Las Vegas Marketing Campaign Analysis - Essay Example

The “What Happens Here, Stays Here” Las Vegas Marketing Campaign: Campaign Analysis BY YOU HERE YOUR HERE HERE Campaign Analysis Product Review/Buyer Analysis The City of Las Vegas is currently being marketed as a single product, catering to a wide variety of consumers. As an appropriate brand positioning strategy, the company has created the “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas” promotional campaign, designed to illustrate that the saucy, somewhat-devilish and exciting experience of Las Vegas will not only guarantee full-blown excitement but anonymity as well. Las Vegas relies on the majority of its financial health from its tourism sector, which amounted to $35 billion in 2007 (Wells Fargo, 5). This represents a tremendous revenue stream for the city of Las Vegas, requiring the city to put forth sizeable effort at attracting mass quantities of consumers to its nightlife and recreational facilities. Las Vegas, as a unique American destination, maintains a significant strategic advantage over traditional product brands, as the business does not have to rely on measuring market share against competitors. There are few destinations with the same quality of spectacle and recreation provided by the entire city of Las Vegas, thus the city can focus solely on its product features, benefits and services as a unique travel destination. Though other cities across the country require tourism dollars, Vegas is in a class by itself for adult entertainment. The marketing focus is also to encourage international consumers to visit the city as part of Las Vegas’ marketing focus (Fowler, B.1). Up until only recently, Las Vegas had been positioned as a family destination, with previous marketing efforts focusing on the theme park varieties and water-park recreation provided by the city to lure family revenue dollars. One notable author describes the previous Las Vegas marketing campaign, focused on family, as a conglomerate of “T-shirt packs of doughnut inhalers roaming the casinos like livestock” (Anderson, 1). This represented a marketing focus where the targeted consumer was the family demographic, potentially creating conflict between the more adult-oriented consumer who looked at Vegas as an escape for adult entertainment and exciting, casino recreation. The shift in marketing focus from family-oriented to a more risqué campaign illustrates a total change in target market focus. Las Vegas marketers also maintain a very mass advertising philosophy where individual target consumers are not the focus, but appeals to the mass consumer audience comprised of business professionals, young adults, and any other age or background demographic available in the United States. There is evidence, however, of some niche marketing focusing on building tourism dollars from gay and lesbian travelers (Community Marketing Inc., 1). The current promotional campaign is targeted at the community- and diversity-minded gay traveler looking for both anonymity and unparalleled excitement. However, the mass marketing philosophy is the major focus of the new Vegas campaign which is evident on the wide variety of television marketing across the United States today. Interestingly, Vegas is also becoming a popular tourist destination for college students. This particular market segment is well-known for its Spring Break antics and crazed nightlife activities, providing the city with the perfect opportunity to appeal to this group using the new promotional campaign. As a break from the family marketing focus, using the “What happens in Vegas” campaign to target this group is designed to lure a slightly older and more sophisticated college tourist crowd. One marketing expert suggests that Las Vegas has become a stylish destination for the young and the affluent (Garrahan, 12). This is far from the family-oriented focus of yesterday. The “What happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas” promotional campaign suggests somewhat of a Sodom and Gomorrah theme, with representations of devilish characters and angelic creatures alike enjoying the atmosphere of the city in humorous situations (Anderson). Alongside this, Vegas includes logo presentation on in-lobby billboards, floor graphics, elevator wraps, sponsored lounge parties, and ads on digital screens in various hotel lobbies as a means to reinforce the new brand image of Vegas as a stop for anonymous excitement (Media Buyer Planner, 1). This suggests a concentrated marketing focus which not only is prevalent in mass media efforts, but is instilled as an entire Las Vegas experience even after the targeted consumer has arrived at their destination. This is an intensive marketing focus to build a positive brand image and a connection with consumer lifestyle. Las Vegas is a high involvement purchase, which involves time investment and financial resources, far more than the typical in-store product purchase. This suggests that the tourist consumer is going to research options for cost-savings opportunities, recreational options, and other amenities when determining whether to visit Las Vegas. It is the mass market consumer who is going to be buying the Vegas product, which provides the city marketers with the opportunity to position the city in a method which corresponds to different consumer segment lifestyles and attributes. For instance, the professional businessperson simply looking for a quality escape from the consumer mundane might only find connection with Vegas based on elements of anonymity during a wild-and-crazy weekend