The Sands Casino-Hotel has always faced inherent challenges, ever since it opened in 1980 as the Brighton. It sits a block off the Boardwalk on Brighton Park. It is the city's smallest casino, situated next to a quadruple-casino mega-complex operated by rival Caesars Entertainment. But the Sands has survived. Through years of financial turmoil, numerous changes in top management, and chronic delays in needed renovations and refurbishment, the Sands has maintained its niche in the Atlantic City market, and its employees never lost the hope of a turnaround. Susan Schneider, who joined the Sands this year as senior vice president of marketing, sees that hope and dedication in the Sands' employees every day. "For the employees to go through everything they've gone through—leadership changes, changes in marketing direction—I look at the dedication these employees have to their job, and it is so refreshing to me," Schneider says. Moreover, the Sands' long-awaited turnaround may finally be here, because its owner, billionaire Carl Icahn, has brought together the right leadership team at the right time. Longtime Sands executive George Toth had been serving as interim president since the last leadership change. This spring, Icahn made Toth president for good. Almost immediately, Toth brought in Schneider, the veteran Atlantic City marketing executive whose years at Harrah's brought some of the most innovative—and copied—marketing campaigns the town has ever seen. Together, Toth and Schneider have overseen this year's complete repositioning of the Sands as the "Players Place," advertising the highest table limits and best odds in town, and emphasizing the Sands' hip tradition, tying in not only the history of the actual property, where Sinatra played his last Atlantic City gig, but the history of the property's name and the image of the Rat Pack days of the Las Vegas Sands conjured up by the property's logo. Rat Pack photos, memorabilia and nostalgic revue shows appeared all around the property. Changes to the physical plant coincided with the marketing changes. An area in the center of the main casino that had performed poorly as a slot area was transformed into Swingers Lounge, rapidly becoming one of the most popular nightspots in the city. Next came an expansion of the Sands' poker operation, including last year's high-profile, nationally televised "Showdown at the Sands" tournament, followed by an expansion of the table game operation back to the levels which existed before former property management's ill-fated replacement of most of the casino's tables with slot machines. Finally, Toth began a long-needed hotel refurbishment, starting with transformation of the 15th floor into a collection of gorgeous mid-level suites. Almost simultaneously, the casino re-emphasized its commitment to the table game market by opening up a high-end pit on the main floor (live dogs played blackjack as a banner touted "Where The Big Dogs Play"). The program is already succeeding, bringing back customers absent since the property's heyday and drawing new customers like a magnet to a property reaching back to its roots in the classic casino experience. The Sands was one of only two casinos in Atlantic City to log an increase in total casino win for the first six months of 2004. Schneider credits Toth's leadership for the Sands' rebirth. "I've worked for a lot of GMs, and this is a man who will succeed," she says. "George Toth is a winner, and the Sands will succeed." As head of marketing, Schneider will have a big part in that success. She says her first task is to launch a campaign to establish the Sands as a solid brand in the industry. "The property is in need of branding—a new branding campaign that will cut through the clutter of the billboards." She says that campaign will be an extension of the "Players Place" slogan, now a very strong tagline on the property's logo. "The campaign will involve very simple positioning for the customer: ‘Are you a player?'" Schneider says. "We want to emphasize high-end tables, while positioning our slots as a unique experience." Schneider says the Sands is creating a "Player Advisory Council," a rotating group of six players who meet with top management to provide feedback on what the casino is doing and what they would like to see done. "I have always been a firm believer that the casino in this town which truly steps up to service leadership could own the market," she says. For now, the Sands keeps rolling along with a new buzz amid the employees—and the customers. "It is the most loyal customer base I have seen in my life," Schneider says. "I hear the word family around here a lot, from both customers and employees. They say that's what it feels like around here.

By Frank Legato

Frank Legato is editor of Casino Connection and also editor of Global Gaming Business magazine. He has been writing on gaming topics since 1984, when he launched and served as editor of Casino Gaming magazine. Legato, a nationally recognized expert on slot machines, has served as editor and reporter for a variety of gaming publications, including Public Gaming, IGWB, Casino Journal, Casino Player, Strictly Slots and Atlantic City Insider. He has an B.A. in journalism and an M.A. in communications from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, PA. He is the author of the recently published book on gaming, How To Win Millions Playing Slot Machines... Or Lose Trying.

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