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2015 Quarterly Issue #3
Inside this Issue:
Message from the President........... 2
Promotion Analysis Gaming
and Non-Gaming..................... 29-31
Leadership & Innovation... 3-28, 35
Make the Most of Geek-Speak and Accomplish Your
Strategic Goals — Toby O’Brien.............................................. 3
Level 5 Leaders — Sean Vestal................................................. 5
Marketing Technology — Jeff Gorovitz................................. 7
How to Create and Manage Your Own In-House Research
Panel — Deb Hilgeman, Ph.D.................................................. 9
Creating Value in an Industry That Enriches People’s Lives
— Chris Faria............................................................................ 11
How to Fit Bingo into Your Loyalty Program — Nicole
Barker........................................................................................... 14
Why Integrity Audits Need to Be a Priority — Derk Boss........ 16
How Developing Strategic Partnerships (aka That Bad
Word, “Outsourcing”) — Kell Houston............................... 18
How Can Casinos Use Food and Beverage to Drive More
Guests and Be More Profitable? — Christine Faria......... 20
Whether It’s the Law or a Shift — Interview with John
Stewart......................................................................................... 22
Five E-Principles for Building Casino Brand Loyalty — Mark
Astone.......................................................................................... 25
Five Reasons Your Data Analyst Can’t Analyze Data —
Adam Smithline........................................................................ 27
Casinos, Don’t Change Your VIP Formula to Make It
Commonplace — Winnie Grand.......................................... 35
A Gaming Executive‘s Guide
to Reading...................................... 33
Save the Date.................................. 34
Dennis Khanh, Raving Partner,
Food and Beverage
ravingconsulting .com
MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT
Dear Ravers,
This edition of the Raving Solutions Magazine is hitting your email inbox two
weeks before my dear friend, Steve Browne, and I are scheduled to each receive
a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Casino Marketing & Technology Conference at the Rio in Las Vegas on July 15.
While I can’t speak for Steve, I can share that for myself, the Award and the
thought of receiving it after my presenting speaker (Anthony Curtis of Huntington Press) tells everyone how wonderful and visionary I am, raises a
number of diverse feelings.
Honor. Gratitude. Embarrassment. Guilt. Completion. Validation. Unworthiness. Discomfort.
Geez, you’d think I could just be gracious and accepting, and enjoy my few
minutes of fame in the limelight.
It’s not that I think that I haven’t accomplished anything or done some pretty
cool and rewarding things in my marketing career. I know I have and will continue to do so, with the help of numerous co-workers, partners, clients, friends,
family members, and others.
Perhaps it is my Catholic upbringing, but the thought of receiving this Casino Marketing Lifetime Achievement Award
makes me wonder about all of the truly worthy gaming industry leaders who have not yet received it. It makes me a little
sad that the dozens, perhaps hundreds, of people in my career who helped me earn it, are not being honored with their
own Award as well.
And it makes me truly miss my late mom and dad, Helen and Joe, who only saw me early in my gaming career when
they thought I was wasting my Stanford education and promising future, to serve drinks, pitch cards and deal dice in an
industry that, to them, looked like it had little future and little redeeming social value.
Well, Mom and Dad, I’ll be thinking of you when I accept my Award. And I want you to know that our industry has created a lot of value in a lot of ways. It has given your grandkids, your daughter-in-law and your son a wonderful life, it has
challenged and engaged me for an entire career, and it has allowed me to meet and learn from some of the finest people
in any industry, anywhere.
Not a half-bad lifetime, wouldn’t you say?
Sincerely,
Dennis Conrad
Honored, Humbled, Proud, and a Little Embarrassed
Cover model: Can casinos strategically use food and beverage
to generate additional gaming revenue? How can a casino’s
mix of food outlets, quality and service be used as an effective
marketing tool? Meet Raving’s newest Partner, Dennis Khanh,
on page 20 to find out the answers to these questions.
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Raving Consulting | 475 Hill Street, Suite G | Reno, NV 89501 | Tel: 775-329-7864 | Fax: 775-329-4947 | ravingconsulting.com
LEADERSHIP & INNOVATION
Make the Most of Geek-Speak and
Accomplish Your Strategic Goals
Take time to make your data analyst your partner
By Toby O’Brien
During my early years in the
gaming business, both at
properties and as a consultant, there really weren’t many
“data analysts.” In those days,
the employees who provided
marketing with information,
reports and what little measurement we had available,
were often in the IT department. You asked for what you
thought you wanted, and they
tried to bring it to you. There was little communication
and even less understanding … on both sides.
arrived at the office I was borrowing with a hip-high
stack of printed, green bar reports. They had printed the
data on every single players club member since the opening of the property. “That’s what you asked for,” they said.
On the last page, at the bottom of the huge stack of green
and white-striped, pin-fed computer paper, was the summary … the only sheet I really needed.
I used to joke about the fact that any time I requested
something from a casino client’s IT department, a group
of at least four guys (there weren’t many females working in IT then) would show up at the office I was using.
When I’d ask why it took so many employees to get the
job done, the explanation was usually that some were in
training or that only some had the knowledge about the
particular topic. Maybe they were just insecure. Maybe
some were good at numbers and others were better at
communicating. Maybe it was just more fun. The IT
march always reminded me of the soldiers guarding the
castle of the Wicked Witch of the West.
Since then, I have learned significantly more about the
business and about working with real data analysts. They
may have quirky personalities (fed by all that geeky stuff
that interests them). They may have a dry sense of humor
that isn’t immediately apparent. It can be challenging for
them to translate their knowledge from geek-speak to
applicable, strategic information. Marketers don’t always
speak their language. They are often some of the most
intelligent people on the property. And they CAN get
you what you need if you invite them to partner with
you. You just need to spend some time in each other’s
worlds.
I remember working with a gaming client back in 2002.
It was one of my first consulting gigs, and while I was
trying to prove my value to the casino management
team, I wasn’t exactly welcomed by all the departments
outside of marketing. “Meddler” would probably best
describe my image.
Here are my guiding principles for developing a relationship with your data analysts:
Trying to acquire information from the player database,
I asked the head of IT to provide some basic data regarding the number of active players club members. What I
really wanted was a simple summary … how many players were in the database, how many had played in the
past twelve months, average frequency of visits, average
amount of play (what we now would refer to as ADT).
At the time, I probably wasn’t particularly clear about
what I needed. But they seemed peeved at what I was
requesting; in those days, it could take many, many hours
to run the reports to get the data needed. And their way
of demonstrating their disapproval was in the chosen
method of delivery: the following morning, the IT team
I couldn’t believe the number of trees they must have
killed in order to make their point, but I did the one
thing that changed our relationship forever: I laughed.
Out loud. Until tears ran down my face. They knew that
I knew. And they laughed, too. And we became buddies
ever after, for the five years that I worked with the team.
1.Include them in your earliest strategy and planning
sessions. Going to an analyst at the end of a project and
demanding information, deteriorates their ability to
help you. If they know your goals and your measurement criteria upfront, they can design the reporting
medium to gather pertinent data at the beginning of the
project, and have appropriate comparisons at the end.
2.Don’t tell them what reports you want; tell them what
you are trying to understand. Data analysts are good at
translating your needs into appropriate report information. You may think you want them to give you a ton of
numbers, when instead they can streamline the information in order to fulfill your desire to figure out what
direction to take next.
3.More isn’t always merrier. Endless spreadsheets may
not be as important as strategic information that helps
you make decisions. I worked with a data analyst who
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was used to producing hundreds of reports every week
for a prior Marketing Director. When I advised him that
I was more interested in the data that enabled me to do
comparisons and make strategic decisions, he was able to
unbury my email inbox and focus my reports in order to
support my way of doing business.
4.Get everyone on the same page, and be realistic about
expectations. Has the executive team agreed upon the
kind of information that will enable group decisionmaking? Is your data analyst just working for the marketing department? Or do his/her responsibilities include
creating reports and providing analysis for the entire
management team? Data analysis takes time and focus;
everyone’s expectations should match the quantity and
variety of work being asked for … or quality will suffer.
5.Enter the strange world of Geek, Inc., once in a while.
Maybe I’m biased because my son has a big streak of
geek, but take the time to listen to what interests your
data analyst. A collection of Star Trek figurines, endless nights playing Dungeons and Dragons, memorizing
thousands of Seinfeld quotes, calculating sports statistics
on everything from football to the Triple Crown … it
may not be your personal bag, but what the heck, you
might learn something new as your relationship develops. Data analysts have a wide variety of interests, and it
doesn’t hurt to engage them … they could someday be
your “phone-a-friend”!
This article is dedicated to the best data analysts I have
met throughout my career, who have supported my success, and sometimes were responsible for it: Onie, Roy,
Terrell, Mike, and Nicole. I salute you!
The difference is in the details.
Creating Destinations That Inspire.
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encompass-ddc.com
Level 5 Leaders
How the success or failure of your organization depends on these few
By Sean Vestal
He was in Las Vegas for the
Global Gaming Expo. The
casino he hailed from was far
different from the fairy-tale
casino that he found himself in.
He had read the articles and the
books, but he wanted to see for
himself if the Wynn Resort was
as beautiful and wonderful as
everybody had said it was.
Immediately, he was mesmerised by the extreme attention to detail. As he ran his
thumb across the stitching on the top of the slot machine
chair, he was struck by the gentle softness of the white
leather. His gaze lifted to the casino, where he delighted
in the way that the woven fabrics danced in perfect contrast to the marble floor.
He had a brief moment when his eyes relaxed their
focus, and the light, textures, and people all seemed to
blend, like a beautiful painting come to life. All his senses
were enjoying this moment, even the air in the casino
smelled like lilacs to him.
As he moved just off of the casino floor into a restaurant,
something unexpected happened. Steve Wynn himself
had appeared before him.
Now, to this young casino executive hailing from a rural
casino, seeing Steve Wynn in the flesh was the equivalent of catching a glimpse of a unicorn or snatching a
leprechaun. In fact, this was a bit of a Halley’s Comet
moment, because he had the pleasure of observing Mr.
Wynn on the casino floor, actually inspecting the intricacies of his empire.
Mr. Wynn walked toward him and stopped. He looked
up at a light outside the restaurant, shook his head, and
whipped out his cell phone. He was awestruck and even
a bit nervous, as he was close enough to eavesdrop on
Mr. Wynn’s phone call.
Initially, he was surprised by the cantankerous nature of
the phone call, but ultimately he was more impressed
by the thorough expectations that Mr. Wynn had for his
casino. After all, Mr. Wynn spent ten minutes on the
phone, because one light in a sea of lights was not exactly
perfect. He described with crystal clarity his high expectations, and seemed quite unsettled at the notion that
“good enough” would ever fly in his world.
He felt a little apprehensive when Mr. Wynn hung up the
phone, but if he ever wanted to introduce himself, now
was the time to swallow his fear and go for it. He acted
decisively, got out from behind his table, and extended
his hand in introduction.
I tell this story as I reflect on how important leadership is to our success as an industry. One of the great
privileges of being a consultant is the gift of perspective.
I get a lot of exposure to how different leaders run their
businesses.
