Q&A: David Nordberg, CMO, Mr Green

In any saturated market, a strong brand can often be the single biggest determining factor to success. The crowded online gaming sector is clearly no exception, something the Swedish online casino operator Mr Green has successfully exploited over the years through the creation of a clear brand identity, instantly recognised by punters and non-punters alike.

To ensure its brand prowess goes up a gear in a period of signi?¬?cant change for the company, the Stockholm-listed operator recently acquired the services of a new chief marketing o?¬?cer (CMO). With strong growth reported and a new online sportsbook just launched, marketing guru David Nordberg has assumed overall responsibility for Mr Green’s advertising and branding strategy at a critical time. However, it’s a task he seems keen to meet head-on.

EGR spoke to Nordberg about where he plans to take the Mr Green brand next and why the operator is ramping up investment in its digital marketing capabilities.

eGaming Review (EGR): What was it about the Mr Green brand that persuaded you to join the company?

David Nordberg (DN): I have no doubt that the strong brand presence is ultimately what catapulted Mr Green’s online casino to stardom. The company has extremely well-de?¬?ned core values, a clear brand mission and most importantly, the brand tells a story. Portrayed as an old fashioned gentleman who respects honesty, entertainment, fun and most importantly, fair play; I’m hardly surprised Mr Green is a fast growing online casino. What’s not to like? A mysterious gentleman in dapper attire, a warm heart and an appetite for the unexpected.

EGR: How would you sum up Mr Green’s marketing strategy and how does it di?¬?er to some of your competitors?

DN: The main drivers behind pro?¬?table growth is having a strong brand, data driven marketing, a local focus and continuously increasing player lifetime value through superior retention.

Mr Green’s brand is diverse and signi?¬?cantly stands out from all the other ?¬?sh in the pond. In addition, we are adapting the Mr Green brand through minor local tweaks to make it ?¬?t seamlessly. We also tend to go after markets where we believe the Mr Green brand could have a really strong presence, ultimately catapulting our company to the forefront of the industry.

EGR: Mr Green is looking to diversify into new verticals, how does that change things from a marketing perspective?

DN: Before even considering a sportsbook, we asked our players how they would feel if we added sports betting to our portfolio. They were very positive and expressed a clear desire to have it as soon as possible. So in that sense, it was a very easy decision.

From a marketing point of view, everything is pretty straightforward even though it presents a new vertical for all of us at Mr Green. We will of course continue to focus on responsible gaming, entertainment and the unexpected.

EGR: In its recent ?¬?nancial results, Mr Green announced decreased marketing spend and lower CPA. Do you expect this to continue?

DN: Well, I’ll let you in on a little secret; we have a fairly advanced model we use for our user acquisition. It’s an agile model based on historic data that helps us allocate the appropriate marketing spend in each market. It takes multiple parameters into consideration and identi?¬?es the breaking point of recoup and ROI of our marketing investments.

So CPA, at that point, doesn’t really matter, but what’s much more important is how fast we can recover our investment and increase pro?¬?table user acquisition going forward.

EGR: What can we expect from Mr Green’s marketing strategy this year?

DN: This year will be a super exciting time for Mr Green as we’ve recent just launched our sportsbook. In addition, I am absolutely thrilled to take the Mr Green brand to new heights. Even though the brand is already very strong as it is, I am con?¬?dent we can push the brand’s boundaries even further.

I’m also really excited about signi?¬?cantly increasing our marketing e?¬?ciency both externally and internally, which reminds me of a very interesting upcoming project.

This year, Mr Green will launch something ground-breaking and unique in terms of employee branding. A project that, we believe, will take both recruiting and employee satisfaction to a whole new level. Unfortunately I can’t spill all the beans just yet, but stay tuned.

This is an extract from the last issue of EGR Digital Marketing. You can read the full interview with David Nordberg here