As the founder of ULAC Publicidad y Mercadeo, Diana Ulloa has been a unifying force in gaming in Colombia. Leveraging her academic and professional expertise in customer service and marketing, and her passion for the gaming business, she has created a tightly associated gaming industry in the country.
Ulloa’s impact on the industry will be felt well beyond Colombia in the coming years as her philosophy and approach to addressing consumer behavior in gaming are sure to be pervasive throughout Latin America.
ULAC offers advertising, marketing and customer service strategies to gaming and related companies, predominantly to private casino operators in Colombia, but with aspirations for growth. ULAC’s service categories appear standard: market research, advertising, branding, marketing and customer service. However, upon discussing the company’s approach and philosophy with Ulloa it becomes clear that it is far from standard.
The ULAC team integrates its business with the business of the client, creating an intimate working relationship which Ulloa describes more like a family than consultant-client. This sentiment is further extended to Ulloa’s view of the industry, evidenced in ULAC’s communication services to the Colombian Federation of Casinos and Bingos, or COLJUEGOS.
Ulloa’s academic perspective on marketing in the casino industry is not surprising. She trained in publicity and marketing at the University of Bogota Jorge Tadeo Lozano, and went on to achieve concentrations in consumer behavior and market research the University EAN. Ulloa is now a certified customer service trainer (CCST) by the Service Quality Institute of Latin America. In addition, Ulloa has served as the chairwoman of innovation and competitiveness in the Consumer Psychologists Associates Foundation of Colombia.
Ulloa began in the gaming industry eight years ago, when as a casino enthusiast, she began thinking about the social nature of casinos in Colombia, and how her experience in driving exceptional customer service could apply to various facets of the casino industry. Ulloa soon developed a relationship with slot supplier Recreativos Franco, and realized that her clients in the industry were just as much her mentors and friends. Ulloa began to learn about the industry and developed the curriculum and adaptation of her marketing philosophies.
ULAC reinforces a customer service-driven approach to marketing gaming products and reinforcing loyalty. The company noticed that in the last five to 10 years the importance of addressing customer needs has increased tremendously. The focus on customer service comes with the more demanding expectations of players and the need to adapt to address players graciously, exercising caution in the tone and style of communication in the customer relationship.
Ulloa acknowledges the importance of this customer relationship both in the virtual and bricks-and-mortar casino environments. However, she believes that the traditional casino is misunderstood as a viable form of a social interaction, like a club, and under-leveraged in that capacity.
Outside of professional life Ulloa enjoys travel, and interaction with family and friends. Although she knows it paints her as a “workaholic,” a good evening for her is a night out on the town, including a visit to a casino.
