and although its impossible to provide this for all attendees we could have done a lot better by cutting a few stands out and adding in some tables and seats. We will address this at events moving forward and with London next year will focus on providing a dedicated area for meetings.
Another common piece of feedback with regards to the venue was the catering in terms of the quality. I 100% agree with this and was also not impressed especially as I also see the vast amount of money we pay for it, so expect high quality. With big venues like Earls Court most “suppliers” are fundamentally run on an exclusive basis so we weren’t able to bring in our own caterers and have to go with their internal supplier. BUT this shouldn’t mean a drop in quality so we have fed back to both the venue and catering supplier and hopefully next year we will see a big improvement!
Networking
Networking events are always one of the most commented on areas because everyone wants something different. Some want a crazy party whilst others would rather a quieter event without the super loud music. Getting this right is a complete balancing act and particularly tough in cities like London where finding a venue that will take the amount of people we have plus not cost the price of a Scottish castle.
One thing we will change going forward is that before 11.30pm we will make sure the music is low so networking is paramount and where possible organise an area where the music is low all night I would also like to look at introducing some new forms of networking at the event whether this is a big dinner in the evening, speed networking or smaller focused meet ups on the show floor.
However, in order to do this we need to understand who would actually support this so please again click this link to my tiny, tiny survey and let me know plus feel free to suggest any ideas of your own.
Hotel
On the whole most of you liked the hotel but there were a number comments around the number of staff at the bar during pre registration, the quality of the hotel in relation to the price and the distance of hotel to the main venue. With regards to the number staff at the hotel bar during pre registration this was actually because the normal pre registration drinks was actually being held with the Financial Partners Expo.
Obviously many people still stayed in the hotel bar and as such we will now brief the hotels in the future to have a number of people working during the pre registration time. With the other points – These are valid and we have taken action and will be looking at a new hotel for next year, which will be hopefully within walking distance to LAC and a far better hotel that suits all of our needs.