When volume is King

When one US gaming company needed support with their production volumes, they partnered with EKCS to save time and money

Tags: Brand

Highlights

Digital sports entertainment

Production volumes

Long term partnership

Cost savings

About DraftKings

DraftKings Sportsbook is live with mobile and/or retail sports betting operations under regulations in 27* states and Ontario, Canada. The company operates iGaming under regulations in five* states and Ontario, Canada, under its DraftKings brand. It is subject to regulations in three* states under its Golden Nugget Online Gaming brand. DraftKings’ daily fantasy sports product is available in 44* states, some Canadian provinces, and the UK.

*All data provided as of 2/15/24, please check draftkings.com for the most up-to-date information

The Challenges

Operating in a legislation-heavy environment and catering to audiences in 44 states for Daily Fantasy Sports and 26 states for Online Sportsbook (including Retail Sportsbook), and counting. DraftKings sought solutions that would help alleviate the strain that production design volume was having on their internal team. As each state has different legal disclaimers, the client has a huge volume of work with variation and adaptation needed. Moreover, key events in the US sporting calendar, such as the Super Bowl, created additional work with tight deadlines. DraftKings initially used teams of contractors, which was costly. In 2020, they came to EKCS to help manage their production challenges.

Volume is a massive challenge for DraftKings. They work with their stakeholders to determine how many marketing assets they need and understand their business objectives. Most of the design team at DraftKings is 'digital first.' There are advantages to working with a partner that can provide expertise in more traditional print work such as direct mail and out-of-home.

The Solutions

The EKCS team is familiar with areas the in-house team is less familiar with, such as print production. They understand the requirements of print, including the technical elements and specs. Having a skilled international team that is familiar with print production has also been helpful for the client.

The client production briefs often need the production team to update copy, logos, legal terms, and background images. Updates to existing animated files need fast turnarounds, banner work for these is typically briefed in batches of approx. 10 and turned around within 24 hours.

Their in-house team designs and leads all creative elements. An international team at EKCS that could scale as and when needed was put together to make adaptations for different audiences in various US states. Production work includes:

The Results

Cost savings

Before partnering with EKCS, the in-house agency used contractors, which were costly.

Extension of the team

Scaleability

Quality control (QC)

Time savings

Outsourcing to EKCS

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“We have a solid design team and having EKCS as a partner for the production-related work has increased the efficiency of our team by reallocating internal resources to more of the forward-thinking work like design system definition and initial design explorations. From a leadership perspective, it’s enabled leaders to not be bogged down with the volume of the workload.”

Sarah Juselius

Senior Director of Creative Operations

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