casino and hospitality section from the book going mobile: going social
TRANSCRIPT
From chapter seven of Andrew Pearson’s book Going Mobile: Going Social, available at Amazon.com –
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Casino, Gaming and Hospitality
The rise in popularity and the rapid growth of the gaming industry has created a highly competitive environment for
casino companies worldwide. Industry-‐leading gaming companies have expressed the need to identify and develop
their clientele so that they can enhance their guest's experience, as well as to increase customer loyalty and generate
new business leads, whether they are in Las Vegas, Macau, Singapore, Vietnam, Cambodia, Australia or a whole host
of other worldwide gaming destinations. The casino industry is exceptionally robust and, throughout the Far East,
casinos are either currently being built in places like South Korea, Vietnam, The Philippines and Russia or close to
receiving parliamentary approval in countries like Japan and Taiwan, so the competition is only going to get fiercer.
The old methods of direct mail and email marketing aren’t going to excite the casino patrons of today, who have
become highly sophisticated and not only expect information at their fingertips, literally, but expect it to be delivered
to them immediately. Today, casino patrons want to be able to pull up their points balances on their phones; soon, they
will want to pay for things within the casino on their phones as well.
Casino and hotel operators can use social media to manage their brand, enhance brand loyalty as well as engage both
their current customers and their potential customers. The social media world is also the perfect place to harvest customer
feedback, provide real-‐time customer service, build fanbases and drive traffic to a casino’s Website. Casino and hotel
operators should not be reluctant to dive into social media because of its unfiltered nature. These forums will exist with or
without the casino’s involvement, therefore it is better to stay ahead of the curve rather than be painfully stuck behind it.
As with every other industry mentioned in this book, engagement is the key when it comes to a successful ROI
and profitable customer relations. For the casino and hospitality industry, mobile and social media can be vital
components of this success; augmented reality, blogs, brand and anti-‐brand management, content communities,
geofencing apps, mobile dynamic pricing, OTT services, mobile search and many of the other platforms I have
discussed in this book can be exploited in a myriad of ways to engage a highly motivated audience. And these patrons
are motivated, at least the ones I see here in Macau, which is, unquestionably the worldwide destination when it
comes to gambling in this day and age. Macau was once dubbed the “Las Vegas of the Orient,” but, today, gaming
revenues in Macau dwarf those of Las Vegas and they have reached US$ 45B,1 seven times those of Las Vegas.
To compete in this highly competitive industry, casino companies are recognizing the importance of
personalization when it comes to customer interactions. Most casinos today have customer loyalty programs that are
a part of a CRM and/or a SCRM initiative to provide their guests with an intimate experience that will make them
want to return again and again and again. Mobile and social media channels are some of the best ways to reach these
customers.
Lovelock and Wirtz (2010) created the “Wheel of Loyalty” as an organizing structure to help businesses build
customer loyalty and it is highly relevant to the gaming industry. The first of its three sequential steps include building
a foundation for loyalty, including “targeting the right portfolio of customer segments, attracting the right customers,
tiering the service, and delivering high levels of satisfaction” (Lovelock and Wirtz, 2010).
The second step—creating loyalty bonds that either deepen the relationship through cross-‐selling and bundling
or adding value to the customer through loyalty rewards and higher level bonds—can be achieved by the casino
gaining a fuller understanding of the patron (Lovelock and Wirtz, 2010). It is important to understand as much about
the patron as possible, his wants, desires and needs, all the way down to his preferred choice of game, his preferred
type of food and drink, etc., etc.
The third factor—identify and reduce the factors that result in “churn”—is also extremely important to a casino’s
bottom line (Lovelock and Wirtz, 2010). Engagement is important here and mobile apps are a great channel to keep
customers interested. Patrons who are baccarat or poker players can be made aware of upcoming tournaments
through these apps and reminder calendars can be set up to ping customers as the tournament dates approach.
Augmented reality has many potential applications in the gaming and hospitality industry as well and the
following ideas might seem a little like science fiction, but they are certainly within the realm of technical possibilities,
and today there is no question they would take the concept of personalization to a whole new level. These ideas
might be a little ahead of their time, but they are perfect for the gaming industry as it might be one of the rare
industries that could implement such a system because it has the financial muscle to develop AR applications, the
1 http://money.cnn.com/2014/01/06/news/macau-‐casino-‐gambling/ (Retrieved: 7 July 2014.
need for in-‐memory computing platforms as well as the databases that contain all of the necessary patron
information that is required to make these complicated and holistic systems work.
