A new-look Aruze Gaming America takes on the world
The marketing of slot products is undergoing a period of significant change. But it’s change that may not be immediately obvious to players or industry commentators unless they happen to be branding professionals.
In effect, it involves a subtle shift away from the Detroit-style branding traditionally associated with older industries such as the automotive sector (where the badging that says ‘Ford’ or ‘Chrysler’ is literally placed front and centre of the product).
Instead, in the gaming equipment supply market, the focus is increasingly on creating brands within the core brand. If that sounds a little abstract, here’s a practical example.
Say you are a casino operator and you know from market research that the majority of the players on your mass slot floor are seeking entertainment rather than hard gambling. If you’re considering a particular manufacturer as a supplier, you want to have a ‘destination’ within that supplier’s product range where you can go not only to seek product with the sort of basic characteristics that would suit your clientele, but also for variation within that basic structure.
Brand-in-brand
That’s where the brand within the brand comes in. Typically, it is identified by a single letter, number or short name and is then split further into sub sections (in the way that the German car manufacturer BMW has been doing for many years with its BMW 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Series, etc).
In the case of Aruze Gaming America (AGA), the magic branding letter is ‘G’. Aruze’s brand within brand sub sections include G-DELUXE™ for premium slot products, G-LINK™ for group gaming products and G-STATIONS™ for the multiplayer games offer.
The potential benefits of this approach are several. First, it helps to rationalise a company’s product catalogue and make it easily understandable to the outside world. Second, it allows an original equipment manufacturer and its existing or potential customers from the casino industry to target products at specific types of player. Third, sub branding allows suppliers to attract new customers and new players on a ‘clean slate’ basis. The target audience need have no preconceptions about how a ‘typical’ product from that company should look and perform. Fourth, it allows makers to form strategic relationships with content developers from outside the company—either on a licensing basis or via merger and acquisition—becoming a sort of publishing house and thereby sharing the benefit of fresh creative ideas and the burden of development costs.
Branding within branding also captures the spirit of the digital media age. More than ever, slot products are not just one ‘thing’. They are often multiple entertainment and sales platforms featuring games within games, a second screen for marketing products or ordering drinks, and a sophisticated top box with high quality animated graphics. These developments in slot content presentation and interactive capacity mirror the kind of developments that have been happening in Web browser platforms and websites on the Internet.
This multilayered approach to marketing has been adopted enthusiastically by Aruze Gaming America. The business was taken private earlier this year as part of a strategic reorganisation by the Japanese parent Aruze Corp, a publicly listed gaming company based in Tokyo, Japan. Although the newly privatised US-based unit retains the name Aruze Gaming America, its remit is global. AGA is responsible for the development and sales of Aruze slots and systems around the world.
Big push
In early November, AGA announced it is exhibiting the largest and most diverse portfolio of products in the company’s history at this year’s Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas Nevada from 17th to 19th November.
“The theme of our stand this year is ‘A New Day’. We’re really positioning the company as a new and upcoming significant competitor on the global scene,” says Kent Young, Executive Vice President and General Manager, Aruze Gaming America Inc.
To ensure success for the new look operation, every aspect of Aruze Gaming’s business operation has been examined to see where operational efficiencies can be made and excellence further engendered. That process included hiring a new team to assist in sales management and the establishment of a global manufacturing operation in the Philippines, with quality control and technical supervision from Japan.
“We are really communicating that message through the diverse range of products that we’re showing and the innovative technology that we’re exhibiting,” states Kent Young. That involves the idea of the brand within the brand, he suggests.
“We are using the concept of multiple brands within our product portfolio. We have what we call the True Blue brand, the traditional Aruze brand, and our ‘G’ category products.”
Content is key
To achieve this distinct branding, AGA sources its game content from development centres in Australia and Japan. It refers to this as its ‘content streams’.
