How Pocket52 is keeping the card playing spirits up this festive season

The great Indian Festive season has started amid the COVID-19 pandemic. We all know what kind of a washout the first half of 2020 has been when it comes to businesses and even personal lives being completely disrupted. Given the strict Government directives on maintaining social distancing, the huge crowds of shoppers that usually throng the markets during this time might be a lot less this year.

In normal circumstances, brands look at the festive season as an opportunity to gain maximum ROI, leveraging the consumer sentiments during this time. However, the unprecedented conditions have dampened the economy so far. While some are sceptical about businesses picking up during the rest of the year, we are also seeing a general mood of optimism.

Also read:  There will be a rise in sales this festive season: Sunil Narula, Panasonic Life Solutions

Amid such a scenario, Adgully has reached out to marketers and publishers across India to gauge the sentiments during the festive season this year as part of our special series on ‘Festive Mood’. Over the next few weeks, we will be bringing the views and insights from various markets on how marketers and publishers are endeavouring to trigger a revival and give a boost to festive sentiments.

In conversation with Adgully, Debashish Bhattarcharjee, Co-Founder and CMO, Pocket52, speaks about what keeps his company excited and positive about a bounce-back during the festive season.

How big is this festive season for the brand and what are your expectations from the festive season this year?

With Diwali and other festivals lined up, most of the industries witness maximum sales. Undoubtedly, COVID-19 will have its impact, but since lockdown has been lifted, people would want to celebrate their favourite festivals of the year. Apart from retailers and e-commerce sector, online gaming would be one market which can experience a surge compared to the previous years.

Amidst COVID-19, real online gaming has promisingly been delivering the missing dose of entertainment as well as has become a side source of income, if not main. And with Diwali in line, we can expect more players to come in, considering card playing is an essential ritual of this festival.

How do you see the consumer sentiments across the nation this year? Which markets are seen as leading the rebound and how? What factors will drive growth this festive season? What percentage increase in the user base do you expect on the platform during this COVID influenced festive season?

We have 40 per cent growth on a month-on-month basis. So, in total a 60 per cent growth for the festive months of October, November and December is expected.

For Pocket52, some growth driving factors can be:

• Diwali ritual of card playing
• New features and games that we are launching
• Even when people have started to go out yet, they would be avoiding public gatherings at restaurants, malls, theatres, etc.
• Diwali visits to family and friends would be limited as well
• Brand ambassador would attract people

What kind of integrated marketing activities are you planning for the festive season? On which platforms will you be investing your ad spends more and why? What kind of digital push are you looking at?

For the festive season, we are spending millions of rupees to keep up the excitement and entertainment at Pocket52.

Pocket52 is having a lucrative offering for avid players as well as players who are just making a start in the online card gaming ecosystem. Apart from poker, we are also planning to launch a couple of other card games, quizzes and contests.

The action at Pocket52 would be unlimited, with higher guaranteed prize-pools for the various tournament series we have in plan. For new users, we are coming up with different Freerolls with which they win up to Rs 7 lakh in a month with zero investment.

We are revamping our customer support to be India’s first poker platform in India to have customer support that is available for 24x7 on emails, calls and chat. Why? Because we care about players of all kinds and want to assist them any time of the day. Last but not the least, to enhance the trust and brand credibility, we are bringing on board a brand ambassador soon.