of fun. The contented housewife, however, may find connection with the city based on the saucy elements of a risqué and quieted vacation. In essence, Las Vegas marketers maintain a wide variety of possible positioning strategies to lure in a broader mass market audience. It is reasonable to assume that once the consumer has explored their alternatives and made a decision, Las Vegas’ “What happens here” campaign will appeal largely to the anonymous-minded tourist with a propensity to act wildly and outside of their traditional, daily personality construct. The ability to appeal to mass market audiences creates a limitation for Las Vegas marketers in relation to understanding specific consumer behaviors and preferences. Some tourists are likely looking for quality while others are looking for variety. Some consumers likely search for excitement while others prefer the traditional shopping environment. Las Vegas has created several different positioning tactics for the city, while still utilizing the “What happens here” promotional campaign, to appeal to different groups. Some on-air advertisements focus on humor while others focus on the satisfaction of an exciting escape destination. This illustrates the city’s marketing focus on diverse promotional materials with a mass market focus and several different positioning tactics to reach consumers of various demographic and geographic backgrounds. Communication Objectives and Budget One marketing professional suggests that people do not go to Vegas for anonymity, rather they are drawn to the spectacle as a primary goal of the tourist experience (Seltzer, 29). The city of Vegas may realize this in its attempts to draw consumers through the current promotional campaign as the ads link secretive spectacle to merely the brand of Las Vegas. By utilizing a variety of on-air actors in the city’s commercials, Las Vegas is portrayed as a seductive and mind-blowing experience which is so insanely-enjoyable that it should not even be spoken aloud. This creates consumer brand awareness, making them more interested in searching for information about the many amenities offered by the city. Additionally, the current campaign is raising interest in the hectic and stressed consumer businessperson or family-oriented individual to show that Vegas can not only provide excitement, but a long-standing reputation amongst other Vegas-visiting consumers. This creates a connection between excitement and the consumer desire to act irresponsibly and the many laurels of Las Vegas. The evidence is that the current “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas” campaign is attempting to create purchase conviction in its consumer audience, based on the fact that most Americans are fully aware of Las Vegas and its many developments and recreational options but do not necessarily prefer it to other tourist destinations. The company positions the city by creating connection with lifestyle, illustrating the outlandish experiences of others after their Vegas trip has been experienced, to show the lingering, positive effects of the visit. This appears to be a drive to push purchase conviction and boost tourism dollars. The existing promotional campaign is relatively new to the city, therefore it is almost impossible to measure the long-term revenue impact on the city. However, city documents indicate that total revenues increased by well over 100 million dollars between 2005 and 2006, perhaps illustrating that the new marketing focus (away from family-orientation) is creating measurable improvements in marketing efficiency. It would be impossible to list all of the possible psychographic tendencies of various consumer audiences, as the company is taking a mass market approach to gaining the attention of consumers. Any variety of psychographic profiles would fit a wide variety of consumers across America (and internationally), which suggests that Las Vegas must continue to try to utilize the current promotional campaign and create multiple positioning strategies to raise awareness and drive purchase conviction for many consumer groups. Despite any weaknesses to the city’s current marketing focus, it is clear that tourist revenues are increasing which illustrates that the current campaign brings significant value to both the consumer and the region itself both short- and long-term. Bibliography Anderson, John. “What Happens in Vegas”. Newsday.com, 2008. Accessed 27 Nov 2008 Community Marketing Inc. “Gay Days and Nights Las Vegas”. Marketing Tools for Tourism and Hospitality, 2008. Accessed 27 Nov 2008 Fowler, Geoffrey. “What Happens in Vegas, Goes to China; With Gambling Ads Banned, Attracting Casino Customers Can be a Roll of the Dice”. Wall Street Journal, New York, New York. 13 Jun 2007: B.1. Garrahan, Matthew. “Man who put a shine on Sin City: A British Entrepreneur is Helping to Transform Las Vegas into a Stylish Destination for the Young and Affluent”. Financial Times, London. 23 Jul 2008. Accessed 27 Nov 2008 from ProQuest database. Media Buyer Planner. “Advertisers Ping College Students in Vegas during Spring Break”. Brand Connections, 2007. Accessed 27 Nov 2008 Seltzer, Sarah. “What Happens in Vegas…”. Publisher’s Weekly, New York, 2008. 254(43): 29. Wells Fargo. “Public Disclosure: Community Reinvestment Act Performance Evaluation”. Wells Fargo Financial National Bank, Las Vegas, 2006. Accessed 26 Nov 2008 http://www.harrisinteractive.com/about/pubs/HI_LasVegasAlibi_Case_Study.pdf http://www.mediabuyerplanner.com/2007/02/12/advertisers-ping-college-students-in-vegas-during-spring-break/ Read More