Everi
Before there was Everi, there were two companies serving the gaming industry — one that handled the financial end of the business, Global Cash Access, and another known for award-winning slot machines, Multimedia Games. In 2014, Las Vegas-based GCA acquired Multimedia Games in Austin, intending to create a seamless experience for players and casino operators.
the call
We need to unite these two companies and explain why this makes sense for us, our stockholders, and the industry. Oh, and we want to launch on the New York Stock Exchange in six months.
the solve
Right. Let’s go.
Hundreds of conversations, thousands of air miles between Oakland, Las Vegas, and Austin, dozens of brand concepts, and hours upon hours of presentations ensued.
We renamed the new company, launched a new brand, created hundreds of visual assets, built a mammoth website, established a marketing strategy, and, yes, threw one hell of a party on launch day.
Naming
Our time was compressed, to say the least. So, we needed to work quickly. We were fortunate that the company owned trademarks on hundreds of names. The trick was finding one that matched the promise of the two companies and was broad enough to encompass its current business offerings.
Our creative team and senior management sat in a room for hours, running through a handful of naming exercises to narrow the field. We pulled names from a spreadsheet, pressure-tested each, and eventually found a winner.
We agreed that “Everi” was the winner because it offered a broad palette, both creatively and from a business point of view. There were places to go with this name.
Branding
Uncovering a brand — logo, look, tone, and voice — for a name picked for its flexibility was a challenge for sure. We looked at dozens of ideas and color palettes. We played with shapes, designs, and wordmarks. Dave Devencenzi, our art director, then went into creative overdrive.
One conversation we had helped solidify what became the Everi logo. What if we could land a mark that looked like one thing but was something altogether different? After all, Everi was bringing together two businesses that looked like they fit because they were related to casinos but were two singular businesses.
It’s always those high-concept conversations that unlock the puzzle. At first glance, the logo is a strong ‘E’ that would stand out on a busy casino floor. However, when you look at the entire mark, the story is the seamless combination of two cabinets—an ATM and a slot machine.
tone & Voice
Defining the tone and voice of a financial institution is one thing — authoritative, smart, wise. A slot machine company? Funny, whimsical, and inspiring. Meshing the two? Yeah, that was work.
We knew one thing out of the box — the word “every” was verboten. It was an obvious, cheap, and painful cliche.
After a handful of conversations with the company’s marketing team and senior management, it became clear that the “Voice of Everi” was to be comfortable, confident, and, yes, fun. We wanted to be approachable and confident, so players and casino operators knew that talking to someone at Everi was a human experience.
colors
A quick look at the casino industry proves one thing — the agencies creating those brands LOVED red, white, and blue. We ran as far away from that color palette as possible.
We aimed to imbue our new logo with a high-class feeling, so we found a complementary palette of rich purple (for royalty) and deep silver (inferring strength) that tied the brand together.
Digital
Everi needed its website to act as an information hub where casino operators and regulators could find marketing, operations, and legal documentation for every financial solution and slot machine the company offered. That meant a custom-programmed robust database backend with hundreds of one-sheets, marketing slicks, and regulatory documentation.
At the same time, we needed to bring excitement to the brand. We spent days traveling around Las Vegas and Austin. We shut down a section of the Wynn Casino in Las Vegas and filmed Everi employees playing slot games and using ATMs (a way to build camaraderie). We ran in the middle of traffic in Austin for a video b-roll before spending a day in the company’s manufacturing plant. We used these video and photo assets across several marketing efforts down the road.
Our creative team designed and wrote each page of that website to engage Everi’s target audience, leveraging our research, brand, and tone & voice work from earlier.
Marketing
The Farinella and Everi marketing teams worked together side by side throughout the project. We spent weeks analyzing marketing, event, and advertising opportunities.
One such opportunity arose during our rebranding work. The marketing team purchased the opportunity to participate in a “World’s Best” video. We wrote the script, provided the visual assets, and worked together to bring that project to life.
As part of the process, we designed and delivered marketing materials, templates, and content as the new company branding rolled out.
