Affiliate Manager Interview Series - Joao Vaz

[GPWA Daniel]

(This interview was originally published in the August 2021 issue of the GPWA Times Magazine.)

Please tell us a little bit about yourself. Where are you from and where did you grow up?

II'm from Portugal, from an inland town called Castelo Branco but I lived in Barcelona for almost 15 year, in Mexico and I´m in Malta since 2015(A few months off to work in Barcelona and Porto) . I basically like warm climates and I fell in love with Malta and its climate.

How did you get started in the iGaming industry? How has your past experience helped you in your current role?


I have been working in this industry since May 2015. With my past as a journalist and sports commentator, I have always seen the growth of sports betting and the way they came in either as sponsors of programs or through marketing with clubs and I have always had a strong interest in this industry. I had the opportunity to enter this world via Betclic. Working in the trading department and like Local Trading Specialist It helped me to see the local offer strategy as part of a whole and through a marketing vision as well, which made me know the product well. I continued in Portugal with SkyInfoTech with a project for India, Betbarter and one for Brazil, as project owner. All of this communication and product experience, plus my background and scouting and working with players' agents, gave me a background of network communication in the journalism, sports and iGaming agencies and providers.

What do you like most about working in the iGaming industry?

It is difficult to explain what this industry represents, but in my case, being able to combine areas that I have studied in and like, such as communications, marketing and sports, with a business vision, makes iGaming an area that has everything.

How do you think the iGaming affiliate business will change in next three to five years?

The iGaming industry has already shown its ability to adapt easily. The pandemic was one of those ways, which made marketing more targeted and further demonstrated the value of the affiliation market and its effectiveness. It is an industry that is continually growing and finding innovative ways to protect its customers' pleasure. The industries are often thinking about providing new platforms and services or changing regulations to comply with gambling laws. It is always easier to access through good mobile platforms, which adjusts to the needs of the customers.

Strong regulations, such as in Spain, which prohibits almost 90% the possibility of advertising and sponsorship with clubs, made the market become global, opting clubs to be partners in other geos and becoming more global. In the future, I see an industry working more in virtual reality, facial and voice recognition and acting as pragmatic marketing with cloud gaming, which allow access to iGaming like we have with movies and music. And, obviously, Blockchain currencies. The only job that can bring everything together is the affiliation, as it is already the present of iGaming and in the future it will be even more, with the sales, SEO and marketing going in the affiliation direction.

What would be your advice to someone just starting to get into the iGaming affiliate business?

Be patient with results. Know your geo and have knowledge of sales and SEO. Research and research. Basically, know the target market and don't get distracted. YouTube and Instagram are good search tools and resources. The rest is traffic.

What should affiliates know about BetWinner Affiliates in order to effectively market its brands?

Basically, what they need is to have the notion that they can bring us traffic. The rest we solve very efficiently: help in the creation of designs, real-time statistics and no admin fees. We provide weekly payments and we have amazing partner support.

Late last year, BetWinner partnered with ESPN Brazil’s flagship SportsCenter program. The company is also the exclusive sponsor of OneLife Rally. How do these types of deals benefit the company and its affiliates?

Any sponsorship and partnership has repercussions in the affiliation market. The brand awareness created by these partnerships makes the brand more visible and appealing. We have Roberto Carlos as our Ambassador for LATAM until the end of the 2022 World Cup. Now we have Buses in São Paulo completely covered with our brand and Roiberto Carlos. We did a sponsorship with FC Karpaty Lviv from Ukraine. We had an extended partnership for a sports radio program in Nigeria, Brila FM, which was a success. We have more news that will come out soon that the pandemic has delayed, so stay tuned to BetWinner!

Sports betting will not launch in Brazil until 2022. Why has BetWinner focused on this market?

My personal taste for Brazil comes from afar and my passion for football and “the land of samba,” which I cultivated as a commentator on football games in Spain for the Copa Brazil, Sudamericana, Libertadores, Mundial do Brazil 2014, and also through scouting of Brazilian footballers. Brazil and LATAM countries always make it exciting to enter new markets, new countries and develop communicational products with a local dimension, “fighting” the cultural block, wanting to become an integral part of this reality, creating an adaptation of the product to the local stage. A good example is the Latin online gambling market, which is expected to grow 11.5% between 2020 and 2027.

In the specific case of Brazil, it is still working and in a period of regulation of online and terrestrial-based sports betting. According to H2 Gambling Capital, one of the leading gambling companies consulting firms, Brazil has the possibility to see more than 500% growth by 2025 and become one of the top countries in terms of gross online gambling revenue. Brazil, from continental dimensions, therefore, becomes a colossal source of users. That is why it is important to have a good base in Brazil before regulation, to be at the forefront.

How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected you both professionally and personally?

