Inside Asian Gaming

IAG OCT 2020年10月 亞博匯 93 專欄 O kay, here’s the situation. In Las Vegas, gaming revenues were down more than 50% in June 2020 compared to a year ago and visitor numbers down a staggering 70%. In Macau, gaming revenues were down around 95% during the same period compared to June 2019. In Australia, clubs and most casinos have reopened. Visitor numbers at clubs are down 30% to 50%, but some clubs made more in revenues last month than they did for the same month in 2019. So, while COVID-19 has had an almost ubiquitous impact on the casino industry, the severity of the impact has varied a lot from one jurisdiction to another. What seems universal during the crisis are the drastic cuts made by gaming operators to their marketing budgets. Do the deep reductions in financing marketing activities stem from well-thought out decisions or do they characterize a knee-jerk reaction from gaming operators? What impact will the cuts have on market share during the pandemic and post-pandemic? The urge to cut marketing expenditures during a recession is understandable. Spending cuts on advertising and marketing items are easier to accomplish than on other items such as payroll and overheads. However, previous recessions have taught us that businesses that bounce back most strongly are those that do not cut their marketing spend during the recession. For example, let’s look at Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc/N.V., the Anglo-Dutch multinational consumer goods company. In the recession following the 2008 financial crash, the company launched a marketing campaign aimed at persuading its consumers to 那 個......我們現在的情況是這樣的：拉斯維加斯 的2020年6月博彩總收入按年下降超過一半， 訪客數量足足跌了七成。在澳門，同期的博彩 總收入比起2019年6月下降95％。 在澳洲的俱樂部及大部分娛樂場都已重開。 俱樂部的訪客數字就下跌了三到五成，但有些俱樂部就在上一個 月錄得比2019年同月更高的收入。因此，雖然新冠肺炎疫情可謂 全面地對博彩業造成衝擊，但衝擊的嚴重度卻在每個司法管轄區 都出現差別。只是有一樣是在全世界如出一轍的，那就是博彩營 運商都大刀闊斧地減省它們的市場推廣預算。 到底大幅縮減市場推廣活動的資金是經過深思熟慮的決定， 還是博彩營運商們過度反應的象徵？在這方面作出減省又會對於 它們在疫情中及疫情過後的市場佔有率有甚麼影響呢？ 在經濟衰退期間出現減少市場推廣開支的衝動，其實是可以 理解的。減省廣告及市場推廣項目的開支比起節省薪金及其他經 常開支更加容易達成。可是，從前的衰退已經教曉我們，那些錄得 最強勁反彈的企業都沒有在衰退期間減低他們的市場推廣使費。 就以Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc/N.V.這間英荷跨國消費品 公司為例。在2008年金融海嘯後的衰退期間，該公司就推出了一 個市場推廣活動，希望可以鼓勵購買它旗下產品的消費者在一個 比較嚴峻的經濟環境下繼續購買該公司比較昂貴和表現得較好 的品牌產品。 當競爭對手們紛紛降低市場推廣力度時，該公司就把廣告支 出增加達兩成五，而最後的結果是 Reckitt Benckiser的收入實際 上增加了8%，盈利亦增長14%。相較之下，對手們卻錄得盈利下 跌10%以上。Reckitt Benckiser與其他快速消耗品營銷者的分別 是：前者把廣告當成一種投資，其對手卻將之視為一項支出。 當然，在一場危機之中的廣告內容應該反映出並且回應到客