In his article Augmented Reality and Hospitality…the Next Generation of Hotels?, Matt S-‐J (2013) lays out a very
interesting scenario for AR in a hospitality environment, whether that is for a hotel, a standalone casino or an
integrated resort. If a casino property provided its front desk staff with a pair of Google Glasses that connected to its
company data warehouse that provided real-‐time patron information, the staff would be empowered to greet and
interact with a patron on a truly personal level. The clerks could know all of the customer’s past history and, perhaps
even if these were well-‐known VIPs, the recent news headlines associated with them. This type of engagement would
bring the concept of customer service to a whole new level, a level that would be unlike anything these patrons had
ever seen before, even if they were high-‐level celebrities (Matt S-‐J, 2013).
A guest who had stayed at the property in the past would immediately be identified and all of his or her
preferences and necessary patron information could appear on the Google glass’s virtual screen (Matt S-‐J, 2013). “The
guest could be checked in before they even reach the door. The extent goes further as restaurants could identify
guests allergies or preferences, orders would be recognized by dish then linked to the table and guest images shown
to see who has ordered what so the food is served to the correct person” (Matt S-‐J, 2013).
Birthday or anniversary greetings could be offered up without having to research a patron’s profile or staff who
interact with VIP guests could be informed of sensitive topics to be avoided (Matt S-‐J, 2013). Many of these things can
be achieved through excellent staff, but they all require research, time and a good long memory, which not everyone
possesses (Matt S-‐J, 2013).
The one big drawback that might make this scenario difficult to implement is the fact that facial recognition
technology isn’t yet robust or quick enough to match patrons with a live person entering the casino in time to alert
customer-‐facing employees (Matt-‐S-‐J, 2013). However, facial recognition technology might not be needed at all
because most people already carry around a very powerful tracking device with them, it is called their mobile phone
(Matt S-‐J, 2013). Provided the Telcos or an OTT service like WeChat or a system like iBeacon pushes the location data
to the hotel staff, this scenario could be realized today.
For the casino patron, AR could enhance his or her on-‐property experience considerably. By simply downloading
the casino property’s AR app onto his mobile phone, the patron could be checked in virtually and then be given
personalized directions to his room, where hotel staff members could greet him. A free bottle of champagne or
Chateau Lafite wine could be awaiting him (Matt S-‐J, 2013). The casino’s general manager could even appear in a
video to offer a personalized greeting (Matt S-‐J, 2013).
Continuing with the AR journey, a patron could go to one of the integrated resort’s restaurants and, when seeing
an appetizing meal being brought out from the kitchen, he could whip out his mobile phone, snap a picture of the
meal, quickly scan it, discover that it is a dish of beef wellington, and then, potentially, place an order for it (Matt S-‐J,
2013). If interested, the patron could even pay for the dish on his mobile device, possibly paying with patron points
should he chose to use that method.
After dinner, if the patron is interested in going to one of the hotel bars, a quick scan of the line of people
waiting to get into the bar would reveal the wait time. If the AR system connected with the hotel’s patron system
(which revealed that he was a high-‐roller whose card allowed him to skip the line), the patron could be notified that
he could jump the queue. If the patron didn’t have such a vaunted status and didn’t want to wait, he could be shown
the name and location of the hotel’s other, not so crowded, bars (Matt S-‐J, 2013).
The AR app could also help with hotel maintenance. As a user scans his or her hotel room, the app could take
notice of any minor maintenance issues (Matt S-‐J, 2013). These issues would not be highlighted for the user, but
would be relayed to the appropriate hotel maintenance departments so that they could be fixed (Matt S-‐J, 2013).
This, of course, does raise privacy issues, but they are probably nothing a good corporate lawyer couldn’t overcome.
Continuing on the patron’s AR journey: if the patron liked to play golf, a quick scan of the golf course with the AR
app would reveal the average par shots (Matt S-‐J, 2013). If she chose to play, the app could keep track of her score
(Matt S-‐J, 2013). Nearby structures could also be explained so that she could actually discover local areas of interest
(Matt S-‐J, 2013). Discounts on services could also be pushed out to her and, if they were coupled with a dynamic
pricing system, these discounts could actually help sell what might otherwise be empty seats in one of the integrated
resort’s venues (Matt S-‐J, 2013). Why would the user scan his hotel room? I’m sure any good casino marketing
department could figure out many interesting ways to augment printed materials, digital content and in-‐room
collateral. With AR, the imagination can truly run free.
Pit bosses could also use Google Glass in a way that could help them adjust table game minimums. The patron’s
information (such as his past history, including his average bet, daily theo, how long he normally plays for, whether he
tends to buy back in or not) could be projected on a Google Glass headset. This information could help the pit boss to
raise or lower his table minimums much faster than he currently can; solid analytics would replace gut instinct. The
fact that all of this information was instantly available would make it very actionable.
For a sports betting website, augmented reality could be used to offer live odds on players during a soccer
match, a basketball game or on a horse being paraded before a race. A punter could point his phone at a player on a
soccer pitch or on a basketball court and see live odds of that player being the next scorer or being the Man of the
Match. Bets could be done in one easy click and odds would be updated live throughout the games, or even,
potentially, during a horse or dog race.