I have witnessed leaders who are convinced they know
everything, and create cultures of blame and accusation. I have witnessed leaders who focus solely on their
P&L, and completely forget about their customers and
the people who serve them. I have witnessed selfless
leaders, smart leaders, leaders who inspire, and even the
occasional leader who you may want to take a bullet for
because they are so awesome.
What I can tell you is I firmly believe that quality leadership is a key ingredient in how successful a casino
ultimately becomes. One of my favorite authors, the
acclaimed business writer Jim Collins, often discusses
the importance of leadership in his books.
I thought it would be interesting to share with you a
summary of what Jim Collins refers to as a “Level 5
leader.” For those readers who don’t know Jim Collins,
he is a business consultant and author, who has spent
the last 25 years researching what makes the highest
performing companies in the world better than their
competitors. He writes frequently for the Harvard Business Review, and he has written several bestselling books,
like Good to Great and Built to Last.
In his research, Jim Collins has found that the best
leaders in the highest performing companies, all had
very similar traits. He often discovered their overlapping traits when he would interview these leaders for his
books. It occurred to him that they all seemed to answer
his questions in the same way, and had very similar leadership philosophies.
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In his work, Jim Collins outlines an entire hierarchy of
leadership. He has leaders from Level 1 to Level 5. He
refers to these super leaders as Level 5 leaders. The Level
5 leaders have all the qualities of the other leaders, plus
some unique traits. Here is a quick summary of the key
traits that he finds in these leaders.
1.The best leaders have an unrelenting, professional will. Simply, the best leaders have high standards and high expectations. Their unwillingness to
accept anything less than their high standards and
expectations, is often what drives company performance.
They have an unwavering resolve to produce the
best long-term result, no matter how difficult it may
be. They take facts around them into account, but
they have an unbreakable faith that their company
will prevail, no matter what the challenge. They
seem to have a belief that tomorrow will always be
better than today, and if today is bad, it could always
be worse.
2.The best leaders get the best people on the
bus. The best leaders have a knack for identifying
and collecting the most talented employees in the
marketplace. They find ways to put those employees
in positions that maximize their strengths, and they
develop those employees to be better than themselves.
The best leaders do not suffer fools easily. The
employees who are not a right fit for their company,
need to get off the bus immediately. The best
leaders understand the importance of human
capital; they incorporate their same high standards
into the businesspeople who they choose to
surround themselves with.
3.The best leaders exhibit personal humility. The
best leaders shun public adulation, and they are
never boastful. They channel their ambition into the
cause of the company; their ambition is never selfserving.
The best leaders ALWAYS attribute the success
of the company to the individuals on their team.
If these leaders are pushed beyond to comment
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on their own individual importance, they often
attribute their own individual success to blind luck,
or to surrounding themselves with the best people.
Success is absolutely never about them.
However, when things are wrong, the best leaders
always look in the mirror. The best leaders always
accept full responsibility for mistakes; they do not
blame others or external factors.
To bring this article full circle, I will return to the beginning of the story. A co-worker of mine at my first casino,
really met Steve Wynn while he was inspecting the
lighting on his casino floor. He was impressed with his
incredibly high standards and his commitment to his
company. He was also impressed that he would take the
time to have a nice conversation with him, and he was
even more impressed when Mr. Wynn recalled hiring
another co-worker of ours at the Mirage 20 years earlier.
I am not sure if Steve Wynn is a Level 5 leader, since I
have never met him. Though I do wonder if his immense
success has to do with his incredibly high standards, and
the pride he takes in walking his floor to make sure that
every light is perfect.
Marketing Technology
Don’t get caught up in another frenzy and throw the baby out with the
bath water
By Jeff Gorovitz
The casino industry rode the
crest of technology for many
years, making the guests’ experience faster and more efficient
through technologically-driven
systems.
Before the economy crashed,
many casinos engaged in “tech
frenzy buying” – grabbing
every piece of software available, without a clear vision of
how one piece fits with another or what it will accomplish.
Despite the abundance of various systems you have
purchased, chances are that your property cannot
match consumption data from even one amenity back
to a loyalty club member. All this technology, yet all
that most casinos can measure is their guest’s play!
THOUGHTS ON SOLUTIONS
• Focus on your players and return to personalized
service and relevant communication, enhanced, not
impeded, by technology.
• Recognize the scope of the problem and make the
financial commitment to resolve it.
• Start with an internal assessment – an evaluation
defining what information needs to be tied together
and what technology you already have collecting
pieces of that information.
• Contact several consultancies that integrate data.
Ask them to help you map a progressive integration
plan – start with mission critical.
• Hire the one with the most logical and affordable
plan, and get it in writing.
Even while many operators need to be focusing
their IT energy on integrating the systems that they
already have, there is a new tech craze luring them.
APPS!
To hear some, no property will survive without an app,
but buyer beware!
DON’T REPEAT THE PROBLEM
• When evaluating apps (and other web-based
marketing tools), separate the shiny stuff (features)
from the benefits that will help you connect to and
understand your patrons.
• Ask, does the app or other electronic platform
allow patrons to communicate with the casino?
• Is it capable of asking players what makes them
tick, and then transferring that knowledge to a
place where their personal data can be evaluated
alongside their behavioral information from the
casino?
• Is it built on an iGaming platform?
• If yes, especially where Sovereign Tribal Casinos
are concerned, ask who controls the gaming
content. Will the buyer self-direct its iGaming
vendor negotiations? Or will the app provider
restrict content?
• Ask about what data the app provides, who owns it,
and how easily it will integrate with other internal
data. MAKE SURE that your unique player data
can’t be sold, assigned, transferred or used by any
third party.
• Do your own research – Is an age 45+ gamer likely
to use an app? Is that their key touch point?
We asked 15,000 casino players who access webbased casino portals about how they want to
receive information from their casino, and
aggregated the results.
Roughly half want offers to be communicated
through email, and the other half still prefers mail.
An insignificant percentage said text message.
While we’re still gathering responses on app usage
from players, empirical research (see www.
comscore.com) indicates that people in our core
gaming group (age 45+) do use apps, primarily for
social media, navigation, banking, and games.
Facebook is the number one app across all age
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categories. Social media, games and radio account
for half of total app engagement time, while search
and other categories vary, depending on whether
they use IOS or Android platforms for tablets and
cell phones.
older players. The US has a high penetration/usage rate
across most age demographics for Internet use, but smartphone ownership in the core casino demographics is still
a little over half. Your casino will benefit by going the extra
mile to accommodate your players – whether through
mail, web, or applications.
While many of our players still want to be communicated
to by mail, many prefer electronic communication. Electronic communication is a NOW issue. It can be instantaneous, highly relevant to the individual player, and much
less expensive. For those who want that means of communication – fulfill their preference. Research all the options.
At age 54, monthly app hours usage takes a
significant downturn and is about 2/3 that of the
younger than age 35 segment.
Mobile engagement (including search browser
time) accounts for 60% of the total, with desktop
occupying the remaining 40%.
A 2014 Pew Research project reports that 92.9%
of American adults between ages 18 and 64 have
Internet access. 57% of age 65+ have Internet access.
Nielsen reports that 64% of US adults own
a smartphone, and 54% of ages 50-64 own a
smartphone. This would indicate that while mobile
engagement has surpassed desktops, it is driven
more by younger users.
This body of research indicates that the core gaming
customer of age 45+ is less likely to use apps than younger
players, but they are very likely to use the Internet, more
so via desktop/laptop, and to a lesser degree via mobile
web. Based on this research, a layered communication
approach through mail, email, web (desktop and mobile),
and apps would seem to be the best way to communicate
with our core players and accommodate our younger upand-coming demographic. This research also leads us to
conclude that a transition will take place from more conventional device access to mobile engagement, and as our
younger age demographics reach the 45+ threshold, apps
will be much more important and likely the main source
of iGaming engagement.
CONCLUSION
Technology can and should be core to a personalized
player communication strategy, and integrating as many
touch points as possible is key. Keep in mind that the
newer the technology, the slower it is adopted by our
Where apps are concerned, realize no app is a “be-all, endall,” but they should be viewed as a component, or tactic,
of the current player communication strategy. A preferred
means of communication by a small segment of our
overall player population, and not the popular choice of
engagement by our current core gaming customer – but
an important element in the not-too-distant future.
The moral of this story is to fix your existing integration problems, do true due diligence when assessing any
and all electronic player communication, accommodate
your players’ wishes, and above all, don’t get caught up
in another frenzy and throw the baby out with the bath
water. Don’t create new problems … there’s probably
already an app for that!
The Ultimate Player Portal
and App!
A web based, player portal communication solution
from player to casino and casino to player. Accessible
from the player’s device of choice, with a mobile app.
Proven ROI!
www.focusonyourplayers.com
8
1.888.769.3342
How to Create and Manage Your Own
In-House Research Panel
Avoid the tremendous cost of making bad business decisions
By Deb Hilgeman, Ph.D.
I’ve often written and lectured about the simplicity and
affordability of survey software
programs, such as QuestionPro, which is what I use for
my research. This software
costs about $100 a month, and
enables your casino to conduct
customer research that takes
the guesswork out of marketing decisions. What are you
doing right, and what can you
improve? What competitors are your customers visiting,
and why? How do your club members rate your benefits? How can you improve your promotions? The list of
topics for customer surveys is endless.
This article explains how you can amp up your survey
program by setting up an online survey panel. This is
simply a pre-recruited pool of respondents, who agree
to give you feedback about any research topics that you
choose.
Rather than sending out mass email invitations for surveys, if you set up a panel, you can categorize members
by gaming activity, zip code, income, loyalty behavior,
age, gender – whatever descriptors you want to include.
Some of the key benefits of having an online panel
include:
1.Research quality – You recruit and manage the
panel, so you are in control of the sample
and quality.
2.Convenience –
Whether you
want to conduct
a survey to find
out what motivates Millennials
or to test promo-
tion ideas, you have pre-approved access to qualified
respondents.
3.Increased reliance on analytics – Having an easily
accessible online panel encourages companies to
conduct more research and make significant business decisions based on research, as opposed to
guesswork and gut feelings. Moreover, online panels
contribute to analytical research that can be crosslinked with data from other sources, such as your
tracking system.
4.Cost – The cost of making a bad business decision
can be huge. By using an online panel, you can test
ideas before committing, so bad ideas are weeded
out or modified before you spend money and effort
on changes or initiatives that won’t deliver what you
expect or need.
Getting Started
The first step is to create a Panel Portal website that your
panel members will use for administrative processes,
as well as the site where they log in and take surveys.
This website should explain the following concepts very
clearly:
• Privacy policy and spam considerations –
Privacy is a very big consideration for users giving
out their personal information, such as email
addresses and other demographic data. Be very
clear in explaining your privacy policy. Also, be
sure to explain what is done with the data that is
collected.
• Prizes/Gifts: Policies and
restrictions – Spell out
how you plan on
compensating the
panel members for
their time. This could
be a free buffet or free
play coupon for each
person completing the
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survey, up to a certain quota that you set. Or you
can offer a fixed cash prize amount, with a certain
number of winners (randomly choose five $100 cash
winners, etc.). Incentives can vary by survey.
• Age limitations – Clearly explain age restrictions.
