Using Power of Brand to Unlock PokerStars Edge – Nicola Carey
Inside PokerStars: Nicola Carey, Global Brand Director, speaks about her new role, the power of brand in the industry and her career to date
Surely this was where she was always meant to be. Right? PokerStars Global Brand Director Nicola Carey’s career journey has had twists and turns and jumped from North America to the UK, but there’s a hard-to-shake feeling of predestination about it all.
Speaking after returning from the PokerStars HQ in the Isle of Man, Nicola nods in agreement at this suggestion, adding: “There’s this sense of all paths possibly leading to the same destination rather than the reverse.”
We’ll let Nicola explain all of this in more detail.
“I’m Canadian and grew up with the PokerStars brand when it was a rocket ship back in the early 2000s. It was a real sense of pride for Canadians.”
Nicola continues: ‘I always found the brand very interesting and always had an affiliation with it even though I wasn’t necessarily at the time anything more than a ‘home games’ poker player.”
Before PokerStars
So, from that promising starting point the story departs from the obvious trajectory for a time. Leaving college just as the 2008 global financial crisis hit, like many, Nicola was left with few options.
“My plan when I left university was to get a job having spent every penny of my savings getting a masters degree,” Nicola recalls. “So, I didn’t have a lot of expectations which I think sometimes keeps you open to the possibility of where you might end up.”
One of the industries that I did find interesting was the betting and gaming industry because I found the role of brand to be quite unique in our sector
Then predestination swings back into play.
“One of the industries that I did find interesting was the betting and gaming industry because I found the role of brand to be quite unique in our sector and also, at that time, rather underdeveloped. You could see the ones who were leveraging the power of brand to make an impact,” the PokerStars Global Brand Director says.
“This was when Paddy Power, for example, was first discovering mischief. The time when sports betting brands were really getting to grips with the power of brand differentiation to drive business performance. So, it was an industry you couldn’t help but notice.’
Enjoying a lighter moment at the table: PokerStars Global Brand Director, Nicola Carey
PokerStars
Nicola decided to head for London and took up a position with a brand consultancy firm: “I spent some time at the frontline doing consumer insight, spending time with customer and building strategies and then I got closer to the creative coalface too as I progressed”, she adds.
As her experience increased, that old passion for the Red Spade came back into focus. Six years ago, she joined PokerStars. While PokerStars was the first brand she took a brand side leadership role in, her previous experiences as a strategy director at large brand and creative agencies has proved invaluable.
Embracing Change
“One of the big things that gets me up in the morning is a feeling of positive uncertainty. I’m not someone who can work for a brand that isn’t constantly evolving and shape shifting. I need a problem to solve.”
While some would fear change, Nicola runs headlong into it.
“My personal view on is that if I’m not in a position of continual learning then that’s when I need to do something different.
“Ever since I first entered the job market my principle has been if I don’t feel smarter or that someone has inspired me or that there’s been a bit of magic by the end of each day then there’s some warning bells going off in my head,” she says.
New Role
On the topic of change, Nicola is only weeks into her new role as Global Brand Director. What has that been like?
“At the heart of being a Global Brand Director is having great relationships and really great business partners,” she states. “A lot of my week is spent engaging with regional marketing stakeholders as well as teams in commercial and product and supporting them to build out their strategies, propositions, marketing plans with a brand narrative and edge.
How can we ensure that we are giving the PokerStars special sauce to our execution
“So, what can we do as PokerStars that no one else can. How can we ensure that we are giving the PokerStars special sauce to our execution. Recently that also has traversed over to brand integration opportunities with the onboarding of our partners Sisal onto the PokerStars poker network.
Staying Interested
For someone who’s a self-described learning magnet, staying at PokerStars for six years must mean there’s something about the company, the brand, the people, that keeps her on her toes?
“The thing that has kept me here is a deepening love and attachment to the game of poker itself and the community both from a colleague perspective but also player perspective that exists in and around the game and in PokerStars.”
She continues: “It’s very special and in some respects the culture of the poker community rubs off on the people who work for the brands within it.”
‘Poker’ and ‘community’ – two words that seem to crop up a lot for those working in and around the game. It’s something Nicola feels a need to both respect and enjoy.
Nicola with Dave Curtis, Head of Marketing Engagement Communications at PokerStars
“Even just learning the game of poker, as I have, and becoming a better poker player has been a fascinating learning curve. There are some absolute geniuses that work for PokerStars and continue to surprise me and make me feel foolish in a good way and for someone like me that’s super compelling.”
PokerStars People
Now that she’s touched on the people of PokerStars, it would be remiss not to ask her about those that have inspired her on her journey so far.
“Daniele Phillips, who is now VP of Casino marketing over at FanDuel Casino, her capabilities are there for all to see with the amazing success of FanDuel Casino. When she was my colleague in PokerStars the thing I found really impressive about her was how she was the ‘Occam’s Razor’ of marketeers. The simplest answer is, more often than not, the right one.”
There’s this group of hugely smart commercial folk like Fran Medina or Samuele Gallinari and May Maceiras who just are poker-native people
Nicola then goes quiet for a moment – she’s clearly debating something internally – eventually questioning aloud if the next person – who continues to inspire her – is too obvious a choice to pick; someone everyone would name. And then she snaps back and goes with it anyway: Chris Straghalis – Poker Transformation Senior Advisor.
“The thing about ‘Strag’ is he is so passionate about the brand,” she explains. “He can be your most challenging stakeholder. His passion for the brand is huge and as brand director you have to hold yourself to the standards of the person who cares more about the brand than anybody else and ‘Strag’ is definitely that person.”
She lists off others who have made, and continue to make, a deep impression: “There’s this group of hugely smart commercial folk like Fran Medina or Samuele Gallinari and May Maceiras who just are poker-native people and when I talk about people who are helping me continuously learn it’s definitely those people day to day.”
PokerStars & Live Events
One of the perks of the job is the chance to jet off to experience the legendary live events associated with PokerStars. She has a couple of favourite locations.
“I love NAPT Vegas. Being in the home of poker it keeps you honest about the broader scale of the community that you are part of,” Nicola says. “And despite it being known as a city of bad decisions, every year, for whatever reason, it feels like a place where I’m part of a decision with colleagues I come to be proud of later. PokerStars Open being last year’s example.”
But there’s one event – much closer to home – which she has a soft spot for. An event that departs from the norm and seems to be thriving because of that.
“If I’m being really honest, the event which everyone loves going back to every year is the Irish Open because it just has something that players love, and I think the thing which is fantastic about it, is it’s got an amazing brand experience.”
Nicola explains further.
“It’s a really great example of how a poker brand experience is not just created by a visual identity but is the sum of all of the interactions which take place. Through the contributions that PokerStars have made to that event, with it being the brainchild of people like Dave Curtis, that brand has a special sauce that people say: ‘is a little bit of Irish magic’.
Job Satisfaction
Before we finish up, a final question: What does she enjoy most about her job?
“Using the principles of brand strategy and creativity to solve or support the solving of business problems. Whilst I love seeing the body posture of the PokerStars brand across all the touch points in terms of execution – and that’s what the customer interacts with – from a personal point of view I love interfacing with our commercial colleagues and our marketing directors and helping utilise some smart brand-thinking to help unlock what was a sticky commercial or marketing problem.”
She adds: “I think brand gets a bad rep sometimes in the sense that it feels like it’s an area with a lot of jargon and some folks tend to see as a very simple thing that gets overcomplicated. But it’s not that, it’s a business lever and for me leveraging smart thinking in the brand area to help solve a challenge is when I feel it’s been a good day.”
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