Play to win on PokerIsland 04/09/2008

Stephen Carter

Although the first card in the battle for the dream prize of spending a year as a globetrotting Bwin-sponsored poker pro was dealt on PokerIsland back in mid-July, the marketing offensive for the global TV and online venture didn’t really achieve lift-off until the weekend of August 15-16. This was when the world’s press descended on the luxury villa to observe photogenic American pop stars Pussycat Dolls play a private concert and some hands of poker, with Lewis Hamilton, current beau of the Dolls’ lead singer Nicole Scherzinger, watching on. 

The product of a joint venture between media and management companies IMG and Rooftop Media, the PokerIsland event is scheduled to run until the end of October, with the TV show airing in more than 20 countries from mid-September. Bwin will act as the main online partner for the duration of the event, sending one qualifier per week from Bwin’s poker site and its partner sites to PokerIsland to do battle with the other residents for a shot at the highly-prized year’s membership of Team Bwin. 

Bwin’s Hendrik Knopp heads up the project. He told eGaming Review that the response to the promotion in terms of sign-ups, during what is traditionally a quiet period for the online gaming industry, has been strong so far. This is despite the promotional push only really beginning in earnest with the recent visit of the Pussycat Dolls to the PokerIsland villa. He added: “Our daily tournaments on bwin. com have always been full since the start of the PokerIsland event on July 16. We even had to schedule two additional daily qualifiers to meet the demand." 

Bwin has become renowned throughout the industry and beyond for its brand-focused approach to marketing, as witnessed by the company’s high-profile sponsorships of Real Madrid and AC Milan, and Knopp explained how the PokerIsland event slotted into Bwin’s strategy for the year. 

“PokerIsland fits in perfectly in our entertainment schedule, as does our exclusive sponsorship of the WSOP live in Las Vegas, for example, where we had a lot of video coverage. Just after the WSOP was over, PokerIsland started, and we had the perfect ‘audience flow’ from the biggest poker event in the world to the most exciting tournament of the summer," he said. 

Knopp revealed that Bwin will also be taking full advantage of the opportunities for convergence on offer from the multi-media PokerIsland project. “The shooting star from the US, Lady GAGA, will be filming the video for her new single ‘Pokerface’ on PokerIsland. Some video sequences will be integrated in an interactive poker game that will be published by Bwin in October," he said.

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Posted: 04/09/2008