• FAQs – Compile a list of FAQs. Anticipate what
users will ask, and you can also add to the FAQs as
time goes by.
• Problem resolution – Designate a person to
respond to panel member concerns and questions,
so that they know they are being heard and
responded to, as opposed to sending an email to a
generic inbox.
• Contact information for further questions –
Make sure that you provide members with other
contact information (phone, email, etc.) if they have
further questions regarding membership.
Finding Members
The idea behind all the different modes of recruitment is
to drive users to your panel website, where users can sign
up and agree to be part of the panel. You can recruit by
adding links to your existing website, where you can ask
viewers if they’d be interested in joining an online survey
panel. You can also recruit members from other surveys.
When customers participate in one of your surveys, you
can ask a final question about if the users are interested
in joining a panel. And you can use existing mediums,
such as direct mail and casino signage, to publicize panel
recruitment.
Demographic Survey/Data
Once customers agree to be panelists and participate in
future surveys, the next step is presenting them with a
profile survey. The profile asks for key data elements (age,
gender, income, etc.) that you consider vital for segmentation. Customers must answer all of the profile questions
in order to be on the panel. This process would all be on
your Panel Portal website.
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Survey Delivery
When you’re ready to conduct a survey, send an email to
panelists explaining the research objective, as well as the
compensation being offered. This enables the respondent
to match his/her interests with yours. Panel members are
then directed to the Panel Portal, sign up with their email
address and password, and take the survey.
Follow-Up and Cross-Linking Data for Further Analysis
It is generally considered a good practice to share summary results with the panel members. This has a “buyin” effect for the panel members. Most users would like
to know how their individual thoughts compare to the
generalized population. It is not necessary to make all of
the results public, but sharing an executive summary with
the panel members increases your chance for member
participation the next time around.
Conclusion
Your casino may not be ready for an in-house survey
panel yet, but as casino marketers and executives, you
already know the value of reliable data when making the
best decisions. One of the goals of a panel-based research
initiative is to encourage analytical business decisionmaking. An online panel not only encourages members
within your organization to rely on research practices, but
it also enables you to deliver forward-thinking solutions
that complement your marketing initiatives. As market
research continues to evolve, creating in-house survey
panels is the step that many companies will be considering.
If your plate is too full to do this on your own, know that
this “Doctor makes house calls.” Contact Amy Hergenrother
at 775-329-7864, or via email at [email protected], for information on in-house customer research,
survey setup, etc.
Creating Value in an Industry That Enriches
People’s Lives
Dennis Conrad and Steve Browne are honored this July for their work in the
casino industry
By Christine Faria
Steve Browne will
be the first one to
tell you that if you’re
working in the
gaming industry and
you don’t believe
that what you do
enriches people’s
lives, then you’re in
the wrong business.
Dennis will nod his
head in agreement, and add that if you really want to make
a difference to a guest, make it easy for them to do business with you. AND listen to what your customers want
and actually GIVE IT TO THEM.
With these simple messages, both Steve and Dennis have
impacted thousands of casino employees; and as partners,
they created a brand and a standard for training in the
gaming industry.
As Dennis expressed in his Message from the President previously in this issue, both he and Steve are humbled to have
been chosen to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award at
the Casino Marketing & Technology Conference this July.
They’ll both tell you that it’s been a fun ride, and continues
to be so. In regards to the Award, they use the old line that
they are “a little suspicious of any club that would have US as
members.”
With that having been said, we asked a few
of their friends, mentors and “students”
(unbeknownst to Steve and Dennis) about
why they thought these two guys deserved
such a prestigious award.
Angie Groeneveld, Director of Hospitality,
Harrah’s Ak-Chin Casino
“I first met Dennis in Las Vegas when I
joined Holiday Casino in 1990. He was the
crazy guy having fun on the casino floor
with guests. It took me a while to understand what he really did!!!
“In 1992, I was very fortunate to be selected
as one of five emerging leaders from our
property for ‘Excellence in Management’
(EIM) (see photos on the left). This is when
I got to know and appreciate this man. We were quite the
diverse group: Dennis the marketer, Rick from Security,
Jerry in Casino Operations, and Rudy in F&B. I was in
Hotel Operations then, and the only female in the group.
We enjoyed the time that we spent together working,
learning and partying (there was always time for that).
Our presentation on the transition from Holiday Casino
to Harrah’s was highly applauded by the CEO, and envied
by all of the other teams. “The friendship we formed has strengthened throughout
the years. It has extended to our families, and although we
may not see each other as often as I would like, we know
that we can always count on each other. I am so happy
that he is receiving this much-deserved award, not just for
his contributions to casino marketing, but for the humanitarian that he is. Congratulations, ‘RADCON’!”
Kirk Houser, VP of Casino Marketing,
L’auberge Casino Resort Lake Charles
“Steve’s commitment, hard work, and
knowledge of Player Development, sets
him apart as a leader in our industry.
Everyone who knows Steve is aware that
he is a man whose integrity is beyond
reproach. Steve is responsible for creating a systematic approach that results in
successful acquisition, retention and reactivation of casino
customers; he gives his clients results … not excuses.
Perhaps most refreshing is that Steve believes his business
is more of a creative endeavor, and in teaching what he
knows, he is able to keep a group both engaged and eager
to follow his path of success. I am so grateful for his contributions and for the innovative approach that he brings
to the changing needs and evolution of Casino Marketing.
Congratulations on this well-deserved recognition!”
John O’Looney, Retired Casino
Executive
“Back in 1988, seems like just yesterday, I was transferred from Atlantic
City to Las Vegas as VP of Casino
Operations. I arrived in Las Vegas
not knowing a single soul, and got
put into the middle of the infamous
‘good old boy network.’ As I looked
around for someone to befriend me,
11
I came across a delightful fellow named, Captain Casino.
The Captain was the most energetic, committed, and
truly innovative casino marketing individual I had ever
run into. He was a dashing figure in his captain’s jacket
and the very stylish captain’s cap he wore. At the time, he
was promoting ‘Fun 21’ on the casino floor, and nothing in the way of funky promotions was off-limits. The
Captain and I bonded and worked together until destiny
and his creative juices led him to create Raving. I am very
proud to be a friend and mentor to the Captain. To the
Captain, aka Dennis Conrad, I say congratulations and
well-deserved.”
Larry Close, Retired Casino Executive
“From the time I first met Steve Browne
at Del Webb’s High Sierra at Lake Tahoe
in the late 80’s, where I served as General Manager and he worked in Table
Games (in those days ‘the Pit’), I was
impressed with the enthusiasm he had
for his job – and the positive way that
he treated our customers. As opposed
to the majority of our dealers, he created noticeable interactions with his players, engaging
them in friendly conversation. The seats at his table were
always full. And despite the conversation, he always met
his required hands per hour. He learned as much from his
guests as they learned from him. He was curious about
where they came from, what they planned to do during
their visit, and how many times they had come before.
See, even in those early days, he was database marketing
(a term that would not be used in our business until many
years later). He offered new ideas to anyone who would
listen, and wrinkled his nose noticeably to the response,
‘we’ve always done it this way.’ He later took his ideas to
Carson City, where, as owner and GM at Cactus Jacks
Casino, he implemented them, refined them, and reaped
the positive results. He has unselfishly shared those ideas
during his career, which has spanned almost 40 years.
That positivity, passion and enthusiasm I first saw in Steve
has never left him. Thank goodness, because we have all
been the benefactors. Steve, you have plenty left to do
in your lifetime, but it’s been long overdue to recognize
you for the significant contributions that you have made
to casino marketing and our industry. Congratulations,
buddy! Can’t wait for your next best thing.”
12
Steven Neely, Chief Marketing
Officer, Casino Del Sol Resort
“There are very few people who
have had the impact on my career,
or has taught me as much as Dennis
Conrad. The reality is that I may
not still be in the business, if not for
Dennis and a chance encounter at
my first World Gaming Conference.
Here I was, a newbie in the biz,
struggling to figure out if I had made the right decision to
leave a different, very successful, career in another industry, and I end up at several ‘sessions’ with both Dennis and
the late John Romero. While I cannot remember the exact
words, I do remember the lessons that were taught that
week, which have continued to guide my career to this
day.
• Plan. It really is amazing how simple this is, but
how, as marketers, we often ‘make it up as we go,’
and oftentimes screw it up badly!
• Do smart things. Of course, item 1 often feeds
item 2, and if you don’t do smart things, you just
may end up on the list of promotions that were, well,
not smart that Dennis would be sharing at the next
conference.
• Do the math. Yes, marketing people, basic
arithmetic comes in handy. Figure out what your
exposure is, and what it could be if things go
wrong. Also, talk to people who know, before doing
something that you don’t know …
• Challenge the status quo. This lesson was
especially helpful for me at that time, because I was
the young guy looking at things through a new lens,
and facing seasoned veterans who ‘had always done
things a certain way.’ Unfortunately for this group,
the industry was changing rapidly, and they were not
really ready for it.
• Stay out of your office. You learn more in 20
minutes wandering around the casino floor, than you
will spending a week in your office. See, be seen, find
things to challenge, and fix things you find that are
broken.
• Take some chances. You will never know if you
don’t try, don’t be ‘that guy’ who sits around and
wonders about what would have happened. I see
what Dennis has done with his company, and I
am happy for him. Certainly, he could have lived a
comfortable life doing property ‘stuff,’ but instead he
went out on his own and has touched thousands of
lives by doing so, and I am guessing that he had a lot
more fun.
• Be passionate about what you do. I think more
than anything else on that cold October occasion
was that Dennis was absolutely passionate about
what he did, what the industry was all about, and the
people who he interacted with, and that resonated
with me. Over the past couple of years, I have really
seen a rebirth of this with Dennis through his work
with the NB3 Foundation, and I see that passion that
I remember. • Tell the story. We, as marketers, have become
very transactional – you spend this much, you
get that much. But we do not have ‘customers,’ we
have ‘people,’ and people like a good story. Give
them a compelling story, and they will give you the
transaction.
“There are many more, some are actually fit to print, but
you get the idea. Dennis, on this special occasion, allow
me to publicly say, thank you! I am not sure that I would
still be enjoying the career I have, without your inspiration, and I am certain that I would never have had the
level of success, and the amount of fun, I have enjoyed if
not for you.”
Jon Lucas, Executive Vice President of
Operations-Hotels & Casinos, Hard
Rock International
“I have known Steve Browne for a long
time, but each time I see him, I am
amazed. Steve ALWAYS brings passion,
enthusiasm, energy and knowledge.
Having been an operator, he brings
real-life experiences to the classroom.
