It can be as small as a blender or as big as a Mercedes. Promotional giveaways in Atlantic City casinos have always served as incentives to lure the masses to come, to stay and to play.
   
Today, with increasing competition from Pennsylvania slot parlors, along with a sluggish economy and super-high gas prices, marketing executives spend a lot more time searching for clever enticements. Just because it used to work, they say, doesn’t mean it works anymore.
  
 “Things have definitely changed, and I believe it will get even more expensive and difficult to market and draw players,” says Paula Mauk, vice president of marketing for Trump Entertainment. “Customers are coming; they’re just playing less. We have to be smarter about how to market databases, analyze what we have and give customers what they want.”
  
“The bottom line is that in light of ‘convenience gaming’—the fact that people can walk out of their homes in Pennsylvania and be at a casino in no time—a lot of our old marketing strategies no longer work,” says Phil Juliano, senior vice president of marketing for the Atlantic City Hilton. “The things we used to give people, which were very nice and appreciated and influential a few years ago, don’t have the same value.”
  
 Mary Tindall, vice president of marketing for the Tropicana, agrees. “The whole marketing business has changed for us,” Tindall says. “In a sense, you have to do a lot more for the players if you want them to come back and be loyal.”
   
For Harrah’s Entertainment, the onset of slot parlors has made the company rush to restrategize. “Customers here are looking for something more than the gaming experience, because they can certainly find that closer to home,” says Jennifer Weissman, regional vice president of marketing for Atlantic City Harrah’s Entertainment properties. “There are many more dimensions to the Atlantic City experience than just gaming. We’re looking to really transition the city to a true destination. I see us doing less sweepstakes and promotional items and giveaways and focusing on the overall entertainment experience. Customers want more choices. We are certainly trying to differentiate ourselves from more local convenience offerings.”
   
Brian Cahill, executive director of advertising and media relations for Resorts Atlantic City, says promotions are still essential.
   
“I think the right promotion drives the business,” Cahill says. “At Resorts, we offer a promotion or giveaway or sweepstakes and entertainment seven days a week, 365 days a year. Finding the right promotion is a daily challenge. But when you find the right one, it’s a grand slam.”
   
For many casinos, cash giveaways were the Holy Grail in terms of attracting players. The only problem? Now Pennsylvania is doing the same thing.
   
“In a very smart move by Pennsylvania, they ruled that free slot play will not be taxed, and that was a dagger to Atlantic City,” Juliano says. “They’re giving the same customers we’re trying to attract the same kind of money. For $25, are those customers going to drive down here, use their gas and pay tolls? Or are they going to stay in Pennsylvania where the casinos give them the same kind of money and don’t have to give food and hotel rooms?”
   
That competition is driving Atlantic City to find a whole new identity.
   
“We positioned ourselves as gambling-centric, and we followed that up with great value,” says Juliano. “But when you look at places like Chester and Philly Park, which last month gave away as much coin and slot play as Hilton and Resorts did, you know you have to change. That’s a kick in the teeth. We thought we could outmarket them. We thought we could pay for their gas. Now it’s a push. And you can’t just go and start giving them more money.”
   
“There comes a point where it becomes too much of an expense,” Mauk adds. “The biggest thing we offer right now is the opportunity to come, stay the night, get away and escape. We still have room product, which is something they don’t have.”

Entertainment

The Hilton, like many casinos, is reinventing its marketing platform. The casino drew more than 20,000 people on the beach for a Fourth of July concert with the Beach Boys. It also had a week-long beach-themed event in late August to attract customers.    
   
“We’re going to have do more event-driven promotions,” Juliano says. “How about galas and parties with great entertainment where we spare no expense on food? While we used to be very aggressive with cash and gifts, now we have to be more creative to overcome the convenience and the price of a gallon of gas at the pumps. We need to take advantage of our beach more than ever. That’s one thing the convenience powers can’t do—they can’t have concerts on the beach.”
   
Entertainment is “the absolute key,” says Tindall. “We operate our showroom five or six days a week and take great pride in our revue shows. They’re really for our core customers, but hopefully they attract some new customers along the way.”

Dining

Food also plays a role in promotions. Players routinely receive comps for restaurants based on their play. Now some casinos plan to use special deals at the restaurants to attract players.
   
The Hilton, for example, offered its buffet at less than half price to the public on summer weekends. Trump Plaza, Showboat, Trump Marina and Bally’s will roll out special weekday, prix fixe menus at their gourmet eateries in the off-season. And Harrah’s properties often offer free buffets to good customers on weekdays.
   
“Food always is a big thing,” says Mauk. “We’re opening Il Mulino at the Taj Mahal, and the customers really want that branded restaurant experience. But despite everything going on, even the free and discounted buffets still work.”

Celebrity Appearances

In the last two years, celebrity appearances have played a major role in attracting players as well as non-players.
   
The Hilton, Resorts, Borgata and Trump Taj Mahal all brought in cast members of The Sopranos. The Borgata routinely hosts celebrities, and Harrah’s The Pool booked cast members from The Hills and Entourage.
    
“Celebrity appearances are important,” Juliano says. “We are always looking for the right celebrities. The problem is sometimes they get rock star (fees), but it’s something we want to do more of. The unfortunate part of Atlantic City is that we’ve seen it all.

Everything comes through here. So unless it’s the hottest star of the time, people aren’t going to react. You can’t give them a minor player. They have to be hotter than hot.”
   
