GPWA Times Magazine - Issue 3 - January 2008

GPWA TIMES | Scaling new heights their home country,” Land says. Secondly, prospective employees must have the necessary translating skills, be excellent online marketers and, of course, know the poker and gaming industry. Once Everest finds these people, it puts them through an extensive training period that lasts for almost a year. “We’re convinced it takes that long to break in a really good af- filiate manager,” Land says. “We have to make sure they know our products. They need to know our games and all of the things that we offer. Then they have to go through some culture training, be- cause, let’s face it, it’s not easy to put a group of people together in one office like we do if they’re all from a different part of the world. The cultures tend to clash. One of the most difficult things for us to do is to get everyone marching to the beat of the same drum.” Everest uses a “Culture Varia- tions” pyramid as part of its man- agement philosophy to help avoid culture clashes. The pyramid clus- ters the world’s cultures together based on their beliefs, ethics and personalities. The pyramid, which is provided by Culture Coach, a company that aids Everest with the training, uses three categories: multi-active, linear-active and re- active. “We constantly have this pyra- mid model in our minds when we’re assigning certain markets to certain people,” adds Land. “It’s interesting that the Japanese are [clustered] with the Swedish. You’d never guess that, so it’s kind of eye opening.” Dorrit Borensztajn is one of the 45 peo- ple employed in the marketing depart- ment at Everest who made it through the training and has dealt with the cultural differences in the offices. The Holland native, who spent 10 years liv- ing in Tel Aviv before coming to work at Everest, is the affiliate marketing manager for the Polish, German and Dutch markets and has been with the company for four years. “I really enjoy what I do,” she says. “It’s a challenge working with all the different nationalities, but it’s some- thing I look forward to every day.” Borensztajn has no doubt that the marketing strategy Everest has cho- sen is the main reason why the com- pany has prospered. “The personal touch we use with our people is something that I don’t think you see in this industry very often,” she says. “The relationships that you form on a daily basis in each market really make a huge dif- ference. It’s the people who work here who are so committed. That’s what has made us a success.” Working on a daily basis with so many different cultures has also been both a learning experi- ence and a challenge for Celine François, the affiliate marketing manager for the French, Span- ish, Italian, Greek and Portuguese markets. “I’ve learned so much about the different people since I began working here,” says François, who is from France and has been with Everest since the middle of 2006. “The main thing is that I’ve learned that some stereotypes of people are true and others are totally wrong. But we’ve all learned how to work well together as a team and make sure we provide what each market needs. It’s an interesting business to be in.” Land says that it is people like Bo- rensztajn and François who helped make the company’s recently launched Everest Affiliate brand so successful. “I really have to hand it to the people on my team,” he says with pride. “They built the entire brand on relationships. It just goes to show that the personal touch of the business can go a long way. It’s certainly done wonders for us.” GOING GLOBAL Everest Poker is available is 20 markets across the world while the Everest Casino reaches 22 different markets. EVEREST MARKETS: Argentina Austria *Australia Brazil Canada *China Denmark Finland France Germany Greece Hungary Italy Japan Netherlands Norway Poland Portugal Spain Sweden Switzerland U.K. * - denotes Everest Casino only