CASE STUDY:
Online Gaming

PokerStars.net - The world largest online poker room with more than 20 million players worldwide

Challenge:{challenge}

Strategy:

Lotus embarked on a multi-pronged approach, which included:

• Cultivating opportunities with ESPN.com for by-lined articles by sponsored PokerStars players leading up to the WSOP
• Working closely with Team PokerStars Pro and sponsored players throughout the tournament to ensure proper branding and key messaging for all interviews and appearances
• Creating a partnership between PokerStars and the Kentucky Hemophilia Foundation, a nonprofit organization, to bring a young man afflicted with hemophilia to the WSOP alongside his hero, Moneymaker, to play in the event and raise money for the organization.
• Making the ?¢�¬Å禅okerStars Six?¢�¬?� at the WSOP Final Table into media friendly spokespeople for PokerStars
• Positioning PokerStars as the premiere destination for poker champions in key trade and top-tier national media outlets

Results:

The four-month break between the Main Event and Final Table turned out to be a public relations dream.

• WSOP media coverage returned $2.1 million in advertising value to PokerStars, with national media coverage including outlets like:
Associated Press USA Today The New York Times Miami Herald
• Multiple cover and feature stories for PokerStars in key trade publications including a feature in Card Player Magazine (largest poker publication in the United States) that dubbed PokerStars ?¢�¬Å荘he True King of the WSOP Main Event.?¢�¬?�
• From morning shows to local and regional news outlets, dozens of reports brought the ?¢�¬Å禅okerStars Six?¢�¬?� and PokerStars brand into living rooms across the country.
• Due to proper branding throughout the World Series of Poker and Final Table, coverage on ESPN of highly visible branding for PokerStars.