Following the recent release of its biggest game of the year, Ancient Tumble, Relax Gaming marketing director Marija Hammon gives the lowdown on launching an innovative product in a crowded marketplace

The array of slots available is at an all time high, how do you market yours to ensure they stand out from the rest?

It’s absolutely true that players are inundated with content (both good and bad) and there’s no way to avoid the fact that there’s so much available from a diverse array of suppliers.

Whilst it does certainly pose a challenge for pretty much every company in our sphere, our slogan here at Relax is all about driving differentiation, and demonstrating this is what has allowed our titles to stand out. The quality of our games and graphics is at an industry-leading level, which gives us great foundations to build upon.

From a marketing perspective, our top priority is to fully understand the product inside out. I firmly believe that it’s not possible to adequately sell or position something unless you fully understand every aspect of it beforehand. It’s also important to define the audience you’re marketing to, ensuring that you get the messaging perfect. I have seen countless visuals and communications efforts which look great, but without a clear, concise message that can be both easily identified and instantly absorbed by audiences, efforts fall flat.

Ultimately, we never take anything for granted and always strive for the best results attainable, applying professionalism, creativity, and energy to everything we do. Analytics and ROI assessment play an important part, and we never overlook the fundamentals – something a surprising number of people do.

What sort of marketing assets must a studio produce to ensure that a game gets the right level of attention?

At Relax we are given raw game assets, including concept art, game characters, intro videos and the official game logo. It’s then over to our talented marketing team to get creative and turn these into usable assets for operators and other stakeholders that might want to use them.

Of course, we make great use of these assets internally as well as externally. Artwork gets used on all of our social media channels, in product advertising, on our own stands during major industry events, for sponsorship assets and affiliate/streamer content.

We know the value of good assets. Our studios go to great lengths to create beautiful eye-catching graphics, so it’s imperative we make the most of them in order to maximise a product launch.

Which channels are most important for slot suppliers to utilise when publicising a new game such as Ancient Tumble?

This depends entirely on the audience we are trying to reach at the time. If I were to choose just three, I’d say social media, press releases and editorials are most important for operators and affiliates/streamers in order to reach the players themselves.

That being said, we will always utilise and optimise every available marketing channel to ensure that our campaigns have the strongest impact possible. This rationale was applied to the recent launch of Ancient Tumble where we carefully crafted a strong 3-phase marketing campaign which leveraged everything we had at our disposal.

This activity has resulted in a robust integrated campaign including a phenomenal communications plan with numerous spokespeople; a big affiliate/streamer push; fantastic social media strategies, two memorable launch events in Gibraltar and one in Malta, and much more!

Our primary objective irrespective of the channel is always to try and evoke the passion and excitement we have for our products in others.

Is there a risk of becoming complacent when it comes to marketing when there are so many new products to promote per month?

Would never let that happen at Relax! Every single game release, product launch or company announcement is treated with the full respect and attention it deserves.

We typically have two Relax-own game releases per month on average, which allows us to give each game a strong, even push. Key game launches are also identified ahead of time, including our nominated game of the year of course, this gives the marketing department the opportunity to place greater focus on these specific campaigns.

What makes Ancient Tumble Relax Gaming’s biggest release of 2024?

The official campaign slogan for the release is “The best of Tumble all rolled into one!”, given the success and variety within our existing portfolio of Tumble games, that statement speaks well and truly for itself.

Ancient Tumble is a beautifully crafted production, which also represents Relax’s most decision-based release to-date! As the sequel to a true classic, the release takes players on a new adventure deep into the Cambodian jungle with beloved explorer and protagonist Pencho Printz, offering them the thrill of choice along with the comfort of familiarity.

The compelling narrative and character development play a big part in both the appeal and success of the series, along with this specific launch, as does the feature-rich nature! We’re all incredibly proud of Ancient Tumble and look forward to celebrating its continued success.

Working on the marketing campaign for the launch has been a true joy and both the feedback and results to date have been absolutely outstanding!