These are two creative studios that develop new game content, comprising the themes, the maths, the art, the sounds and the animations of games. The Australian content comes from a company called True Blue, which was acquired by AGA earlier this year. The other content stream comes from Tokyo.
“The benefit of using these two content streams is it allows us to establish separate brands for the products. That means different looks and feels in terms of content,” explains Mr Young.
“You’ll see that the product that comes out of True Blue looks very different from the product that comes out of Tokyo.
“It’s all badged as Aruze, but True Blue product is more repeat play style of product, whereas out of Tokyo currently we’re doing more of an entertainment, bonusing style of product. We really see the benefit of having multiple content flows. We’ll have a portfolio that really provides content to all types of venues, whether it’s a gamblers’ venue or an entertainment venue,” asserts Kent Young.
“We’ve restructured the business where we’re investing significantly in research and development and you’ll really see that at the show this year. There are also going to be a lot of new faces at the show representing the company—particularly in management at sales level. We are a very different company in many aspects this year compared to where we were this time last year,” he adds.
Categories
“We’ve created several categories of products. We have a premium range of products, called the G-DELUXE™ that are highly interactive, with top box bonusing, then we have the G-LINK™ range of group gaming products, such as LINK CRAPS™.
“We’ve also got some new mystery bonus product such as Dragon’s Fortune™, and we’ve got another product within that category called Jackpot Battle Royal™, which we’re showing for the first time as a low denomination video product. We’ve got another category called G-SERIES™ that is a standalone range with products such as Showgirl™ and The Last Emperor™. We also have our multi terminal range of products that have been very successful in Asia. We’re continuing to develop new products in Asia. We have sic bo, baccarat, craps, roulette and blackjack, all of which will be at the show this year,” reveals Mr Young.
AGA’s multi-terminal products are marketed under G-STATIONS™ branding and include two modern variations on traditional dice games, Lucky Sick Bo™ and Shoot to Win Craps™. Also on display are simulated table game classics such as Dealer’s Angels Roulette™, Dealers Angels Baccarat™ and Dealer’s Angels Black Jack™.
Aruze will also be previewing its G-SYSTEMS™ at G2E. This is a new systems technology designed to revolutionise how currency and credits are moved between the player and the gaming floor.
LINK CRAPS is a group gaming product with a multi-level jackpot that utilises craps in the second screen. One player rolls the dice and that determines the outcome for all players.
“We’re very excited about that product. We think it has good base game appeal and it also utilises an obviously very popular table game,” says Mr Young.
“It will be going into the Philippines once it’s approved. We will definitely also put it in the Macau market and see how it goes.”
Rock ‘n’ roll
In pride of place at G2E will be Aruze’s new licensed entertainment product based on the legendary rock band Queen. Rock You Queen™ is a video slot featuring music and video clips that AGA describes as “the most intricate and ambitious graphics and animations package AGA has released to date”.
“We have been rolling it out since early November in Las Vegas,” says Kent Young.
“It will be in Asia, including Macau, by the end of this year. It’s a highly interactive low denomination video slot that uses actual music and sound clips from the real band. It has a highly animated top box and it’s got multiple bonusing within the product. We’ve had a lot of interest from the customers we’ve showed it to. That will really be a flagship product.
The Aruze difference
“I think Aruze’s core competencies that create our competitive advantage are as follows: we have excellent resources in terms of content and content development; we have key individuals very well versed in the gaming industry and what works; and we have the technology,” asserts Mr Young.
“I know every manufacturer says that, but I’ve been in the business over 20 years and I’ve worked for multiple manufacturers. Without question, Aruze’s technology, the Japanese engineering, allows the company to be set apart from its competitors.
“The technology is extremely effective and extremely resilient. The down time is minimal. It allows the display of content and player content in a very appropriate manner. The ability to convert cabinets from different games from stepper to video, is seamless. As far as service and support is concerned, the product very rarely breaks down. It’s amazing how resilient the product is.
“We’re very much focused on performance. We believe in cash box as the true measure of our product.”
