SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Think back to some of the advertisements you’ve seen on television, radio and online. Which ones spring to mind? Is it the ones with a plain background and a little bit of text, or is it the ones that feature bright, flashy images, recognisable characters and even catchy jingles? It’s safe to say that the more creative the advertisement, the more likely it is to resonate with the end consumer and stand out from the crowd.
But creating promotional visuals isn’t always a straightforward process. However, NSoft believes that its new 7Animator platform should help its partners to remedy this.
Dario Saravanja (pictured, right), Product Manager at NSoft, spoke to SBC News about the new digital toolbox and how 7Animator is helping operators to customise their promotional visuals.
SBC: First of all, can you begin by giving us an overview of 7Animator? What is it and what would you say is its USP?
DS: In today’s digital age, businesses often want to promote their services or products using visually appealing displays. Think of when you walk into a store or visit a website, and you see engaging slideshows or videos that highlight special offers, new features, or other announcements. These visuals catch your attention and provide information in an easily digestible format.
However, creating these promotional visuals isn’t always straightforward. Businesses might struggle with technical challenges or lack the specific tools to design and customise these displays to their liking.
7Animator is a visualisation application, a digital toolbox designed and developed to simplify the creation of promotional slideshows.
Its unique selling point (USP) revolves around versatility and customisation, allowing users to integrate various media formats into a cohesive promotional loop. The 7Animator extends beyond merely providing a platform for content creation. It’s all about flexibility and personal touch, taking into account the client’s need to customise the display of their promotional material.
Each display can host a specific selection of marketing material, designed and timed perfectly to cater to its unique audience. Imagine being able to mix and match different types of media, like pictures and videos, to create a cohesive and captivating promotional loop. 7Animator lets you do just that.
It’s like having a customisable canvas where you can paint your promotional vision, ensuring it aligns perfectly with your audience’s preferences and the message you want to convey. This flexibility offers clients a new level of control, enhancing the viewer’s experience and maximising the impact of their promotional strategies.
SBC: Why has now been the right time to launch 7Animator?
DS: The inception of 7Animator came from recognising a gap in the market where clients were facing challenges in creating dynamic promotional content due to limitations in technical resources or in-house expertise.
As technology advances, we find ourselves in an era with a multitude of devices, formats, and an ever-expanding array of digital preferences. Every individual, be it a casual consumer or an avid gamer, has unique tastes and modes of interaction with digital platforms. This diversity has driven businesses to find ways to stand out and cater to the nuanced needs of their audience.
In such a scenario, a one-size-fits-all approach is increasingly becoming obsolete. Businesses, especially in the iGaming sector, need to ensure that their promotional content not only reaches their audience but also resonates with them. In a highly competitive market, being unique and tailored in promotional strategies is imperative for operators to distinguish themselves from their competitors.
Understanding this intricate landscape, we realised the importance of a customised approach. Instead of operators having to invest vast amounts of resources in developing their own tailored solutions — a process that’s not only time-consuming but also fraught with challenges — we felt the urge to step in.
NSoft’s introduction of 7Animator is our answer to this market demand. By launching it now, we aim to equip our clients with a powerful and user-friendly tool that enables them to craft promotional material that’s not just compelling, but also deeply customised to their audience, helping them gain a competitive edge.
SBC: How is 7Animator giving partners a “new level of control” and helping to simplify the creation of promotional material?
DS: 7Animator is a light-weight application that doesn’t rely on any external libraries or plugins, thus eliminating dependencies on third-party software.
It is built around versatility and customisation. It can integrate up to 10 different assets into one engaging promotional loop.
The application runs multiple types of media within a single interface. This includes a variety of formats from images, videos, to web URLs, catering to the diverse needs of your promotional content. Whether you’re dealing with webp, avif, jpg/jpeg, png, gif, svg images, or webm and mp4 videos, 7Animator ensures broad compatibility and seamless incorporation.
All assets on 7Animator occupy 100% of the horizontal and vertical viewport. This means your visuals are automatically adjusted to fit all screen sizes perfectly, enhancing the overall visual appeal of your promotional material.
When it comes to video playback, 7Animator is designed to start immediately without any user interaction, providing a smooth and uninterrupted viewing experience.
In the case of web pages being used as an asset, users can directly interact with the page within the app, enabling actions such as clicking or scrolling. This interactive feature provides an enhanced user experience, making your promotional material more engaging.
Moreover, 7Animator puts you in control of your content’s runtime. You can specify a custom duration for each asset, right down to the millisecond. This precision allows for optimal pacing, ensuring your audience’s attention is directed exactly where you want it. To enhance the viewing experience, you can also select a shared transition effect between your assets, adding that professional touch to your promotional loop.
7Animator follows a per-display configuration pattern, the approach that gives you the ability to configure settings and manage resources for each display separately, providing you with maximum customisation freedom.
The configuration process involves inputting details for up to 10 resources, with each resource consisting of the resource URL and duration. This feature makes it easy to manage and alter the various assets in your promotional loop.
In terms of compatibility, we’ve designed 7Animator to be as accessible as possible. The application can be installed on NSoft’s Windows and Linux installations, ensuring it’s available to a wide range of users. In addition, we’ve also prepared an installation image for Raspberry Pi, expanding the possibilities for use.
7Animator integrates seamlessly with our Seven platform, which serves as a powerful infrastructure for hosting clients’ media content. With 7Animator, there’s no need to host promotional materials elsewhere – everything is integrated within our ecosystem.
SBC: What impact will this have on engaging a wider player base within the igaming industry?
