Posts By: David Gutierrez

How Caesars, GEICO and the Oakland A’s Used Data to Disrupt Their Market

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Innovation mobile analytics - KontagentDavid Gutierrez will be a speaker at Kontagent Konnect 2013 in San Francisco on May 20-21. Register now–space is limited.

There’s a lot of talk about the need for companies to be more data-driven in their decision making process. It’s a mantra that’s often repeated throughout the mobile industry. But what does being “data-driven” actually mean?

Most of you already know the basic concept of data-driven decision making. In essence, it entails tracking and analyzing your data in order to guide your business decisions. While this is an accurate description, it doesn’t tell you much about what data can really do for your business. Incorporating data-driven decision making throughout your organization can raise your revenue, customer loyalty and any other business goal dramatically, especially for those of you in the mobile space.

You don’t have to look very far to find examples of data-driven decision making success stories. Caesars Entertainment, GEICO and the Oakland Athletics are just a few examples of organizations that have used data-driven decision making to change the course of their businesses for the better. So what did they do exactly and how can you replicate their success? Continue Reading…

The Challenges in Turning Freemium Casino Players into Online Gamblers

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Social and Mobile Casino Games Laptop - KontagentDavid Gutierrez will be a speaker at Kontagent Konnect 2013 in San Francisco on May 20-21. Register now–space is limited.

There’s no doubt that there will be a lot of profit to be made in online real-money casino gambling. It’s a $30 billion industry set to grow to $40 billion by 2015. While this is definitely nothing to sneeze at, the problem for most online casinos is that the cost of acquiring new players is very high, at about $200 per customer.

On the other hand, social and mobile freemium casino players are much less expensive to acquire, taking only about $1 or $2 to hook new players. Of course, the caveat is that since real money isn’t wagered in freemium casino games, these players also generate less revenue for the industry ($1.6 billion in 2012). In general, their lifetime value ranges from $10 to $78 per customer compared to about $1,600 for the average online casino gambler.

From a business perspective, the obvious solution then would be to try and convert freemium players into real-money gamblers. This would allow online casinos to reduce acquisition expenses, while boosting revenue. And that’s exactly what some pioneers have been trying to do.

The problem is that it hasn’t been working very well, and it probably won’t—with good reason. Continue Reading…

Casino Games are the New Battlefield. Choose Your Weapon

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Ready the troops
Even though online casino games have been around for a while, the social and mobile versions of these games have just started gaining traction recently; now, these social and mobile developers are fighting even harder to dominate these spaces and to cash in on the high-value players in the casino gaming genre.

Why? Because to further complicate things, there’s also a new competitor on the battlefield: traditional, land-based casinos.

Guys like Caesars Entertainment and MGM Resorts International have years of experience on slot machines, poker, blackjack, bingo and other games. And, they’re forming alliances with or acquiring game studios to get into the social and mobile spaces.

There’s a lot at stake–from creating new acquisition channels (via social and mobile games) to monetizing players to extending the experience of real-life casinos to the online world. There are only so many whales, and it’s a fight to get their mind and wallet share. Continue Reading…