His ability to keep people engaged, interested, and awake
never ceases to amaze me. Thomas J. Walsh, Gaming and Tourism
Reporter, Reno Gazette-Journal, 20022005
“Though I once lived in Nevada and was
hired by the Reno Gazette-Journal to write
about the business of gaming, I’ve never
been much of a gambler. A few good hands
of poker at a couple of sodden bachelor
parties is the extent of my table game prowess. But I do
like the ambiance of certain gaming halls, from a nononsense ‘local’ joint to the swankiest of resort spas. Still,
with gaming new to me, I needed a rabbi, and I found
one in Dennis Conrad. If there was ever a man who could
whip an agnostic into a frenzy of appreciation over the
casino business done right, it most surely is Dennis. A
quick story: Feeling like I should be more in-tune with
the heart of my beat, I once asked Dennis to show me
how to play craps at the Siena in Reno (I liked the Siena
because it sat along the river and had elegant décor). It
was hopeless, but Dennis obliged, putting on a veritable
clinic while charming the other players and the dealer
(who he knew, of course), while nailing an 11 on the first
roll and never looking back. Eclipsing a grand in winnings
over the course of my short tutorial, I hazily recall rolling
a few dice on my own with some of his winnings. Mainly
though, I remember the joie de vivre of a man utterly in
his element, the $100 chip he flipped to the dealer afterwards, and the one he stuck in my shirt pocket, with
instructions to pick a bottle of the best pinot noir in the
Siena wine cellar. Dennis couldn’t really teach me to play
craps, but I never stopped learning from a guy who has
made his industry a fascinating one, better for his having
observed it so thoroughly, and best of all, a helluva lot of
fun.”
“Of course, his passion and love of the Hard Rock brand
is particularly appealing to me (for selfish and obvious
reasons). Steve ‘gets’ customer service, and sees it, as I do,
as a real differentiator in our business, something that can
set you apart from the competition. I appreciate all that
Steve has done for me and my teams over the years. He is
truly deserving of this award.
“Rock on, Steve!”
13
How to Fit Bingo into Your Loyalty Program
One program. Divergent strategies.
By Nicole Barker
You’ve tried to force it. You’ve tried
to stretch it, tweak it, fold it, and
bend it; but making Bingo and Slots
fit into the same loyalty program
is worse than fitting a square peg
into a round hole. It’s worse because
you are trying to force your backof-the-house strategies to serve
two unlike Game Types in order to
please players who will not appreciate the final product.
Ultimately, you will try too hard behind the scenes and
end up royally confusing your customers. One set of
rewards should not be manipulated into serving another.
That’s when overinvestment and unsustainable entitlement begin.
There’s got to be a better way.
There is.
The first step is to embrace what you can and cannot do
for your customers. A loyalty program in its worst form
is a program that tries to make all people happy all of the
time. If you try to manipulate your Points, Direct Marketing, and Promotions to serve everyone equally, no
one will be satisfied. The math can be perfected, but its
interpretation will be a muddled mess.
Step One: Be Honest with Your Bingo Players
Bingo has been around a long time. Veteran Bingo
marketers know what promotions are popular when
and with what customers. Veteran Bingo marketers
know how to upsell on the floor. We have conditioned our players to expect a varied
calendar of events and to count on
how to make the most out of
our specials. Frankly, we have
invested about as much as we
can. But that doesn’t mean that
we can’t involve a Bingo player in
our property’s loyalty program. It just
means that our Bingo friends will not be
receiving Bingo coupons as part of our Direct
Marketing program based solely on their Bingo
play. We won’t be sending them Slot Free Play unless
14
they earn it playing Slots either.
Step Two: Build Multiple Strategies for Different
Player Types
One program does not fit all players. We are not in the
loyalty business to be equitable. We are in the loyalty
business to favor business that either contributes the
lion’s share of our profits, or represents a greater avenue
of incremental growth. That doesn’t mean that Slot play
trumps Bingo play. That just means that we will value
benefits based on what we can do with the behaviors that
we see.
People play for different reasons. Along those lines, players are motivated by different incentives. The first step
is to drop your players in to different buckets to get to
know what drives their business; the smaller the bucket,
the more relevant the value proposition.
Data analysis is about carving finer and
finer slices from a big slab of information: the order in which you
approach how you trim
the pieces, matters. The
first step is to gather all the
players who have significant
value to you: not your top players, not your bottom feeders, but
choose a starting point and cast
your net.*
Bucket 1: Slot Only Players
This player doesn’t need Bingo offers. They came
for Slots, let them play Slots. Well-traveled loyalty
tools that use Points, Direct Marketing, Promotions,
Tiered Cards, and Player Development have been
perfected to cater to this segment.
Bucket 2: Bingo Only Players
This player doesn’t need Slot offers. Try as you might
to throw Slot Free Play in this direction, few will bite.
A handful of players may migrate over to the Slot
area to take advantage of a Free Play Coupon, but few
will continue to use your Players Club Card or take
money out of their wallet to fog a mirror. Let them
play Bingo. They like it.
Bucket 3: Slot Dominant Players
At some point, a player favors one game type over
another. Let’s say that this is at 60-plus percent. Carve
away all the players who divide their wallet across Slot
and Bingo, but favor Slots more than 60%. Get to know
this group. Is there a trend for when these players play
Bingo? Do they play Bingo with friends or family, and
then cross over to the Slot floor when they want to play
by themselves? Do they earn enough to get Direct Marketing Free Play Coupons, or is their Bingo budget keeping them from an ADT that is high enough to receive
recognition for their Slot play?
Bucket 4: Bingo Dominant Players
Why are these players throwing some of their attention over the fence? Are they playing Slots because they
assume that the loyalty program favors Slot play? Are
they playing just enough to become eligible for Direct
Marketing and Tier-based rewards? How new is their
Slot play? Are they dabbling in Slots to see if they like
it? Do they only play Slots while they are waiting for the
next Bingo session to begin? In many cases, Bingo players have a wallet that is bigger than what they can spend
playing Bingo. Slot play provides the rush that they are
looking for, and a means to keep the excitement going
after their Bingo session ends.
Getting to know why your players play the way they
do will begin to clarify what you want to accomplish
by incorporating Bingo and Slot play into a cohesive
loyalty program. Player Development and a Tiered
Card program is where the two game types can come
together. This is where a loyalty program can recognize
both sectors of your business. Start with the players’ likes
and dislikes first, and then build your strategies to match
their preferences and motivators. Most successful strategies within a loyalty program are based upon recognition and well-deployed touch points, over the addition of
other costly benefits.
*Note: Proper data analysis for disparate game types
begins with a common means to value the business. Once
you find a way to evaluate Theoretical, count unique
players even if they play different games, and assess Trips
according to gaming days that a player visits the gaming
floor, you can begin to co-mingle your analysis across
game types.
15
Why Integrity Audits Need to Be a Priority
What every GM and Director should know about stopping losses at
their casino
By Derk Boss
Recently, I wrote an article
about the need for and the
value of integrity audits.
Since then, I have been
asked by readers several
times to further explain
what an integrity audit is,
how it is set up, and what
should be audited.
Because I believe strongly
in the use of integrity
audits as one of the components of a robust loss prevention program, and
their ability to detect the criminal activity occurring
underneath the surface, I think it is important to
address these questions more thoroughly.
By now, most of you know, or should know, that one
of the biggest problems any business organization
has is employee theft. It is generally estimated that
we can expect to lose 5% of our gross revenue to
this type of theft alone. I can tell you sincerely that I
believe that number. It may be even more!
If that is so, then we should be able to find employee
theft on a regular basis. However, it is usually
hidden quite effectively by the employee committing
the theft. Additionally, employee theft nowadays
is taking place in non-traditional areas, such as the
players club, bars and restaurants, nightclubs and
pools, as well as at gaming tables and in slots.
It’s important to keep in mind that we’re not talking
about the theft of someone’s tips or a couple hundred dollars. By the time they are detected, these
thefts and fraud may cost a property in the tens
of thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars
range.
Employees know where the cameras are and what
they can get away with. They are especially adept at
camouflaging their activity. In fact, the theft, viewed
through the camera and without knowing what
the customer ordered or said, may appear perfectly
normal, thus, the integrity audit. It is used to place
trained personnel into these areas to pose as customers to see how the employee handles their transaction. For example, a shopper orders and receives
16
a beer at a bar. He places cash to pay for the beer
on the bar and walks away. The bartender picks up
the cash and places it directly into his toke bucket.
Because surveillance is covering the shopper and
the bar with video, a clear case of theft is identified.
Another case we worked occurred in a nightclub.
Shoppers posed as customers and, within an hour,
were approached by employees who would provide
“certain services” for a fee. This is certainly something
nobody wants to have happen at their property. The
property was able to use that information to quickly
clean up the nightclub. We must use an undercover
shopper to conduct such integrity checks.
Setting Up a Shopper Program
• Select a reputable and experienced shopper
service. In some states, Nevada being one, the
service must be licensed by the state in order to
perform shopper services. I recommend that
the shopper service have gaming experience.
It’s extremely difficult for a shopper to learn
what to look for on a gaming table in just a few
hours.
• Meet with the shopper team leader to identify
and detail what you would like to have
shopped, what you are concerned with, the
schedule for the shop, and to determine who
the shoppers can contact, if needed during the
shop. I often find that we develop information
that needs to be communicated immediately to
property leadership.
• Identify who will receive the information
generated by the shoppers. As even guest
service information can be sensitive, and
certainly observation of illicit activity is, access
to the information should be limited to only
those who need to know.
• I highly recommend that the shopper team
work with the surveillance department (unless
you are not comfortable doing so, for integrity
or performance reasons). In most cases,
working together allows the use of video as
evidence, if necessary.
• The first shop should set a baseline of service
and/or integrity. Future shops will check for
changes in service levels, employee behavior, and
adherence to controls, policies and procedures.
• Review the shopper reports and make necessary
changes.
• Maintain shopper reports for later review, if
necessary. Gaming properties can be requested
by gaming regulators and local law enforcement
agencies to provide evidence of a proactive
approach to keeping some venues (Night and Day
Clubs/Pools). Such reports and proactivity may
assist in the mitigation of potential fines.
The question of what should be audited is best answered
by first determining where you are most at risk. I think
such areas or activities should be checked as soon as
possible. For example, if Blackjack has been performing
poorly for quite a long period of time, the use of a shopper team may pinpoint the underlying issue.
After checking your high-risk areas, the next step is to
audit each of your service areas, such as bars, restaurants,
ticket sales, players club, etc. Doing so will assist you in
detecting existing illicit activity. As mentioned previously,
we are seeing a growing number of employee thefts and
frauds occurring in these areas. I suggest that integrity
audits be used on a regular and consistent basis, and serve
as one of the pillars of your loss prevention program.
The use of a shopper program can assist any gaming
property in ascertaining guest service levels and identifying existing internal theft and fraud.
It’s out there; we just have to find it.
Get More at Raving Online
We’ve got an enormous library online, on just about every topic that marketers and operators face in their
day-to-day business. Even we forget the depth of information our team has gathered since 1998!
Drop by www.ravingconsulting.com to find out about:
Direct mail vs.
email
Personalized marketing is
not a trend
Research reveals what
your customers want
Stop wasting your precious
marketing dollars being irrelevant
GMs are shocked …
How extending your secret
shopping to other areas will
uncover fraud and theft
Looking for something in particular? Articles on host development, free play, service challenges,
surveillance, players clubs? Just email Amy Hergenrother, [email protected], and she’ll find it!
17
How Developing Strategic Partnerships
(aka That Bad Word, “Outsourcing”) ...
Can be more profitable for your casino
By Kell Houston
successful business.
