Proforma Goes for the Absolute Gold

Proforma Goes for the Absolute Gold

Mark Anderson, owner of Seattle-based Proforma Brand Marketing couldn't have guessed that his infant company would experience the growth it has in less than a year. Since joining the Proforma network of distributors on Jan. 1, Anderson has been on a winning streak. He has experienced tremendous success in the gaming industry by being the exclusive distributor for AbsolutePoker.com, an online gambling company based in Costa Rica.

According to Anderson, there are close to 300 online gambling companies in the world, and AbsolutePoker.com is ranked in the top five. From a volume in dollars standpoint, the company comes in at No. 7.

So how does a Proforma distributor get the good fortune of being the exclusive distributor to one of the major players in online gambling? In Anderson's words—being in the right place at the right time.

The story begins more than 10 years ago when Anderson, whose expertise is in graphic design, creative art direction and commercial printing, completed a design project for a British client. "We immediately hit it off on a professional level," he said. They kept in touch for a number of years, but eventually the two lost touch.

Fast-forward to the year 2002 where fate would bring the old friends together again. "I was attending an American Marketing Association networking event in Seattle, and I noticed that there was a British woman there who seemed very familiar to me," he recalled. "I couldn't concentrate on anything that was going on, except finding out where I'd met her before. I soon recognized who she was, and we picked back up right where we'd left off years before." For the two years following the pair's chance meeting, they worked on projects together, provided each other with leads and traveled to association events together.