Inside Asian Gaming

inside asian gaming October 2015 14 CASINO MARKETING If you think being an advocate for a brand and being loyal to a brand is one and the same, then you are not a casino marketer. Brand loyalty in the casino industry is non- existent. Brand advocates, on the other hand, are everywhere, particularly in an increasingly wireless casino world By Michael Perhaes Advocacy Versus Loyalty A rguably, casinos cater to the most promiscuous customers of any industry and Las Vegas provides all the evidence one needs to support this assertion. The typical Las Vegas tourist will visit six casinos during a two-and-a-half-day average stay. They will carry player loyalty cards for every one of those properties, and most will play hard to earn enough points for some sort of entitlement redeemable during their brief stay. Biloxi, Atlantic City and Macau customers are no different. There is no loyalty. For the card carrying, rated player, how and where the entitlement—points and comps—is eventually earned and redeemed is inconsequential. In commodity centric environments like Las Vegas, Atlantic City and other gaming destinations, a room is a room, and slot machines and table games don’t differ from place to place. “I’m going to gamble at six different properties; if I can earn a free room at Excalibur, then play roulette at Paris, who cares?” That’s ‘loyalty,’ casino destination-style. This is not to say that loyalty programs as a mechanism for retention and trip generation are not effective. Of course they are, particularly for regional operators. But loyalty programs do not necessarily encourage brand advocacy. Does earning a room or meal comp mean that something is good or memorable or worth sharing with friends? Not necessarily. And what about those eccentric players that remain loyal yet refuse to sign up for the programs or insert their player cards into a machine? In their case, the term ‘loyalty program’ is a misnomer. Although we’ve managed to enlist about sixty percent of our customers into our loyalty program enterprise-wide, a significant portion refuse to join or use the cards when they play. Their reasons are mysterious, with many claiming that the act of inserting the card into the machine somehow enables the casino Michael Perhaes is vice president of marketing for Wind Creek Hospitality (formerly PCI Gaming), the hospitality enterprise of the Poarch Band of Creek Indians. Operating three casinos and two luxury resort hotels in Alabama, WCH also owns a controlling share in greyhound racing tracks in Mobile and Pensacola, Fla., as well as a poker room/ horse track in Gretna, Fla. He can be reached at mperhaes@ windcreekhospitality.com.