In today’s business world, partnerships are more important than ever
before. In our casino world, it is the
same. Often these partnerships get
referred to as outsourcing. Outsourcing just doesn’t sound as powerful as partnerships, and is often
misunderstood. The reality here is
that powerful and competent strategic partnerships are behind every
Everywhere you look, businesses are cutting back on
staff, trimming spending, and looking for ways to stretch
their budgets. Casinos are in the same boat. Employees
are being asked to do more with less money. They are
scrutinizing all expenditures, and they are asking for
accountability. Successful businesses leave clues, and
their partnerships are, for the most part, the difference.
How your casino can save money when you outsource
When it comes to the marketing and entertainment
departments in your casino, the same strategy applies.
Outside partnerships with advertising, marketing and
entertainment buying are a very important part of
the partnership process. Companies that specialize
in these specific areas are much more connected
to their respective business fields, than any
standalone casino person. Plus they have a
much broader view of the new trends and
success stories being created. Additionally,
they will get you the “real”
price. An outside company’s buying power
and experience will far
outweigh a standalone
buyer in a casino.
One of the common
misconceptions
about partnerships
with outside companies
is that the outside people
18
cost too much money. However, what is not being
understood is that the outside people are specialized,
experienced and very well-versed in their particular
field, with a lot of important relationships. How much
is too much money? If your outside company saves you
time, phone calls and research, plus gets you answers,
what is that worth? If they can bring options to the table
that you haven’t looked at before and that are successful,
what is that worth? Do you have time to go to all of the
conventions and conferences, and still get your job done
at the casino? Do you have time to sit on the phone all
day, building relationships and making calls? The bottom
line can be enhanced by your strategic partnerships.
When “I’ve gotta guy” makes more sense than trying
to buy entertainment in-house
For example, an inside entertainment buyer for a casino
is directed to get the concert entertainment booked
directly, and in doing so, the thought is that it will save
the casino money. An outside buyer is working with
a bigger picture scenario, and will know what is really
going on with that particular Artist and the routing that
the agency is working on. They also know what the “real”
price for the act should be. When it all gets added up, the
inside buyer is oftentimes easily paying
from 10-20% more for the Artist, or
even more.
Another unknown to an
inside buyer, is that
agencies representing
Artists have agendas. In their weekly
planning meetings, the
emphasis will shift to
and from which groups
need the most help in a
region, or which manager is pressuring the agency to book more
dates. The act you are being presented may not be the right act for
you, but for the agent, he has to
get that act booked in your terri-
LIFT
FOR
SERVICE
tory. They are pros at selling their acts, but what’s in
their best interest is not always the best for you and
your casino. An inside buyer seldom has this kind of
information.
Wouldn’t it make more sense to be included in a
series of dates, rather than anchor those same dates?
Wouldn’t it be better to have access to inside information so that you can make the best decisions possible?
That’s what a “qualified” outside buyer brings to your
casino. Your outside company will have much more
buying power, because of the volume of work that
they do with other casino businesses and agencies
around the country. They bring you routing, pricing,
and yes or no answers. They bring acts and special
events to the table that the inside buyer has never considered, been exposed to, or heard about.
Most casino employees wear several hats, and are
asked to cover a lot of projects and events. The inside
person only deals with their world, and they seldom
have the opportunity or the time to look at a bigger
picture perspective. Their day is full of meetings,
managing upcoming events, and trying to get caught
up. How can an inside buyer operate and do their
job successfully and effectively without a “qualified”
outside buyer? That is why you see so many successful casinos using outside partnerships. They qualify
these outside businesses by using vendor licensing
and checking references. Once the outside person or
business is qualified, an important partnership can
be put in place. This partnership now benefits both
businesses, and a win-win scenario is created. The
more you build successful partnerships, the more your
network expands.
On and off. On and off. On and off.
“Would someone PUHLL-EASE turn
off that service light?!?”
“Ah, they probably just hit the button
by accident. It can wait.”
Fact: 40% of the time that the service button
is hit, it was an accident.
Fact: The other 60% of the time, your guests
do need help.
• PROBLEM SOLVED: The solution is so simple, and
so inexpensive, you might be suspicious.
• It is a simple button cover that adheres directly to the
button panel – no special gizmos, tweaking or training
needed to place on your expensive slot machine.
• It took a couple slot “dudes” – yeah, the guys that
have put miles on their shoes answering those phony
lights, to come up with the SLOT SERVICE GUARD.
• The guest must lift the guard to request service. No
hitting it on accident with their drink or instead of the
wager or cash-out button.
• Where these guards have been installed, there has
been a 40% reduction of service requests/change
lights. That is thousands of times less per week that
the attendants have to run to games; and thousands of
minutes that can be spent servicing guests for what
they really need.
• The cost? Less than a couple comped cocktails.
What are you waiting for? Try a couple of dozen;
test an entire section – guaranteed, you will see the
results. Call Tony Renz today at 317-652-4380 or
email [email protected].
Please contact your
regional representative
from Patriot Gaming
19
How Can Casinos Use Food and Beverage
to Drive More Guests and Be More
Profitable?
Q&A with Dennis Khanh, Raving’s F&B Partner
By Christine Faria
Can casinos strategically
use food and beverage to
generate additional gaming
revenue? How can a
casino’s mix of food outlets,
quality and service be used
as an effective marketing
tool? Dennis Khanh has
helped both Tribal and
Commercial casinos and
hotels, answer these questions and optimize their
food and beverage programs for the last forty years. Let’s talk about how Dennis helps Raving clients
take advantage of those opportunities:
CF: Where do you most commonly see overages in
payroll? Is there a way to decrease payroll overages without impacting guest service?
DK: Overages in payroll are usually at both the front
of the house and back of the house. Front of the
house – most restaurants schedule their staff to all
come in at the same time and leave at the same time.
Let’s use the 24-hour café as an example. In most
cases, you will see that the schedule is divided into
three shifts. The day shift goes from 6 AM until 2
PM. The swing shift will go from 2 PM until 10 PM.
The graveyard shift goes from 10 PM until 6 AM.
Let’s say that we have eight persons on day shift,
eight on swing shift, and six on graveyard. While
there are guests coming in at 6 AM, most cafés do
not get busy until between 7 AM and 8 AM. By
staggering the schedule, we can most likely save two
shifts per day. Two shifts per day multiplied by 365
days, you do the math.
And the same can be applied to the Beverage
department. Of course, this will require more work,
because it requires the Manager of the department
to hold more than one pre-shift meeting. Back of the
house – the same can be applied to the Stewarding
department and the kitchen line. In most cases, it
does not hurt the service one bit.
20
CF: An experience at a casino’s food outlet just
might be the longest interaction that a guest has.
How do you train for WOW service in food outlets?
DK: When a guest checks in at the hotel front desk,
it might take them a maximum of 6-8 minutes to
interact with the Front Desk Attendant. In a restaurant, unless it is at a Grab and Go outlet, the guest
will spend at least 30 minutes eating their meal.
During this time, a good server can get information
about the guest, such as where he/she is from, is he/
she staying at the hotel, what is their favorite game,
and if he/she has heard of the latest promotion on
the casino floor. The server can also share information with the guest about upcoming shows. This
might induce a return trip for the guest. During all
this time, they need to remember to call the guest by
his/her name every single time that they talk to the
guest. And remember that all mistakes can be nullified by a great smile.
CF: If a casino approached you and said, “How
can we use our F&B to drive more casino players,”
what would you tell them?
DK: Besides the regular restaurants that a casino
operates, there is a need to create more events with
food and beverage. Depending on the location of the
casino, it can create such events as a Food & Wine
Festival, a Microbrew/Craft Beers Festival, a BBQ
Festival, etc. These events can be done on an annual
basis. On a smaller scale, casinos can have monthly
winemaker dinners.
CF: Where do you see the biggest gaps in communication between departments in a casino that
utilizes F&B?
DK: The biggest gaps in communication happened
because departments function in a silo. If there is no
time for meetings, a simple, detailed email can solve
everything.
CF: As the convention planner for Raving events
over the last 14 years, I’ve seen inspired conference
menus and presentations, to just plain boring (for the
same price). How can casinos that do group events and
conventions distinguish their product?
DK: The cost of food products is pretty much the same
for all the casinos in one region. The casino needs to hire
talented people who can create great menus targeted to
their guests.
CF: Should a casino create a signature food item that
represents their Tribe, their area, their culture?
DK: I usually refer to these items as “window dressing.”
We can create anything we want; however, we must ask
what our customers want. Too often, a Chef will create a
very creative and wonderful menu, but it is not what our
customers want.
CF: How do you determine the right mix of food outlets
for a particular casino?
DK: By doing focus groups with your customers. Raving
can help with that.
CF: Are there any trends you are seeing in successful gaming operations that more casinos should take
a chance on? I’m thinking “indoor food trucks” or
gameside food service.
DK: I believe in solid food concepts; they will last forever.
Just serve your customers great food, along with great
service. Again, each casino must know where they are
located and what their customer mix is.
CF: Do you believe in training food servers to upsell?
If so, how do you do this so that the guest feels like they
are getting more, instead of “being sold”?
DK: Absolutely! Every Food Server must upsell. First, in
order to do a good upsell job, the servers must be very
knowledgeable about what they are selling, and have
experienced the food themselves. While they do this to
increase the average check, in order to please the boss and
also increase their tip earnings, they must come across
as being very sincere. When a guest asks a server about
what is good, please do not say everything. For me, that is
an absolute turn-off. Instead, pick a couple of dishes from
each category on the menu and promote these items; and
make sure that you’ve tried them. Education about wine is
also necessary so that you can knowledgably say, “And by
the way, we have an exceptional wine that would go well
with this dish.”
CF: When you work with different casinos, you look at
the overall quality of the food, even down to the recipes.
What are you looking for exactly?
DK: I look for taste, plate presentation, and plate temperature (hot food should be hot, and cold food should
be cold). I like to get feedback from the service staff; after
all, they are often the first touch with a guest. How did the
guest enjoy eating it? Did he/she finish the plate?
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Whether It’s the Law or a Shift …
Creating a profitable and pleasurable outdoor gaming space when smoking is
banned inside your property
Interview with John Stewart, Raving Partner
When Mountaineer Casino,
Racetrack and Resort was faced
with a county-wide smoking ban, Joe Billhimer, EVP/
COO of Mountaineer parent
company, Eldorado Resorts,
Inc., hired Raving Partner John
Stewart, Encompass Develop,
Design & Construct, to develop
a plan to construct one of the
largest outdoor gaming patios
in the U.S.
So, yes, that’s right, we’re talking about putting sensitive machinery, yes, slot machines and table games
OUTSIDE.
John laughs that his team has come into a niche market.
“We truly have become the experts on outdoor gaming
patios and the nuances of dealing with health departments.”
Joe Billhimer added that, “If you hire an architect, you get
the design, but they’re not precise at pricing. Working
with a full service team like Encompass, they can oversee
the entire project, or parts of the project, depending on
our specific needs at the property. You get a very good
idea of the entire scope of work, and understand on a
practical level what you can afford to build. And if you’ve
ever met John, you’ll understand how his thoroughness,
demeanor and style helped us achieve a positive result to
work with our Department of Health in a positive way.”
