A PR Project to Improve Hiring Turns into a Three-Year Brand Awareness Campaign
SciPlay develops and publishes social casino mobile games that capture the spirit of Vegas and Atlantic City for more than 34 million users. During the pandemic, demand skyrocketed for the company’s mobile slot machines, solitaire, bingo and backgammon games as users sought entertainment and an escape from the safety of their homes.
To keep up with demand, SciPlay needed more engineers and support staff for its operations in Austin, Texas. The company turned to Red Fan for a public relations project to help promote the company’s culture to attract new talent.
Red Fan responded with a media relations program that drove coverage in Austin-area print and broadcast outlets, including Austin American-Statesman, Austin Inno, KVUE TV and Patch, as well as PocketGamer.biz for the online gaming community.
In response to those rapid results, SciPlay extended its playtime with Red Fan by more than two years to promote its brand and thought leadership on a national stage. With the help of Red Fan, SciPlay secured broad and consistent coverage in national gaming and business media, podcasts and a sit-down with the Wall Street Journal’s gaming reporter, Sarah Needleman.
Having helped SciPlay increase its local presence and achieve its hiring goals, Red Fan was charged next with building the company’s brand awareness and creating culture-focused content for relevant publications and audiences.
Fortunately, SciPlay had no shortage of news, including product updates, marketing and advertising programs with major celebrities, financial growth, local and international charity programs, user surveys, mergers and acquisitions, awards and executive announcements.
The only challenge was keeping up with this volume of news, making the most of every opportunity, and avoiding overplaying SciPlay’s hand with the gaming and business media.
STORIES
During its multi-year partnership with Red Fan, SciPlay was included in more than 10k stories.
IMPRESSIONS
Media coverage resulted in more than 26 billion impressions.
COVERAGE
SciPlay appeared in Adweek and industry leading mobile and social casino gaming outlets, including Pocket Gamer & Casino Guru.
Red Fan organized a communications campaign rooted in strategic media relations to introduce SciPlay to national business and gaming reporters while maintaining local press relationships, identifying fresh thought leadership opportunities for multiple company executives, and submitting SciPlay to various awards with national gaming publications.
Media relations and pitching efforts were organized around news milestones such as:
A focus on non-traditional media, including gaming podcasts such as Deconstructor of Fun and LevelUp
During its multi-year partnership with Red Fan, SciPlay was included in more than 10,000 stories, translating into more than 26 billion impressions. Highlights of these engagements include coverage in Adweek for the advertising campaign with Jerry O’Connell and a briefing with Wall Street Journal’s gaming reporter, Sarah Needleman.
In addition, SciPlay was featured multiple times in the industry’s leading mobile and social casino gaming outlets, including:
Red Fan also drafted nine Built in Austin Employer Roundups on behalf of ScPlay executives and representatives and maintained consistent coverage in Austin to support SciPlay’s hiring efforts. Red Fan’s thought leadership helped SciPlay achieve notable placements and mentions in the Gaming Industry Career Guide and PocketGamer.biz. Additionally, SciPlay was identified as one of Austin’s 100 best places to work. Our team also assisted SciPlay with several award submissions to gaming and HR-focused awards, including Best Developer for Pocket Gamer Mobile Games Awards, SBC Awards North America, Built In’s Best Places to Work (2021, 2022, 2023), The GameHERS Awards (2022), and Top Workplaces for DE&I Practices for 2023.
