1. Hashimoto: Casino Management: A Strategic Approach © 2008 Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All Rights Reserved. Hashimoto: Casino Management: A Strategic Approach © 2008 Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All Rights Reserved. Chapter 14 PROMOTIONS Kathryn Hashimoto East Carolina University

2. Hashimoto: Casino Management: A Strategic Approach © 2008 Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All Rights Reserved. Hashimoto: Casino Management: A Strategic Approach © 2008 Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All Rights Reserved. Introduction There are four major promotional techniques: Personal sales Sales promotion Public relations or publicity Advertising The best campaigns integrate and coordinate each of these so there is one clear, consistent message about the organization and its products. This is referred to as integrated marketing communications (IMC).

3. Hashimoto: Casino Management: A Strategic Approach © 2008 Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All Rights Reserved. Hashimoto: Casino Management: A Strategic Approach © 2008 Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All Rights Reserved. In the IMC strategy, there are several factors that determine which of these promotional elements to use and when: First, the nature of the offering is important. Second, the type of strategy should be determined – either a push or a pull strategy. Third, it is important to understand where in the buyer readiness stage the potential client is.

4. Hashimoto: Casino Management: A Strategic Approach © 2008 Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All Rights Reserved. Hashimoto: Casino Management: A Strategic Approach © 2008 Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All Rights Reserved. Personal Sales A one-on-one interaction where a trained salesperson communicates with a single client. Requires a person who knows the product and is sensitive to the buyer s needs. Personal sales are frequently used in the casino environment. Casino hosts are employees who are hired to anticipate and expedite a high roller s needs.

5. Hashimoto: Casino Management: A Strategic Approach © 2008 Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All Rights Reserved. Hashimoto: Casino Management: A Strategic Approach © 2008 Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All Rights Reserved. Group Sales Selling to an individual or small group of people who represent a larger association. The individual does not make purchase decision but rather gathers information to pass on to the larger group who makes a consensus decision. Influencing the purchase is harder because there are so many people who are in the decision process. Destinations may offer a fam or familiarization trip to a small group of influencers.

6. Hashimoto: Casino Management: A Strategic Approach © 2008 Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All Rights Reserved. Hashimoto: Casino Management: A Strategic Approach © 2008 Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All Rights Reserved. Sales Promotion A reminder designed to quickly get the casino s name out to groups of people. Short-term strategy can draw traffic into the casino for a specified period. There are several objectives for a sales promotion: - To create immediate foot traffic in the casino - To get a gambler to stay longer - To get customers to play

7. Hashimoto: Casino Management: A Strategic Approach © 2008 Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All Rights Reserved. Hashimoto: Casino Management: A Strategic Approach © 2008 Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All Rights Reserved. Public Relations or Publicity Techniques that attempt to inform people of activities or create perceptions without controlling the message or media. The goals can be to highlight individual properties, create images for owners/operators, emphasize possible locations, or remind people about products or services. These can be in the form of press releases announcing new games, jackpot winners, or changes in leadership – anything that goes through the media.

8. Hashimoto: Casino Management: A Strategic Approach © 2008 Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All Rights Reserved. Hashimoto: Casino Management: A Strategic Approach © 2008 Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All Rights Reserved. Advertising The Three Objectives of Advertising Inform: Tell people about a new offer or product, or make new people aware of your casino. Persuade: Perhaps visitors know about your casino; now you need to persuade them to come again or come more often. Remind: Casinos that cater to the local crowd carefully place billboards along the travel routes of their known players.

9. Hashimoto: Casino Management: A Strategic Approach © 2008 Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All Rights Reserved. Hashimoto: Casino Management: A Strategic Approach © 2008 Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All Rights Reserved. Aspects of Creating Advertising Consider the Acronym AIDA – Attention, Interest, Desire, Action when creating advertisements. - An advertisement should gain attention. - To effectively pique interest once you gain attention, use KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid). - You have about 5 seconds before a person moves on. In that time, you have to let them know why they should desire your product. - This should result in an action being taken; a call for more information, or make a purchase.

10. Hashimoto: Casino Management: A Strategic Approach © 2008 Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All Rights Reserved. Hashimoto: Casino Management: A Strategic Approach © 2008 Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All Rights Reserved. Direct Marketing Direct marketing develops interactive communications with the casino s best customers. It begins by building and maintaining a collection of personal information about players who enter the casino, as well as potential players. Direct response advertising asks a reader, viewer, or listener to provide feedback directly to the casino.

11. Hashimoto: Casino Management: A Strategic Approach © 2008 Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All Rights Reserved. Hashimoto: Casino Management: A Strategic Approach © 2008 Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All Rights Reserved. Direct mail is an inexpensive method of attracting the attention of a target audience. There are three elements to a direct mail campaign: - Database: 60% of the success of a direct mail piece is the quality of the database and the selection of criteria to target the appropriate audience. - Offer: Important, but it needs to be matched to the specific interests of the targeted person. - Packaging: How do you pique someone s curiosity enough to even open an envelope and read the offer rather than immediately throw it in the trashcan?

12. Hashimoto: Casino Management: A Strategic Approach © 2008 Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All Rights Reserved. Hashimoto: Casino Management: A Strategic Approach © 2008 Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All Rights Reserved. Some pointers that have worked: Pretest the offer using a sample clientele. Remember AIDA. Direct marketing relies on using a good database and segmenting the population of gamblers into smaller units that have some aspect in common. Personalizing offers is critical with gamblers who spend a lot of time and money at the casino. Designing the message, selecting the appropriate media, and paying attention to details are important. The best sales are done face to face.