The Mountaineer project is the most recent outdoor
gaming space that the Encompass team has created.
The project includes relocating six table games and over
100 video lottery terminal machines to a new gaming
space that is approximately 10,000 square feet. Horseshoe Casino in Cincinnati and Scioto Downs Racino in
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Columbus also commissioned outdoor gaming spaces
due to the Ohio Smoking Ban.
The county-wide regulation in West Virginia bans smoking in all restaurants, bars, gaming facilities, private
clubs, hotels, motels, bingo operations, sports arenas,
and concert venues. It also bans smoking in public parks,
including pavilions, playgrounds, fairs, festivals, outdoor
service lines, outdoor serving areas of restaurants, and
other outdoor public places.
Whether your gaming jurisdiction is facing regulation,
or your casino-resort wants to shift your smoking areas,
consider what John Stewart has learned through this
process:
1. These spaces are open year-round in climates that can
make outside gaming a challenge. We’ve learned that
there is a right way and wrong way to create these
spaces. We have to provide ventilation to keep the
smoke from lingering, heating and cooling to keep the
games operational during the hot and cold months,
and keep sunlight off of the game screens to prevent
damage. There are a lot of challenges to consider.
2. Another challenge has been working with the local
health departments to understand these new rules.
Health departments typically don’t often deal with
facility design and architecture, so working closely with
them and building officials has been key. If you are
planning an outdoor space like this, get involved with
the folks who enforce the regulations. From the initial
meetings to review the proposed solutions, to the final
meetings before the grand opening, staying engaged
with the regulators will help everything go smoothly.
I feel that non-smoking areas have failed is because
management would see an immediate drop in revenues.
They’d never wait long enough to see that eventual
increase – they only think in the short-term. With these
permanent and planned outdoor spaces that John at
Encompass is creating, operators should see positive
growth in the long-term.”
3. Players seem to enjoy these spaces and stay longer.
From experience in the industry, we understand that
the win per unit on the outdoor games can be double
or more than the non-smoking floor average.
4. Part of the challenge of designing these outdoor spaces
is to create a unique environment that will enhance
the customer experience on a cold, rainy day and on
a perfect, sunny day. We have added things, like a fire
pit with outdoor seating and landscaping, that you
typically would not have the opportunity to do in the
interior spaces. These details help to create an inviting
escape for the non-smoker as well. A customer might
say, “Wow, I can play my favorite slot machine, have a
drink beside me, be outside on a beautiful day, surrounded by sculpted plants, all at the same place. I’m
heading in that direction.” These spaces are not limited
to states with smoking bans; I believe that this will be
the new alternative gaming experience.
According to Dennis Conrad, Raving’s President and
Chief Strategist, “In the past, when casinos have tried to
offer a non-smoking alternative, these areas have failed
for a few reasons. They’d only allocate a very small area,
meaning that there would be limited games to attract
players. Players, who are typically superstitious, would
hear the sounds of winning and the ‘noise’ in the smoking areas, and decide that the non-smoking area was not
‘lucky.’ Of course, the smoking areas have more machines,
more people, and are livelier. Finally, the biggest reason
23
Contributors
Mark Astone — Raving
Partner, Branding, Advertising
and Media Services, is the Owner
and CEO of Catalyst Marketing
Company. He has spent many years
studying and working within the
casino industry and understands
what it takes to drive gamers to
increase a casino’s bottom line.
Nicole Barker — In
partnership with Raving
Consulting Company, she works
with casinos across the country
to harvest potential from patron
databases in order to fine-tune
the segmentation, messaging, and
programming of multimedia and
multi-channel campaigns.
Derk Boss — Raving Partner,
Security and Surveillance, has
served as a senior casino executive
in surveillance, security, loss
prevention and compliance
for over thirty years with
major gaming companies. The
surveillance teams trained and
led by Derk have a proven track
record of continued success in the
detection of cheating at gaming,
advantage play, and internal and
external theft and fraud
Dennis Conrad — President
and Chief Strategist of Raving,
Dennis has nearly 40 years of
casino experience, including
keno writer, bartender, dealer,
floorperson, gaming instructor,
special events manager, casino
marketing director, gaming
institute director, and corporate
vice president of employee training
and development.
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Christine Motta Faria —
Raving’s VP of Marketing has been
the company’s core marketing
writer since 2001. Chris has a
lifelong passion for finding and
sharing unique stories of people
and places through her travels,
business and daily life.
Jeff Gorovitz — Raving
Partner, is the “voice” of
Kaleidoscope – a personalized
web/mobile portal and app for
casino players. He’s been the
Vice President and Director of
Operations for Kaleidoscope’s
parent company, SMP
Communications, for 15 years.
Winnie Grand — Winnie
has studied the casino industry
since the early 60s. With a Masters
Degree in Psychology, she has been
interested in the psychological
aspects of gaming, along with the
growth and development of the
industry. She and her husband, a
retired physician, travel to casino
destinations for much of the
year. She has written for Strictly
Slots magazine and is an active
participant in the gambling scene.
Deb Hilgeman, Ph.D. —
An experienced casino marketing
executive & consultant, Deb
was founding GM of Mississippi
Gaming News until Hurricane
Katrina devastated the state’s
casino industry in 2005. Deb
developed and taught the first
casino marketing course at Tulane
University. She has an M.S. degree
in International Relations and has
currently completed her Ph.D.
Kell Houston — Raving has
worked with Kell since 2001, and
throughout the years, we have not
only valued his friendship, but his
integrity. That combined with his
gaming savvy approach to utilizing
entertainment as a tool to drive
folks to the casino floor, makes
him a perfect fit for Raving clients.
Kell is the Owner/President
of Houston Productions, with
offices in Las Vegas, Minneapolis,
Seattle & Vancouver, BC. Houston
Productions is a proven industry
leader in casino entertainment
buying and consulting. Houston
has worked in all aspects of the
entertainment industry over the
past 30 years, focusing for the last
15 years on Indian Gaming.
Dennis Khanh — Raving
Partner Dennis Khanh has helped
both Tribal and Commercial
casinos and hotels, optimize their
food and beverage programs for the
last forty years. In such a unique
industry, Dennis recognizes that
an experience at a casino’s food
outlet just might be the longest
interaction that a guest has.
Toby O’Brien — Raving
Partner, Marketing and President
of Toby Talks Marketing. After 21
years in the gaming business, Toby
O’Brien has launched her own
company, Toby Talks Marketing.
As a Raving Partner, reprising her
nearly 12-year role as a Raving
consultant, she will be assisting
casinos in building strategies that
engage employees, attract guests,
and grow business.
Adam Smithline — is
CEO of Opticity, a hosted casino
marketing system that enables
operators to harness the power
trapped in player tracking
systems. Opticity makes it easy to
understand player value and drive
effective campaigns, increasing
gaming revenue while reducing
inefficient player reinvestment.
John Stewart — the
President of Encompass Develop,
Design and Construct, LLC, is
an award-winning registered
architect, licensed contractor,
and licensed authority in the
gaming industry across the
country. John’s experience includes
project development in industries
including gaming and hospitality,
restaurant and food service,
retail, healthcare, religious, and
manufacturing.
Sean Vestal — Since
1999, Sean Vestal, Raving
Partner, Marketing and Player
Development, has held several
executive level marketing
positions with a number of Native
American casino operators. He
brings the advantage of versatility
and leadership across multiple
disciplines inside a casino
marketing department. During his
tenure in the gaming industry, he
has had successful engagements
as both the Director of Player
Development at Lucky Eagle
Casino, and as the Marketing
Director at Suquamish Clearwater
Casino Resort.
Five E-Principles for Building Casino Brand
Loyalty
Why going back to the basics to ensure you are building brand loyalty really
works!
By Mark Astone
For me, the term “Brand Loyalty,”
or for the sake of this discussion,
“casino branding” or “rebranding,”
can mean a lot of different things
to a lot of different people. So, I’ll
define it, first in business dictionary terms:
to change customer perception and behavior. What has
been successful for us, outside of getting out of our own
way, is to always remember the basics.
Here are five of what I call “E-Principles,” which make up
a back-to-basics approach to keep in mind when building
Casino Brand Loyalty:
“The extent of the faithfulness
of consumers to a particular
brand, expressed through their
repeat purchases, irrespective of
the marketing pressure generated by the competing
brands.” (BusinessDictionary.com)
Now I’ll define “casino branding” in the terms that I
would use to explain to a casino client and anyone else
who cares to listen:
Enterprise – As we know, no two casino properties are
alike. How will your ideas, vision, and concepts affect
your specific casino enterprise? Are they realistic? Maybe
your focus is on “escaping the city,” but the casino enterprise envisions that it is “just as exciting as Las Vegas.”
The two concepts are quite opposite. Be sure you connect with Boards, Members, Management and Employees to fully understand the casino enterprise you are
working with, and that the brand concept makes sense to
that specific property.
“How dedicated a customer is to a particular
casino, measured through repeat visitation and/or
increased spend, regardless of competing casinos’
location, promotions, club rewards, etc.”
Branding (or rebranding) can be such an obscure and
difficult task, even an intimidating one. Obscure because
how one person distinguishes a casino property’s characteristics, traits and attributes can vary greatly from how
another person views the same characteristics, traits and
attributes. For instance, how do you create a brand that
fits an individual casino’s specific style or vibe? And then
how do you do it while incorporating owners’, managers’,
employees’ and customers’ views and perceptions? You
can see how daunting the challenge can be. But branding
(or rebranding) is not just obscure, it is also very difficult.
How do you change potential customer perception? How
do you shift current customer behavior? And how do
you evoke emotion from both potential customers and
current customers? Finally, how does all of this correlate
into real, measured success? Most importantly, how does
this equate to profit?
Engagement – For the gamer, it’s the moments that
matter. Will your new brand or rebranding idea recognize the moments that you have tried so hard to define?
Maybe your focus is on “friendliest service in town.” Will
the customer notice the “friendly” details? AND, more
importantly, will those “friendly” details change their
behavior for the better? Be sure the details in the brand
are not only what the customer wants, but that their
behavior is what you want.
For most of us marketers, we would all like to think
that we can always create a differentiating brand for our
casino clients, where customers become very committed
to that brand, and the results are positive and profitable.
Sounds easy, right? The truth is that most of us struggle
to build brand loyalty. In reality, it takes a village in order
Economics – Ultimately, for any client, it’s the results
that matter. Are they in line with a budget that makes
sense? Because branding can sometimes be an obscure
endeavor, it pays to be clear about your strategy for
development costs and any associated training. Maybe
your focus is on “fantasy, luxury, elegance and sophistication.” But your budget is not quite at the “Wynn
Las Vegas” level. Remember that the goal is to increase
market share, lift, visitation, hotel stays … you get the
picture … without spending all of the profits. Be the
voice of reason when pie-in-the-sky ideas are brought to
the discussion, even when the ideas come from owners
and/or managers. Be sure that the costs associated with
branding are equitable to the monetary parameters of
the property, and don’t forget that the results should be
measurable.
