TransAct’s Epicentral print system gets into players’ hands the promotions that matter, when they matter most
With a loyal customer base in Macau and Singapore and a proven reputation globally for product performance, TransAct Technologies expects big things in the region from its new Epicentral print system, which delivers targeted promotions to players right at the slot machine
The software-based Epicentral is an easy upgrade for a casino already using TransAct’s industry-leading Epic 950 printer. With just a simple plug-in to the 950 via ServerPort, casinos instantly have the power to create and deliver offers and rewards that have genuine actionable value because they can be customized to suit the individual player and because they can be generated in real time.
The system’s Server Manager is loaded with the location or IP address of every slot machine on the floor, allowing an operator to target a communication to a single device or blanket messages across several or even the entire floor.
The possibilities are virtually limitless:
• Extend marketing campaigns to printed coupons from billboards, advertisements and broadcast media;
• Personalize and direct-deliver drawings, rewards, invitations and other communications to achieve maximum participation, incentivize longer stays, repeat visits and any number of other desirable responses;
• Effectively promote loyalty programs and convert uncarded players into carded ones at the machine via specific offers and incentives;
• Depending on the jurisdiction, completing tax reporting becomes quick and easy by issuing personalized forms using known player data;
• Tailor offers to reward players in real time for coin-in or credits played or time on device.
“It can be any type of communication a casino would like,” says Tracey Chernay, executive vice president, sales and marketing, for Hampden, Conn.-based TransAct. “It can be by card, by time … really, any criteria, any bit of data the casino has access to.”
Take as an example a special protocol that’s already paying dividends at casinos in the United States, like Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut and Red Wind Casino in Olympia, Wash., where Epicentral is being employed. It’s known as “First Time-Only Time”:
“Let’s say I went and got my players card because they gave me a bonus to do so,” Ms Chernay explains. “I insert my card in the machine, it recognizes my card, and once I’m a carded player we’ve got a rule that says every time that player plays in a certain period of time, and the first time they insert their card, we want to give them an offer. It could be a welcome, could be informational about the system, it could be an event or a show they’re having that night. What’s important about this ‘First Time-Only Time’ rule is it won’t be repeated when the player goes to subsequent slot machines. So within our specified period of time, we’ve made an intelligent offer that doesn’t keep getting repeated.”
Epicentral is that versatile and that flexible.
It also comes with a coupon layout generator that allows casinos to easily design and save coupons or promotions to be used later on the floor. It imports logos or other graphics and lets you create and embed barcode types so you can track actual usage and measure the effectiveness of a marketing campaign.
Then there’s “Campaign Center,” a function that gives operators the ability to fully automate the creation of protocols and the scheduling and managing of promotions.
With “Mobile Host” casino hosts can use a smartphone or tablet device to deliver promotions to players on the floor, right at their machine, providing an extra level of personalized service. “Mobile Player” extends this same power to the player, who can search and select from the offers and rewards they’ve earned and print them instantly, right at the slot machine, from their mobile device, and it can easily be incorporated into a casino’s existing mobile application.
Epicentral also is multilingual. (Its Chinese character set is crisp and clear).
“What’s important is to understand what the casino wants to accomplish with Epicentral and then to design the rules and the coupons to support those campaigns,” says Ms Chernay. “And we definitely help the casino get started with that. We deliver the system with five rules and an unlimited number of coupons that go with those. And we help them build those and customize those to what they want them to be.”
The system was showcased at TransAct’s G2E Asia exhibit last month and is ready for deployment throughout Asia, bolstered by the significant take-up the Epic 950 enjoys already in Macau, the Philippines and in Singapore.
“We’re pretty excited that we’ve got a number of loyal customers who are very interested,” Ms Chernay says. “We actually did a tour about six weeks ago, where we demonstrated the solution to all of the major properties across Macau, whether they had the 950 or didn’t. We demonstrated the 950 to them, along with Epicentral. Now we’re going back on our second round of meetings with those customers and narrowing down who will be first. That’s the big question right now in the Macau market: Who’s going to be first with Epicentral?”
