Ganapati is making it a habit of making big splashes at conferences, introducing big new games, often branded by superstars of the sporting world. ICE London was no different, and our Becky Liggero Fontana caught up with newly crowned CEO Juliet Adelstein to talk about their strategy
The big splash Ganapati made at ICE London 2020 was to introduce the fastest man in the world, Usain Bolt, and a game he helped design himself. “Well of course, just to start off with, we’re so excited to be able to collaborate with Usain and work together with him,” Adelstein said. “Going forward for 2020, it’s all about Ganapati moving away from the Asian focus and really about being a global company, and so of course who better to work together with than Usain. We had him here, we were very lucky, I spoke a bit about us being a B2B company but having a B2C mentality, which of course, Usain is all about. And then we were lucky enough to have him on stage, and we talked about how he’s growing himself as a brand, because that’s so important to us as well and how we can now work together, improving just the entire industry as well, not just Ganapati.”
Ganapati scored big by getting Bolt on board, as he’s not just a huge name in the world of sports, but a bit of a gamer himself. “Really a lot, and that was a priority not just for us, but for him, that this game is a collaboration of what he wants to see in his game,” Adelstein said. “He’s always been a gamer, so this is something he’s actually interested in, which makes it really, well, an easy process for us, because he suggested, you know, different things we could use for our icons, the music we could use, and we’ve talked a lot about what should be in the features and everything like that, just to make sure it’s something that he’s happy to have his name up against, and also that he’s going to want to push himself and really get involved in the results of.”
This marks the second conference in short order that Ganapati brought a legend of sport into their fold. In 2019, Adelstein joined us to talk about their new Manny Pacquiao game.
That B2B company with a B2C mentality that Adelstein spoke of was cited as part of the reason why she was given the CEO job. She spoke with us about her vision for the company going forward,” she said. “Of course I’m very humbled and excited that I’ve been chosen by the company to represent them. One part of me stepping into this role is also just about, what I mentioned before, on a global focus. And this is taking away from the strength that was in Japan and making it a whole, you know, European, global perspective that’s really about what we’re doing going forward in 2020. My experience is also from sports marketing, so we’re really utilizing that and trying to do as much as we can in that space going forward.