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Enablement – Okay, this one seems like a no-brainer, but
it is the hardest to incorporate. We’ve all been there. You
can have the greatest brand vision, but if no one can identify it, repeat it, or understand it ... then it sucks. Maybe
your concept is that “everyone is a winner.” How does the
brand integrate into every part of the casino, outside of
winning at a machine or table? Is it a small hospitality gift
in the hotel room? Is it an unannounced soda refill? Is it a
bottle of water from the valet? How will you make “everyone” feel like a winner? Be sure that integration of your
concept can be easily accomplished for the organization; a
concept that is easily repeated and understood by employees, and most importantly, identified by the customer.
Execution – Remember, keep it simple. Can the employees execute your brand concept? Can management get
behind it every hour of every day? Can it be executed
flawlessly with seemingly effortless energy? Maybe your
focus is on “exciting rewards,” but the rewards seem too
complicated for customers to understand, too expensive for management to implement, or too irrelevant for
employees to promote. Be sure that your branding can
be implemented, maintained, and tracked (for success).
26
Best way I know how to do this is to start with buy-in.
Ensure buy-in from the top-down and from the outsidein, through surveys and focus groups, and then assist in
the education, communication and training whenever and
however possible.
We all know that building brand loyalty is a huge task.
Done right, it can create, strengthen and personalize
long-term customer relationships. Wouldn’t we all like to
create a brand where customers have a strong emotional
attachment; one that attracts new business, changes
perceptions, molds customer behavior, and provides
profitability? Though building brand loyalty can be an
ambiguous and tough task, I hope that keeping it simple
with these E-Principles of Casino Brand Loyalty makes it a
little less daunting.
Five Reasons Your Data Analyst
Can’t Analyze Data
What are the tools your casino needs in order to make data management
painless, or even invisible?
By Adam Smithline
According to data analysts recently
surveyed by data management
software developer Trifacta, “80%
of the work in any data project is
wrangling the data.”
What does this mean, and why
should you care? It means that the
average data analyst is spending
four days every week just trying
to organize data so that they can
create reports. This doesn’t even
include the time spent creating the actual reports. In other
words, the typical data analyst has only one day per week
to actually work on making reports, and no time whatsoever to spend on analyzing data.
This is a serious problem, the impact of which can be felt
throughout the property. A quick look around confirms
this reality. Just consider which reports are getting done,
and more importantly, which ones aren’t. Key operational
reports most likely get produced with regularity. But how
about slot performance analysis, or marketing campaign
analysis? Teams must often wait for extended periods of
time to receive these types of reports, forcing them to
make decisions based on old data, or no data at all, when
implementing reinvestment programs.
While most operators are aware of the problems caused
by reporting delays, there is a far more serious
problem that sometimes goes unnoticed.
The complexity of player data spread
among various systems, and the data
wrangling that’s required to organize it, doesn’t just cause slow
reporting. It makes many types
of reporting nearly impossible,
to the point where most properties simply go without.
Even though the necessary
player data exists, properties
continue to operate without
knowing which players to
target for player development,
which players are underinvested in, what the return on
player reinvestment is, or which
players are most or least profitable. This sacrifice results
in missed revenue opportunities and unnecessary losses,
seriously hurting the bottom line.
In order to address this problem, it is helpful to first
understand the root cause, before trying to identify a solution. So, why does this problem exist?
Five reasons your data analyst can’t analyze data:
1.Player data is spread out across multiple software
systems, and needs to be integrated.
A typical casino has several transactional systems,
each with a database that contains player activity
data. Individually, player tracking, kiosk, point of
sale and hospitality systems each contain only a
piece of the picture. Only by combining data from
each system, at the player level, can you create an
accurate record of player gaming, non-gaming and
reinvestment activity. The first step in this process is
to extract data from each system and combine it all
into a single database. Of course, this new database
will need to be updated regularly for it to be of any
value.
2.Data from one system isn’t aligned with data from
other systems.
Physically combining data from multiple systems
into a single database is only a partial solution.
In its natural state, the data from each
system probably doesn’t match up
very well with other systems.
Forcing it into a single database
without first aligning it,
accomplishes very little.
Instead, all of the differences
must first be identified, then
resolved one by one, and
this can be challenging,
depending on the nature
of the differences. Player
IDs from one system
might not match those
in another system. It gets
confusing trying to mix and
match carded activity with
non-carded activity. Data is
27
inevitably grouped differently in different systems.
And each system may use a different name for the
same thing.
3.Some of the data is “dirty.”
As transactional systems are used over a number
of years, it is quite common for users to run into
limitations, where the existing data fields in the
system no longer meet the specific business needs
of the casino. When this happens, clever users will
always find a way around the limitation. More often
than not, this means using a field for something
other than its intended purpose, or leveraging a freetext field in order to hold critical data. The result is
data that needs to be interpreted according to a set
of business rules, and often renamed, before it can be
clearly understood or used for reporting.
4.Data often needs to be filtered.
Most data analysis won’t concern all of the available
data. Instead, report users typically want to see
a subset of the data. The groups and subgroups
needed to make this possible are usually nowhere to
be found. This is another situation where business
rules must be translated into complex queries,
then applied to the data so that it can be filtered to
produce the correct analysis.
5.Raw data needs to be aggregated and summarized.
Even in a perfect world where the data is integrated,
aligned, cleaned and filtered, this only enables the
most basic forms of reporting. Savvy managers will
still lack the information they need in order to make
informed decisions. Rather than the total theoretical
win for the day, of course, they want to know each
player’s ADT. They may also benefit from knowing
the AWT and AMT, not to mention ADW, or even
ADP (Average Daily Profit). Summarized attributes
like these must be calculated before they can be
utilized in reports.
With the right tools, many of these challenges can be
overcome consistently and accurately. Unfortunately, most
casinos are still using Access or SQL queries, and relying
on Excel heroics, in order to solve these problems. The
28
recurring workload this creates is so significant that it
leaves little or no time at all for actual data analysis.
Fortunately, the tools needed to make data management
painless, or even invisible, are widely available today. But
there are a variety of solutions, and some may be better
than others depending on your budget and your needs.
Be sure to look for “Three Ways to Solve Your Data and
Reporting Woes” in the next issue of Raving’s Strategic
Solutions Magazine, for an evaluation of the solutions
available today, and a framework you can use to identify
the best solution for your casino. Or attend the Casino
Marketing & Technlogy Conference, and attend my session, “Casino Marketing Technology Demystified: Choosing the Right Tools for the Job,” on Wednesday, July 15, at
9:45 AM.
You’re either maximizing
player lifetime value.
Or you aren’t.
www.opticity.com
PROMOTION ANALYSIS GAMING AND NON-GAMING
MONTANA
Glacier Peaks Casino (Browning) – The Red
Solo Cup
Using the Casino Trac System, Glacier Peaks captured
the spirit of Toby Keith with its Red Solo Cup promotion. Players earned electronic entries, one entry per
point, for play on the slot machines. There was also a
“red cup game” at a kiosk, where players could earn
bonus entries, and where email addresses and cell phone
numbers were gathered. On the Red Solo Cup giveaway
night, active players’ names were drawn at random, three
per hour, and each got to go to the “Red Cup Wall” of
100 cups and select a cup, each containing a cash prize of
differing amounts. Toby Keith’s hit song, “Red Solo Cup,”
played in the background at Glacier Peaks during various points of the promotion. On the Thursday giveaway
night of the Red Solo Cup, coin-in was up 55% from a
normal Thursday. And for the entire five weeks of the
promo, carded coin-in was up 51% and players club new
member sign-ups increased 108% from normal.
“Let’s take a look at all of the main casino promotion
elements that Glacier Peaks used to hit its Red Solo Cup
‘home run’:
• Celebrity Brand Association – Toby Keith is likely
very popular in Montana, and ‘Red Solo Cup’ was
a hit song. Using that connection (and be careful to
stay on good legal ground here to use the name, song
and images) made the promotion seem bigger than
it otherwise might have been, and the ‘Red Solo Cup’
music in the casino set the tone.
• Designed to Drive Play from Players – Red Solo Cup
was designed for casino slot PLAYERS, who earned
chances to win by PLAYING. It also was aggressive
in signing up new players and starting that players
club relationship with Glacier Peaks.
• Cost-Effective – I don’t know what the cash prize
amounts were behind the 100 Red Solo Cups Wall,
but based on the promotion’s ROI, I am sure they
were reasonable, but also motivating. And the cups
used on the Wall were nothing more than those red
plastic drinking cups we all use at picnics, not fancy,
but cost-effective and probably played well in smalltown Montana. And what does it cost to pipe in a
Toby Keith song into the casino???
• Fun – while I wasn’t there to witness this promo, you
just know that it had to be FUN! Music blaring, cups
on the wall, lots of winners, bonus entries on a kiosk
game, a big giveaway night – doesn’t this just have a
‘buzz’ about it? And I’ll assume that frontline team
members and management all got on board to make
this a memorable time for Glacier Peaks’ players.
“You don’t have to be a mega-casino to have a splashy,
revenue-driving promotion. Follow Glacier Peaks’ lead
and find your own Solo Cup.” – D.C.
NATIONWIDE
Various Casinos – Celebs Rule!
“Glacier Peaks is a small tribal casino (a little over 300
slot machines), near the border of Alberta, Canada. It
likely isn’t able to afford big, fancy casino promotions,
so it needs to be nifty, thrifty and innovative. And it
accomplished that with Red Solo Cup, ably assisted by
its vendor partner at Table Trac, a Minnesota-based
company.
Many casinos conduct VIP events around celebrities, in
many cases, sports celebrities. Two of the more recent,
successful examples were:
• Venetian/Palazzo (Las Vegas, NV) – held a series
of ICON Blackjack Tournaments, utilizing some
extremely well-known celebrities. They were
created to address a decline in the mid and highvalue domestic table games customer segments.
Each event included celebrity interaction through
29
a “Meet and Greet,” which was held in public view,
but with access limited to tournament VIP invitees
and their guests. Five VIPs were drawn at the Meet
and Greet to play blackjack against that evening’s
celebrity in a single table elimination tournament.
The winner received $10,000 and if the celebrity
won, he or she donated the prize money to their
favorite charity. The VIP winner also received
commemorative items from the celebrity.
• Seminole Casino Coconut Creek and Hard Rock
Hollywood (Florida) – on BCS Bowl weekend,
these two Seminole properties held a $200,000
Blackjack Tournament featuring Joe Montana. On
Saturday, VIP players were at the Hard Rock for
the coaches’ press conferences and to receive their
Bowl Game tickets, which included on-field access.
On Sunday, these players were at Coconut Creek to
play in a $200,000 blackjack tournament in which
the top six played against Joe Montana on the final
table. After the final, all the tournament players
hung out with Joe in the VIP Lounge. And on
Monday, the players attended the BCS Bowl Game
in Miami, where they were hosted by the Presidents
of the Coconut Creek and Hard Rock properties.
“I have witnessed HUNDREDS of casino events that
utilize ‘Celebrities’ in some form or fashion, especially
Sports Celebrities. And these various events/promotions/
gatherings all seem to work at attracting VIP players.
Makes sense, I guess – VIPs attracted to other VIPs. But
‘attracting VIPs to a casino’ and having a ‘profitable
casino marketing VIP event’ are two different animals.