Cahill says celebrity appearances have an immediate as well as a long-term impact. “Any time you can have a celebrity, it not only brings in existing players, but it’s a way to introduce new players to your casino,” Cahill said. “It builds the brand of the property while also getting some attention in the media. The key is to have the right timing. When we had The Sopranos, it was right before the final episode, which was perfect. We’ve had some celebrities at Boogie Nights, too. It’s not often that you can walk into a dance club and see David Cassidy.”

Borgata believes so strongly in celebrity power that it was the first casino to bring in celebrity chef restaurants, including Bobby Flay Steak, Wolfgang Puck American Grill, Michael Mina’s Seablue and Michael Schulson’s Izakaya. Even the Water Club’s in-room dining is celebrity-branded by chef Geoffrey Zakarian.

“We’re fortunate at Borgata to have several celebrity chefs as part of our culinary roster, and we often host dinners for our Black Label guests featuring chefs such as Bobby Flay and Wolfgang Puck,” says Borgata spokeswoman Noel Stevenson. “Our customers really enjoy these types of experiences because they have the rare ability to meet and mingle with Wolfgang Puck up close, then have an amazing meal. They can often draw a few hundred more people than would normally attend such events because of their prominence in the culinary world.”
   
Harrah’s Entertainment may not have celebrity restaurants, but it does believe in the concept. Witness its Celebrity Chef Series, and an entire weekend dedicated to celebrity chefs this summer.
   
“The opportunity to meet, greet and actually cook with chefs like Paula Deen, Anthony Bourdain and Tom Colicchio is an amazing thing,” Weissman says. “And that overall experience is what we’re aiming for, whether it be the Luau at Harrah’s Pool or the chef series.”
   
Weissman adds that monthly celebrity appearances at The Pool have been tremendously successful.
   
“Las Vegas has been staging celebrity appearances for years, and it’s working here, too. The core customer really enjoys meeting and greeting headliners. Young customers especially want to meet celebrities they see on TV or listen to on their iPods.”

Giveaways & Trends

Then, there’s the gifts. Cahill says customers are still enticed by everything from luggage to toasters, “items they can use or they can give to family members and friends.
   
“Every kitchen needs a blender and a toaster. A lot of players actually prefer the gifts to cash. I think they look at it as an extra bonus for their play. The primary reason they come here is for the thrill of casino play; the gift is an added thrill.”
   
Resorts, like most casinos, bases its marketing on what its customers request and what player development says players really want. Sometimes, it doesn’t work.
   
“If something is too ‘niche,’ it won’t have the mass appeal we’re aiming for,” says Cahill. “It may be a great item or a creative thing, but it doesn’t work on a big level … like a comforter with a set pattern. It’s a beautiful item that’s expensive, but if it clashes with someone’s décor at home, it’s not appealing to them.”
  
Promotions always tend to be trendy (it was Cabbage Patch Dolls in the ’80s, Beanie Babies in the ’90s).
   
“Popular culture always plays a major part,” says Cahill. “The recent trend is gift cards and promotions for gas. Resorts and Hilton had a $250,000 gas giveaway in July that was very successful. We awarded 100 people gas for a year.”
   
Trump Entertainment recently concluded a successful promotion that capitalized on the bad economy. Players earned entries into a month-long “Mortgage Sweepstakes,” where people could have their mortgage paid off up to $150,000.
    
“The response was great,” Mauk says. “We are absolutely looking at things differently. We are looking at not only things that the customer wants, but also what he needs—gas, cash, things like that.”
   
Harrah’s is following suit.
   
“We definitely watch trends,” says Weissman. “You have to pay attention to what customers are purchasing. Electronics and name brands are always popular. We often partner with the Pier at Caesars and offer brands like Coach, Apple, Brookstone … Customers want brand names.”
    
Borgata has done “everything from a giveaway promotion with Wolfgang Puck’s cutlery line to a $1 million cash giveaway in a single day,” says Stevenson.
   
In Borgata’s case, the brand is so powerful that its giveaways have ended up in merchandise that the casino actually sells.
   
“We offered a promotion that gave our customers the chance to play for Borgata’s signature items, such as the Bed & Bedding Collection, Gypsy Bar margarita glasses, Old Homestead steak knives and more,” says Stevenson. “Since opening, these items had become so popular among our guests that we launched a website, shopborgata.com, so they could purchase for their home.”
    
The granddaddy of all giveaways, of course, is—as Bob Barker would say—“A brand new car!”
   
“It’s still a big thrill for people to have a chance to win a $60,000 Mercedes,” says Cahill. But even big-ticket giveaways can be groomed to fit modern trends. The Tropicana, for example, recently had a Smart Car giveaway.
   
“People were interested in the Smart Car because it’s new and fun,” says Tindall. “With gas prices the way they are, it drew a lot of interest. Don’t get me wrong, people still want the Mercedes and Cadillacs, but this was something a little different.”
   
Borgata is one of the only casinos to stay away from economy-driven promotions.
   
“Our approach has been business as usual,” says Stevenson. “The type of customer we market to is probably less impacted by changes in the economy.”
   
No matter the economic climate, competition is a new reality in the casino industry, and promotions will remain crucial.

By Joseph Harrison

Joseph Harrison is a Casino Connection staff writer who covers news and trends in the casino industry as well as community related stories.

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