On a personal level, I see the pandemic with a sad and negative view because it is horrible to see your conditioned freedoms and not being able to see my parents during this period. At the professional level, this pandemic has made us think of ways to reach our target markets in another way and try to take advantage of the opportunities isolation has brought, such as the need to “think outside the box,” to remodel and expand the sportsbook and casino products.

Many companies, like us, are reinventing themselves, developing and implementing new promotions for their platforms to make the experience of gambling more interesting and to reach a level of communication with the customer more efficiently. The important thing is not to stand still. Follow the change and be creative.

How did you and the BetWinner team overcome challenges presented by the pandemic?

At BetWinner, we try to communicate and enter the Brazilian and LATAM market with an image of credibility and approximation. Because of the COVID situation, we closed some significant agreements.

During the blockade, we started looking for new opportunities and some partnerships and sponsorships, as mentioned, like with a historic Ukrainian club that wants to be reborn, FC Karpaty Lviv. During that time, we saw Ukraine enacted its Gambling Law, demonstrating the importance of online gambling regulations and the need to unify standards and regulations.

In Europe, we renewed the partnership with OneLife Rally, a luxury automotive lifestyle rally, exploring roads less traveled. With this partnership, we can communicate with other potential customers and affiliation channels. With OneLife Rally, we created new ways of communicating and new opportunities for our customers, such as winning a Supercar and participating in a Rally.

As for the art of communicating, it will always be easier to reach customers with credibility and transparency and always have a local voice. For example, drawing a parallel with Brazil, in Nigeria, BetWinner already has an office and a license and wants to try to speak globally with more effective communication. We renewed a 15-minute program in with Brila FM in which we talk about the brand, tips for betting and sports news. Africa is a rising star in the iGaming market and in addition to Nigeria we have several licenses working well and expanding.

But, in the case of Nigeria, it can be a challenge, as it has become the second-largest online gambling market after South Africa. Nigeria is the largest African country with 200 million inhabitants. Esports are among the most popular forms of gambling in Nigeria. Africa is a world itself and it is important to see how communication and affiliation for online gambling results in countries with a tradition of dominant retail players.

Tell us about your typical work day as a Public Relations Director.

A normal day starts with coffee. I usually go to work between 8:30 a.m. and 9 a.m. When I arrive at the office, I have already seen work emails and messages and I prioritize the day between meetings to try to find new partnerships and sponsorships, talk to current partners, and see communication solutions for the company. Internal meetings, such as one with the Country Manager for Nigeria, help us find ways to communicate and make the brand visible in that territory. I check the requested designs for company banners on the platform. Speak and coordinate the representatives of the social networks for Brazil and LATAM. Check activations of partnerships. Talk to Brand Ambassador, Roberto Carlos, about future videos and posts. Talk to publishers like you (Laughs) to get more brand awareness. The office day ends at 6 p.m., but the work day follows, as there is always something pending to resolve either for a different time zone, because the iGaming business never sleeps.

What's the office culture like at BetWinner Affiliates?

The office culture is very relaxed, in the way. We communicate internally, but with great vigor and professionalism. As we are all from different countries and cultures, we have achieved a genial balance that creates a united environment in which each one is unique.

What are your hobbies? What takes up your time when you are not working?

Watching movies and TV series. Football and the sea are my passions, so watching a football game, swimming, doing a SUP and strolling by the sea would be my biggest hobbies. But now with my daughter the priority is 100% for her and if it is possible to spend with my family by the sea, it is triple the pleasure.

Do you gamble online or at land-based casinos?

Yes, in the past it was for fun, now I do it to get to know the platforms better and what they can offer, in relation to online. As for land-based casinos, I attend once or twice a year, more for poker tournaments.

What's your favorite movie?

Taxi Driver. A film that has all the ingredients that a great film should have.

If you could have dinner with three people, living or dead, who would they be?

I will cheat, and choose my parents, my daughter and her mother, who is my future wife. If I had to choose people who have died and would like to talk about football, cinema and technology and entrepreneurship: Johan Cruyff, Alfred Joseph Hitchcock and Steve jobs.

Name one thing that people reading this magazine don't know about you.

Even the people who know me and read this magazine and are in the iGaming industry do not know that I have an extreme taste for everything related to cinema and production. I studied a Master Production and direction for cinema and TV and I did a postgraduate study of cinema/TV. I have also commented on more than 400 football matches on live Spanish TV, V, Included the last three Word Cups (Sout Africa 2010, Brazil 2014 and Russia 201.

[GPWA Maria]

Hi Joao, thank you for the interview!

[ocreditor]

Thanks for the interview. Great read !

[drifter8]

Really interesting and deep interview.

Also the 3 people for dinner are a pretty good choice.

Amazing read !

[JoaoVaz]

Hi Joao, thank you for the interview!

Thanks Maria and all GPWA team

[Cash Bonus]

A good interview and I particularly liked your answer to the advice you would give someone starting out as an affiliate in this industry. Thank you for sharing.

[agsgroup]

Thanks for the interview, was nice to read!