Head of Communications Mathieu Porri Explains the Winamax Poker Open's Unique Branding
From the moment you walk in the front door of the City West hotel you are bombarded with branding. But it's not enough to make your head spin. Rather, it subtly sucks you in and makes you feel part of the tournament in a way that's not often achieved by other festivals. This is all down to Winamax Head of Communications Mathieu Porri, who we sat down and spoke to.
"Five years ago we started working with an illustrator called Sattu Rodrigues," he explained. "So the first time we had this 'What happens in Dublin, stays in Dublin' imagine as a way to represent all the parties happening around the poker.
"He has a really cool cartoon way of representing people and we thought it was very cool. So the next year we made a new illustration, only this time we wanted to have him draw people. So we gave him a lot of pictures of players and he incorporated them into the branding."
"Other tournament operators have a large approach with dedicated brands and very "classic" approach to poker branding. So we need to put something new and fun forward. Our approach is more through the community and online players. All our ideas are about whether it's good for the community, is it good for players and is it fun.
"It's very big here so you have to put illustrations up to make it our own. The idea here is as much to have good times with players you know from online. If it's not fun it's not Winamax. You have to put some creativity on certain aspects of the festival to work on the image. People see poker like it's a finished discipline, so we need to put somethign new in to make them enjoy the moment and the week."
Last year the Winamax Poker Open moved to a new venue, and a new XXXXXL branding was set up with Rodrigues' illustrations at the heart of it.
So what percentage of the Winamax Poker Open is poker, and what percentage is fun?"
"In Dublin, it's always 100% poker, 100% fun," said Porri. "What other tournament do you have a leisure room with pool and darts and all sorts of little games.
"Tonight you will have 200-300 drunk people playing beer pong, and I'm sure among them there will be a mix of professional players like the Winamax Team Pros and other grinders, semi-professional players like businessmen and also a lot of qualifiers."
Porri recognises that to some pros a €500 buy-in tournament is more or less a "free-roll" compared to other tournaments they're entering.
"But each year they still come back!" he said with a smile. "That's the spirit of this tournament. Here you have pros sitting next to players who come in costumes. Maybe there's a group of five and only one or two will play the Main Event. The rest will all be here playing the turbos and the smaller side events. That's what it's all about."
It's clear therefore that this kind of tournament is not capable of being branded in a normal way. Hence the unique style of branding that adorns the walls of the City West hotel.
"It's clear that this approach when it comes to fun away from the tables means people have to enjoy the ambience at a Winamax tournament. The graphics need to totally be in line with that, so the cartoon approach to representing people shows the fun."
Which brings us to this year's illustrations, depicting the event as some kind of poker therapy retreat for all the players and Team Pros.
"The idea this year was that one week a year, you have all these French players have a little vacation or a home away from home. We thought 'What can we say about this week?'' And the idea was therapy. Old people go away for a week to a hotel to do health treatments and relax.
"That's sort of what this week is about. It's a getaway. Yes, you might make some money, but to a lot of people it's more about having fun."
If you look carefully at the hotel, the Winamax Team Pros are featured, so have a closer look!
"The problem going forward," said Porri, "Is that every year it's the same graphical style so you need to put your own spin on it each year."
Is that a problem then?
"It's difficult...but that's my job!"
Photo courtesy of Caroline Darcourt - Illustrations courtesy of Sattu Rodrigues