From my experience, there are a number of critical factors
to achieve success with a Joe Montana, Michael Jordan or
the like, including:
1. Don’t overpay for the celebrity – big name celebrities
are not cheap, and even if they are donating their
appearance fees to their own charity, it is all the
same to you – ‘hard costs’ for the event. Make sure
your casino player base is healthy enough to support
the cost of the celebrity.
2. Make sure the celebrity is a ‘good guy’ or ‘good gal’ –
trust me, some celebrities can be prickly, demanding,
aloof, even rude. Stay away from them – you want
genuine folks who don’t mind spending time at Meet
and Greets, signing autographs, and mingling with
fans and admirers.
3. If possible, find a celebrity who gambles – not only
will that give him or her a natural affinity for your
business, but it may even create some PR and networking opportunities while they are gambling at
YOUR casino, and you might also win back some of
that hefty appearance fee you paid for the celeb.
4. Think about using ‘local’ celebrities – especially
if your casino is in a small or local market, you
may not be able to attract or afford BIG NAME
celebrities. In that case, think local – radio DJs, TV
Anchorpersons, restaurant chefs, college football
coaches and former local ‘stars,’ etc. – they can all
produce the same kind of appeal at a fraction of the
cost.
5. Don’t forget that it’s really all about your VIPs and
not the celebrity – there is a tendency with these
Casino Celebrity Events to drool all over the Celebrity and take the VIPs for granted. Don’t! Yes, you
pay the celebrity a lot to appear, and they excite
everyone because they are a ‘star.’ But your VIPs are
your real stars, and remember: THEY PAY YOU.
“Celebrities have long been marketing staples at casinos,
30
and they have great value if you can orchestrate these
events successfully and cost-effectively. Pay attention
to these successful examples and important principles
of ‘Star Grazing.’ And remember: don’t Pay a Ton for
Peyton!” – D.C.
OKLAHOMA
River Spirit Casino (Tulsa) – Summer of Love!
A while back, River Spirit Casino ran its hugely successful Summer of Love promotion. Toy “hippie buses”
containing a “River Spirit or Bust” sticker were mailed
to River Spirit’s top tier players, as well as those VIP
players who had dropped a tier level in the first half of
the year. Second and third tier level players received a
Summer of Love keychain mailing, including a simple
message along with a personalized URL, inviting them
to visit their page. Each PURL had a different custom
welcoming message depending on the player’s age and
sex and whether they were a “Declining” or a “Maintaining” player. The page included fun 70’s trivia questions
and a way for the player to print off a coupon for a free
Summer of Love T-shirt and 2X points on Thursdays.
Over the course of the promotion, this VIP group’s
number of casino visits increased by 26% and their coinin increased by 37%. On top of that, 420 players moved
up in tier level during the promotion, 487 new VIP email
addresses were captured, and 50% of those receiving a
Summer of Love mailing accessed their PURL.
“But the big reason I ‘loved’ this River Spirit promotion
was the fact that part of its target player audience was
EX-TOP TIER PLAYERS, who had gradually reduced
their River Spirit spending. This is an altogether too
ignored segment, with most casinos waiting to address
this group when it has gone completely INACTIVE. And
by then it may already be too late. Instead, River Spirit
chose to speak to them on their way down the spending
scale, offering them a fun promotion, personalized attention, and multiple reasons to return to ‘experience the
Love.’
“You see a lot of ‘casino love’ for INCLINERS, a lot of love
for those reliable MAINTAINERS, and some attention
to INACTIVES. But River Spirit has wisely addressed
DECLINERS (who were once Elite players) with its
Summer of Love, and has the results to prove it was a
good idea. Just remember that the word ‘toke’ has multiple meanings in the casino world when you do any tiedyed messaging!” – D.C.
“There are a number of reasons to ‘love’ this Summer of
Love promotion at River Spirit Casino. It had a great
theme that spoke to the age demographic of their core customers. It effectively used direct mail, email, and the River
Spirit website. It had prizes large and small, including the
almost inexplicable favorite of casino players, T-shirts! It
had double points on a slow midweek day (Thursday). It
had variable imagery on the Summer of Love messaging,
depending on whether the player was male or female, old
or young.
31
A GAMING EXECUTIVE‘S GUIDE TO READING
Raving Recommended Reading Review
By Dennis Conrad
My dear friend and mentor, John Romero, passed away on April 30, 2015,
at the age of 85. His two books, Casino Marketing (1994) and Secrets
of Casino Marketing (1998), are two of the true classics in the gaming
industry. They are also out of print, so if you don’t have one of the 10,00020,000 copies of each that were printed, well, you should start Googling,
Amazoning, and scouring the Gamblers Book Club for some copies.
Casino Marketing was John’s first effort and was a compilation of
his columns from International Gaming and Wagering Business
Magazine. He chose his favorite 85 columns for the book. He shattered
advertising myths, revealed key secrets of direct marketing, poked fun at
management, and unmasked the art of persuasion. Once begun, John’s
efforts lead to a shift from mass marketing to one-on-one selling through
the mail, which is now the industry standard.
In Secrets of Casino Marketing, John’s instant best seller continued to
reveal his timeless wisdom. A sampling of the Chapter titles says it all:
“General Managers. On Edge and Bogged Down in Details,” “To Build a
Relationship, Start a Dialogue,” “You Know Your Mail Is Effective When
They Start Writing Back,” and my personal favorite, “Be Wary of Free Booze, But Take It.”
You know a book is great when its wisdom is timeless. And John Romero’s principles are as true today as they were
when written some 15-20 years ago.
Thank you, John, for all that you did for the gaming industry. Sometimes we even listened to you.
If you have not read these two classic Romero books, start scouring the archives and book reseller landscape.
There is nothing more valuable in our industry than anything penned by the late, great John Romero.
Dennis’ Rating:
8 out of 4 Thumbs Up!
33
SAVE THE DATE
Raving Conference & Events Schedule
Raving’s Host Development Conference
Rio Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NV, July 13-14, 2015
Produced by Raving Consulting Company for BNP Media
http://www.hostdevelopmentconf.com/
If you are a senior host and player development specialist, General Manager,
Player Development Senior Executive, or Marketing Director, you want to
attend this program that will focus on developing and segmenting qualified sales
leads from your database, and much more!
Casino Marketing 2015
Rio Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NV, July 14-16, 2015
http://www.casinomarketingconf.com
Visit Raving on the tradeshow floor!
Raving @ OIGA Conference and Trade Show
Cox Center, Oklahoma City, OK, July 27-29, 2015
http://oiga.org
Give Amy Hergenrother a call today at 775-329-7864 to set up a meeting, or
email her at [email protected].
Raving in Las Vegas 2015
September 28th - October 2, 2015
Are you headed down to Las Vegas this September for the big gaming show?
Raving will be there to meet with clients and host our annual “Insider Party.” Make
sure you are an active subscriber of our newsletter to get your invitation. Click
here to subscribe. Need to find a room? We love Tuscany Suites — easy parking,
remodeled rooms, terrific bar poolside. Call 877-887-2261, tell them you are with
RAVING for your special room rate of $59 per night with no resort fee.
What’s the pebble in your shoe? There’s no better time to sit face-to-face
with the Raving team to discuss ways in which we can assist you. Give Amy
Hergenrother a call today at 775-329-7864 to set up a meeting, or email her at
[email protected].
Raving’s 18th Indian Gaming National Marketing
Conference
Harrah’s Resort Southern California, Valley Center, CA, January 25-27, 2016
http://www.ravingconsulting.com/indian-gaming/
National tribal casino marketing conference and tradeshow.
Raving at NIGA
Phoenix Convention Center, Phoenix, AZ, March 13-16, 2016
http://www.indiangamingtradeshow.com/Content/778.htm
We’re headed to Phoenix and look forward to visiting with you on the tradeshow floor — booth #929. Make sure to attend our always-popular workshops.
Check back for more information and to get your FREE tradeshow badge.
34
Casinos, Don’t Change Your VIP
Formula to Make It Commonplace
As a customer, I WILL play more to achieve elite status
by Winnie Grand, Raving’s High-Roller Contributor
From the early days in Las Vegas, casinos have treated
their gambling customers in a way that makes them feel
special. Those who were willing to risk their money at
the machines or the tables were rewarded with treats
that made their frequent losses less painful.
Other VIP lines are found at the taxi stands. This is a
popular benefit, as the taxi lines are extremely long after
shows at the large casinos. The players club is another
place where a separate and shorter line takes care of elite
customers.
Over the years, casinos became very successful as they
developed even more sophisticated methods of keeping
their gamblers happy. Today, we see a variety of ongoing
programs that reward behavior desired by the casino.
In addition to these VIP perks, there is usually special
parking that requires a high level of play. This parking
is convenient and often protected from the elements.
Qualifying for this parking pass is extremely welcomed,
especially by locals or frequent visitors.
Most of the large slot clubs now have a selection of cards
that are different and are rewarded based on the amount
of action given by the customer. The top tier levels of
these cards are highly desired by the frequent customer.
Usually, the amount of action needed to achieve each
level is published, so the customer knows exactly what
they have to do in order to get to the level they desire.
I have known many people who have gambled more than
they wanted to in order to achieve an elite level. This has
been a very effective and successful model for the casino
to increase gambling activity. These top cards have some
very nice benefits that do not cost the casino any money,
and yet they build loyalty.
What are these benefits that are so coveted? One of the
most popular is the special VIP line at the buffets and
coffee shops, which allows the customer to bypass the
long lines common during peak eating hours. This is one
of my favorite perks. I often comment that I would probably starve if I had to wait in those long, snaking lines! I
never feel that I am “cutting” in line ahead of others, as
we all have the opportunity to play or not play. I probably
pay a hefty price for my line pass!
These VIP lines are also found at most of the casino
cages in the large casinos. This is very helpful at busy
times. Some casinos even have a separate, more private
area for their high tier customers. This is nice, as these
customers are more likely to be conducting transactions
involving large amounts of cash, or doing other monetary business, like getting or paying a marker.
None of these benefits that make the customer feel
special are costly for the casino. The important factor for
the casino is that these benefits must be really “special.”
There has been a trend lately that is diluting the value
of these and other high tier card benefits. I have heard
many comments from my friends who love to gamble
that they don’t plan on trying to achieve elite status
anymore.
The problem is not that there are no wonderful benefits
still available for the elite levels, but that the elite levels
have been made much easier to achieve, so they are not
as “elite” anymore. Many of the VIP lines are as long as
the regular lines, and they are now often for the top two
tiers – not just the very top tier.
Las Vegas seems to be moving away from what has made
it a unique experience. Yes, I know that the shopping,
convention and club businesses are bringing in big bucks,
but those things are scheduled here mainly because of
the gambling business.
We have all heard about the “high-roller” stories
throughout the years, and we want to have some of those
experiences. The elite programs have been successful in
casinos, as they give the gambler a taste of that lifestyle.
These programs also reward the frequent gambler and
build loyalty. The customer will play more in order to
achieve this status. It is a proven formula – why change
it?
35
475 Hill Street, Suite G
Reno, NV 89501
775.329.7864 phone 775.329.4947 fax
[email protected] | ravingconsulting.com
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