Wright 2 Know

By John Romero

I'm still seething about Ben Mezrich's book, "Bringing Down the House," in which he claims whiz kids from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology beat Las Vegas casinos for millions in the 90s. I say it's a crock. According to the author, a group of "brilliant math students" from MIT learned shuffle tracking, described as "A basic probability distribution exercise of the six-deck stack of 312 cards used at the casinos." Then they "took the technique to its highest level, working as teams to find the hottest tables." One student (Kevin) estimates he won "about $1 million." In his dreams, maybe.

Service Bad? Pay The Guests
I had to laugh when Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc., felt its Sheraton brand had an image problem. The solution? Here it is in one cogent Wall Street Journal headline: "Sheraton Plans to Pay Guests for Bad Service." So now, the Journal says, a missing bath mat or a cockroach in the closet could be worth a free night. What a concept! If we did that in the casino business the guests would own the resorts in about two seconds. I'm not cynical. I just know the amount of thievery casinos already face, and I can imagine what would happen if you invited people to scam you.

How To Advertise Your Competitors
Here's a magnificent idea for casinos, courtesy of Quiksilver, which makes surfboards, snowboards, skateboards and holds marketing to a minimum because they want to stay "cool." They even produced television spots featuring their competitors, but with no mention of Quiksilver. I'm told Fox Sports Network ran them free. I can see it now--beautiful casino commercials with the usual suspects (smiling chefs, gorgeous waitresses and dreamy lovers toasting each other with champagne). You show your closest competitor's sign, but you never mention your own casino. Then Fox runs it free. Your bottom line goes to hell because your customers switch to your competition. But boy, were you ever "cool."

No Way To Track An "Image" Ad
A headline in iMarketing News reads, "Advertisers Back New Push for Brand Awareness." Well, maybe. But for most casinos, "branding" (aka "awareness" and "image") is a waste of money. It lets the ad agency's creatives run wild. They do commercials and print ads that "entertain" viewers and readers. But do they actually sell anything? Nobody knows, because there's no way to track an "image" ad's effect on hard sales.

John Romero, a G.A. Wright Marketing associate, is the author of Casino Marketing and Secrets of Casino Marketing. Together, his two books have sold more than 9,000 hardcover copies in the casino business and to colleges for use in gaming courses.

Want John Romero to share his valuable insights in person with your marketing team? Just make the Wright call to Jack Breslin at 303.393.3530 or email him at Jackb@gawright.com.