Affiliate Category

Affiliate of the year

The judges will reward the affiliate that has stood out from the pack in a competitive Nordic-facing egaming sector through innovation, traffic generation, growth, genuine ROI for operators, and the ability to build strong partner relationships. This is not an award for the biggest affiliate site in the Nordics, but scale will be a factor in determining the winner. Entrants will need to provide evidence of growth, innovation, quality, and scale of traffic and differentiation.

Key criteria include:

• Differentiation and quality of offering

• Quality and scale of traffic

• Growth - Innovation

• Strong partner relationships

OPERATOR CATEGORIES

Affiliate programme

This category rewards the operator affiliate team that can best demonstrate the use of innovative and effective marketing strategies to drive customers to their sites. Judges are looking for programmes that have used the full range of marketing tools available. In this highly competitive environment, evidence of strong affiliate partnerships and effective use of brand messaging will also play a vital role in selecting the winner.

Key criteria include:

• Innovation and creativity
• Brand messaging
• Acquisition or retention numbers
• Affiliate relationship management

Casino operator

The winner of this award will be the casino operator that has been able to dominate the sector through their reach across the Nordic region and quality of their product. Entrants will be judged on the originality of their product, the strength of the brand and product, and the innovations which help to set them apart from their competitors. 

Key criteria include:

• Growth and commercial success
• Innovation and differentiation
• Quality of product
• Customer acquisition and retention strategies
• Quality of brand and marketing

Customer services operator

This award will go to the operator that can best demonstrate that it truly has the customer at the heart of its business, and manages its resources to continuously improve its performance standards ensuring it can meet the needs of its entire customer base.

Key criteria include:

• Staff engagement in customer satisfaction strategy
• Continual training and development
• Continual measurement
• Competitive advantage
• Impact on retention

In-house innovation

This award will recognise the operator that can demonstrate it has developed the most effective in-house product or platform which helped it stand out from its competitors and offered the biggest commercial boost to its business during the past 12 months. Relevant products include – but are not limited to – betting and gaming platforms, game content, mobile and tablet apps, and marketing technology. Judges will be looking for the success of the product, both commercially and in terms of solving a business need, as well as the level of innovation demonstrated in its conception and development.

Key criteria include:

• Quality of product
• Evidence of positive commercial impact
• Innovation and differentiation
• Link to solving direct business needs

Marketing campaign

This award recognises the company that has run the most innovative, intelligent and creative marketing campaign in the Nordics over the past year. Judges will select a winner based on effective use of brand and contextual advertising along with other elements such as banner ads, affiliate programmes, use of SEO and viral marketing for a specific campaign. The award is not simply for the most effective campaign in terms of ROI, but the financial performance of the campaign or its success in recruiting new customers will be a factor in judging a winner.

Key criteria include:

• Innovation and originality
• Use of different channels
• Creativity
• ROI including growth in customer acquisition

Operator of the year

This award recognises the operator that has set the standards for others to follow in the Nordics region over the past year. The judges will be looking for a company that has acted as a driving force for innovation in the region across all areas of the business and the winning operator will need to demonstrate a market-leading proposition. Judges will be looking for a company that has clearly differentiated itself from the chasing pack in its sector, through a mixture of growth, innovation and strong product performance in one or more of the key verticals.

Key criteria include:

• Operational excellence
• Quality and diversity of product
• Innovation and differentiation
• Growth and commercial success
• Influence on wider egaming market
• Strength of brand and marketing

Safer gambling operator

Judges will award the prize to the operator that has done the most to implement procedures designed to protect their customers. The winner will be rewarded for age verification technology, problem gambling support, responsible gambling safeguards and comprehensive KYC procedures. Special consideration will be given to operators that have campaigned for wider industry controls to ensure socially responsible gambling.

Key criteria include:

• Age verification
• Problem gambling assistance
• Problem gambling safeguards
• CRM and problem gamblers
• KYC procedures
• Advancement of research in gambling

Sports betting operator

In the competitive sports betting field, the operator that has been able to differentiate itself from its key Nordic-facing rivals through an excellent product offering, an effective marketing strategy and impressive global reach will be awarded this prize. Judges are looking for an operator that has enjoyed consistent growth over the past year and demonstrated operational excellence in the region.

Key criteria include:

• Scale and growth
• Innovation and differentiation
• Quality of on and offline marketing
• Quality of product