Casino and sportsbetting co. Northstar Bets is delivering a distinctly South Asian and localized game experience that’s timed to coincide with Diwali.
Developed in partnership with multicultural agency Stradigi Marketing, the campaign focuses on the popular card game Teen Patti, a Diwali tradition intertwined with luck, prosperity and social connection.
“We see the cultural diversity that exists across Canada, and its appetite for gaming,” says Dante Anderson, vice president marketing at NorthStar Gaming. “There’s an opportunity to be localized and relevant to this audience, which has a lot of competitors because they are mostly global. But some North American brands don’t understand the market to the level that we do, and don’t have the appreciation for the cultural diversity that is important in marketing in this market.”
While Anderson says brands like BetMGM and Betway have invested in cricket to connect with South Asians, many others in the highly competitive space have not. “We are trying to appeal to the VIP-type player,” says Anderson.
Shreya Bageja, marketing coordinator at NorthStar Gaming, tells strategy that the Teen Patti is a live dealer game targeted at “Indians, mostly, 25-plus, both male and female. She adds that that a secondary target is people from Pakistan and Afghanistan and those both familiar with Diwali and the game itself.
The campaign is digitally-led, with Meta platforms being used as a key tactic. Stradigi is supporting the buy as well. The game is available on the Northstarbets.com platform, accessible to players in Canada excluding the province of Ontario.
The casino and sportsbook platform came to market in 2022, with a tongue-in-cheek variation of “to the winner go the spoils,” with a protagonist who casually mentions he’s summited Mount Everest and “been knighted three times.”