DS: Engagement is the backbone of success in the iGaming industry. The more players feel seen, understood, and catered to, the more likely they are to engage with a platform.
In an industry saturated with generic promotional material, tailored content can be a game-changer. 7Animator allows operators to produce content that speaks directly to different segments of their audience. By considering the unique tastes, preferences, and playing habits of various user groups, operators can design promotional materials that resonate on a personal level. This personalised touch can make players feel valued and more connected to a platform, fostering loyalty.
With its capacity to integrate a diverse range of media formats, 7Animator enables a dynamic presentation style. This means operators can mix and match different types of promotional materials — from videos showcasing a new game’s graphics to slideshows highlighting special offers. Such versatility keeps content fresh and appealing, ensuring that players remain intrigued and consistently engaged.
The ability for operators to control the runtime of their content and choose transition effects allows for a curated viewing experience. By adjusting the pacing and sequencing of content, operators can emphasise particular promotions or games at peak times, ensuring that promotional material is not just seen, but also acted upon.
In a digital age characterised by a multitude of devices, compatibility is crucial. 7Animator’s design ensures that promotional content is displayed seamlessly across various devices, be it desktops, mobiles, tablets, betting terminals, or TV screens in bet shops.
Engaging a diverse player base is not just about increasing numbers; it’s about building a community. A wider and more engaged player base can lead to increased player retention, higher in-game purchases, and a more vibrant online community, all of which contribute to an operator’s overall success.
Additionally, in the competitive landscape of iGaming, where players have a myriad of options, operators that succeed in offering a personalised, dynamic, and accessible experience stand out, becoming the go-to choice for many players.
In essence, by providing tools like 7Animator that emphasise engagement through personalisation, dynamism, and accessibility, operators can cultivate a loyal player base that not only plays but also advocates for their platform among peers.
SBC: In your opinion, what are the key components to creating engaging promotional content? Are there any common mistakes that igaming companies seem to be making when creating new material?
DS: Design principles within the gaming industry largely mirror the foundational design rules applicable in other sectors. These universal guidelines—like maintaining balance, ensuring clarity, and using consistent typography—serve as the bedrock for effective visual communication across diverse platforms.
Within the realm of gaming, there are nuanced specifics that cater to the unique needs and expectations of punters. These slight variations ensure that designs resonate with the target audience, but at their core, the fundamental principles remain consistent and universally relevant.
So, Use sharp, clear, high-quality graphics and aesthetically pleasing images that represent the brand and the promotion. Ensure the colours, logos, and overall style align with the brand’s identity. This promotes recognisability and trust.
Animated graphics or videos can catch the eye more effectively than static images, especially on digital platforms. In digital spaces, interactive visuals like sliders, pop-ups, or even augmented reality experiences can enhance user engagement.
Choose fonts that are readable and evoke the right emotions. For example, sleek modern fonts might suggest a sophisticated casino experience.
Often overlooked, hierarchy and layout can easily be the most important visual elements For example, the offer or the jackpot prize, these should be the most prominent. Good layout guides the viewer’s eye in a logical and compelling progression.
Cultural relevance is also important. If targeting different geographical regions, visuals should resonate with the local culture and aesthetics. Europe looks for a simple and flat design, while Latam is more busy and colourful.
Use universally recognised symbols, like a four-leaf clover for luck, to convey ideas quickly.
When it comes to mistakes, overloading visuals with too many elements can confuse and deter potential customers. If visuals are not consistent across different promotions, it can confuse the brand identity and dilute the message.
Misleading visuals – graphics that misrepresent the actual offer or gameplay can result in customer dissatisfaction. Poor colour choices – using colours that are either too jarring or don’t align with the brand’s identity can deter users. Imagine you’re running a crypto casino, and instead of using neon colours, you use some pastel colours. That’s a total misalignment.
Lack of variation – using the same visual style repeatedly can become stale and less effective over time. Keep the branding consistent, but make tweaks on a regular basis – monthly, bi-monthly, quarterly, whatever is the best for your audience.
In summary, when it comes to the visual component of promotional material in the betting and gambling industry, it’s essential to prioritise clarity, consistency, and high-quality design to effectively engage and attract customers.
SBC: How does the launch of 7Animator mark a new milestone in NSoft‘s strategy to deliver a more holistic experience for your partners?
DS: The introduction of 7Animator underscores our commitment to providing integrated solutions for our business partners.
By providing them with a user-friendly tool to create compelling promotional materials, 7Animator empowers our clients to elevate customer engagement and differentiate themselves in the competitive betting and gaming industry.
7Animator integrates seamlessly with our Seven platform, a versatile solution for managing core betting and iGaming business operations. This symbiosis further strengthens Seven’s comprehensive feature set, offering clients an additional mode of promotion.
It’s a reflection of our continuous drive to innovate and provide tools that not only address market needs but also enhance user experience and engagement within the betting and gaming sector.
SBC: What are your aims for the 7Animator product in 2023 and beyond?
DS: As we move into 2023 and the subsequent years, our vision for 7Animator is not just to solidify its position as a top-tier visualisation tool, but to evolve it into a comprehensive ecosystem that addresses the multifaceted needs of the iGaming industry.
These are the two most relevant features to be implemented soon:
- The ability to overlay dynamic and animated text on promotional content. Picture the stock exchange ticker you see scrolling across the bottom of the screen, displaying the most recent price updates.
- Enhanced transition effects for smoother switches between promotional content.
In addition to these two features, we’ll be actively tuning in to our customers and their experiences. Their feedback will guide our updates and shape the future roadmap for 7Animator.
