GPWA Times Magazine - Issue 10 - Sept 2009

76 GPWA Times :: TANYA LITTLEFIELD | EverestAffiliates How long have you been in the online gambling industry? Why didyoudecide toenter thefield? I started working with Everest Affiliates in October of last year, so I’m still relatively fresh in the industry. I was looking for a job which would allow me more creative freedom, regular interaction with all different types of people and a great work environment.Working at Everest and in online gaming was a natural fit. Over the past year, I have had the opportunity to work with hundreds of affiliates from different back- grounds, time zones and languages. The nature of the industry requires you to jump all-in from the first day, so theexperience I’ve gainedmakesme feel like I’vebeenwith Everestmuch longer. What separatesEverest Affiliatesfromotheraf- filiateprograms? Ever- estAffiliates isunique for a number of rea- sons, but what stands out themost isour lo- calized approach. As a European-focused operator,ouraffiliates come from dozens of language markets, andwe have cateredour program tobest serve their needs. In addi- tion to software translated into 15 languages, our affiliate portal of- fers content and support in each languageaswell. Most importantly, each affiliate is assignedanaffiliatemanagerwho knowstheirmarketinsideandout. Our affiliatemanagers come from around the world and are native to their market. Eachmanager is able to tailor his or her expertise by market and offer advice, customized content and localized promotions to the affiliates.With numerous account managers across all markets, our managers are veryaccessible toall affiliates, making Everest Affiliates really standout fromotherbrands. Additionally, the Everest brand is incrediblystronginEurope,andto thatendouraffiliatesaresupport- edbybrand recognitionaswell as localized promotions. Additional mass-media campaigns across Europe, combined with continu- ous PR initiatives executed by local on-site market representa- tives, further leverage our brand and ensure high conversion rates and player value. Events such as EPEC (Everest Poker European Cup), the Spanish Poker Tour, Hungarian Freeroll Champion- ship and All Polish Poker Open offerouraffiliatesstrong localized live events to further excite and grow theirplayerbase. With a global focus,what kindof hours do you keep? How do you make sure you’re accessible to affiliates during their working hours? I still keeppretty standard hours despite the time difference. The time difference of 5 or 6 hours to Europe doesn’t seem too great. There are still plenty of working hours that overlap in each business day. Most affiliates don’t keep your standard 9-to-5 working days, so generally our hours overlap more often than onewould think. Twitter has helpedme stay acces- sible over the weekends and late night. For example, I may get a Direct Message from an affiliate on a Sunday evening U.K. time needing help with troubleshoot- ing. Themessage goes straight to myphonesoI’mable tohelp them work out their issue right away, even in themiddleof thenight. This year you ran a promotion where if certain players who qualifiedonEverestPoker for the WorldSeries of PokerMainEvent cashed intheevent,EverestPoker wouldmatch all the prizemoney up to$1million tobedistributed amongallqualifiers.Well,Antoine Saout did it! The Frenchman reached the final table to earn the bonus for his fellow Everest players. How did Saout qualify? And how much will each player receive thanks toSaout? It’s been incredible! You can imagine how much support he hadwith all the other players, which was part of the aim – to create a real spirit between our qualifiers. For the last three days of theMainEvent I think I was refreshing the chip counts and live blogs every five minutes. Antoine qualified through our WSOP Sit & Go Steps at Everest Poker. Fifty-one Everest Poker Main Event players were able to cash in on Antoine’s success, splitting the$1millionprizepool, so they will each walk away with an additional $19,607 in their pockets. The $1 million match promotion was one of several Everest Poker promotionsat theWSOP thisyear. EverestPokerqualifierswereprivy to an assortment of VIP services suchasaccess to theEverestPoker lounge at the Rio, our Penthouse at Caesar’s Palace and our Fouth of JulypartyatPure.Wealsogave players extra money to bring a friend along for support inVegas. Our aim is for Everest Poker qualifiers to leave Vegas not only with extramoney in their pockets, but amazing memories of their once-in-a-lifetimeexperience. Localization is a critical compo- nent of Everest Affiliates.Howdo youworkwithaffiliates toensure they have localized content and information? Like I mentioned before, localization is focused on primarily through our diverse affiliate team. We have affiliate managers who are not only na- “Getting involved in the forums, showinga little personality throughTwitter and taking the time toknowmore about theaffiliates rather than just the detailsof theirsite areallextremely important.” AffiliateManager Interview Series