Plumbee appoints Facebook veteran as marketing director
Samer Ragheb joins Mirrorball Slots operator after three years with the social network.
Plumbee has hired its first-ever marketing director, appointing Facebook veteran Samer Ragheb to the role, Social Casino Intelligence can exclusively reveal.
In his new role at Plumbee, Ragheb will take charge of the marketing team with responsibility for strategy, planning, customer acquisition, CRM, community management and PR.
He joins the Mirrorball Slots operator having spent the past three years at Facebook, where he began as an account manager for brand and direct response, covering the French market, before progressing to the gaming platform partnerships team to work with operators across the European, Middle Eastern and African regions.
Before joining the social network he worked as a strategic planner for Digitas France, and consulted for marketing communications specialist Euro RSCG, which has since been renamed Havas Worldwide.
Commenting on his appointment Ragheb said that he was excited to be working with one of the rising stars of social casino: “I’m very happy to start a new chapter in my career here at Plumbee. At Facebook, I worked with the Plumbee marketing team since the day they launched Mirrorball Slots and witnessed the phenomenal audience and revenue growth from the front row.
“I had a great time at Facebook, worked with amazing people there, so it is a bit bittersweet. But I really look forward to using my knowledge, work with the teams here and help push Plumbee to the next level,” he added.
Plumbee chief executive Raf Keustermans added that he was “delighted” to have Ragheb joining the team.
“We were looking for a long time for the right person to lead our marketing team; it was very hard to find the right combination of expertise, vision and personality – Samer is really the perfect match,” Keustermans explained. “I don’t know anyone who knows more about the Facebook platform from a marketing perspective than him, he is a top notch expert in both web and mobile marketing, understands free-to-play gaming, has both analytical marketing and brand experience and he is also one of the nicest guys in the industry.”
The hire comes just under a week after Bonza Gaming, the company formed through a joint venture between Plumbee and egaming operator Sportingbet, became the third operator to launch real-money gaming on Facebook after 888 and Gamesys, with the release of Bonza Slots.