Blogs and micro-‐blogging sites are also important mobile and social media channels and casinos should monitor
Twitter feeds for both their satisfied and dissatisfied customers. This is where brand and anti-‐brand management
comes in. The invert of that old Paul Newman gambling chestnut that “Money won is twice as sweet as money
earned” is probably “Money gambled away is twice as painful as money spent,” so casinos must be cognizant of the
emotional toll that gambling losses can induce and monitoring what losing gamblers are saying on social media is
paramount to any good CRM strategy.
In his article Casinos Saving Face Online, L. Benson (2009) states that “Social media Web sites such as Facebook
and Twitter are changing the face of customer relations at major Las Vegas hotels” (Benson, 2009). “Resorts are
setting up their own fan pages where executives can monitor customer suggestions on how to improve business, bask
in guests’ kudos, offer immediate assistance to customers in distress—and cringe when unhappy patrons post critical
remarks that ding their companies” (Benson, 2009).
As part of the ongoing dialogue that a casino should foster, the casino patrons are doing their part, “with their
comments and reviews not only reaching casino managers but an untold number of other customers and potential
customers over whom they can now wield influence” (Benson, 2009). Casino executives can no longer carefully craft
resort marketing messages, but, as the following example shows, they have allies in their patron ranks coming to their
defense:
A gambler ranted on South Point’s Facebook page last week, “Please folks ... do N-‐O-‐T gamble in
this casino. They run some of the TIGHTEST machines in Las Vegas. I LOSE almost E-‐V-‐E-‐R-‐Y time I
try playing at South Point.” South Point managers read every word—and let the comment ride.
Before they could engage the man in a public debate about the competitiveness of their slot
machines, another customer came to the property’s defense minutes later: “If you don’t like the
South Point that much—then just don’t go there. But the rest of us LOVE the place ... better luck
next time” (Benson, 2009).
The tweeter who came to the defense of the casino could have been rewarded for his or her loyalty. Perhaps
tweeting him or her some free matching slot play may have been seen as too blatant an act of quid-‐pro-‐quo, but
there is no reason why (if the casino can link this gambler with his or her patron profile) South Point didn’t offer a nice
reward for such loyalty in a future marketing campaign.
Casino companies should also feel compelled to reward their customers through Facebook, Twitter, WeChat, and
Weibo or any number of blogging and micro-‐blogging services. The beauty of using these channels is the ability of the
customer to share these awards or stories of these awards with friends and contacts. It wouldn’t be that hard to do,
either, as a casino can ask patrons for their social media accounts upon sign up.
Customer satisfaction is the foundation of true customer loyalty, while customer dissatisfaction is one of the
main reasons why customers leave (Lovelock and Wirtz, 2010). This may sound obvious, but its importance cannot be
stressed enough. According to Jones and Sasser (1995), “the satisfaction-‐loyalty relationship can be divided into three
main zones: Defection, indifference, and affection. The zone of defection occurs at low satisfaction levels. Customers
will switch unless switching costs are high or there are no viable or convenient alternatives.” This, obviously, isn’t the
case with casinos, where switching often constitutes little more than walking across the street to a competing casino's
gaming floor or browsing to another sports betting website (that is probably willing to give you a sign-‐up bonus for
your patronage). With the vast echo chamber of social media against them, losing only one disgruntled patron could
be the least of the casino’s problems.
Jones and Sasser (1995) warn that, “Extremely dissatisfied customers can turn into ‘terrorists,’ providing an
abundance of negative feedback about the service provider.” Through social media channels, negative feedback can
reverberate around the world within seconds. Today, more than ever, casinos must spot dissatisfied customers and
approach them before they do irreparable harm to the company’s image and reputation and social media is one of
the best channels in which to engage them.
Casinos need to empower their patrons to post on Facebook or WeChat or Twitter or comment about their
experience and, hopefully, turn them into apostles. In Jones and Sasser’s zone of affection, satisfaction levels are high
and “customers may have such high attitudinal loyalty that they don’t look for alternative service” (Jones and Sasser,
1995). It is within this group that “Apostles”–members who praise the firm in public–reside and this is the group that
is responsible for improved future business performance (Wangenheim, 2005). A simple search of the Twitter feed on
the multiple services I mentioned in the previous chapter will probably reveal a list of patrons who could be courted
for marketing purposes.
Dovetailing the above, another example from Benson’s (2009) article is of a woman who posted on her Twitter
page that she had “just touched down” in Las Vegas. “Because Twitter posts can be monitored by keywords, a Wynn
Las Vegas employee was able to immediately respond: ‘Welcome! Come on over to our resort to explore and
discover. You won’t be disappointed’” (Benson, 2009). Having a social media monitoring command center is a must
these days. Searching for keywords like “Las Vegas” or “Macao” or “baccarat” or any of a hundred other iterations
that reference gambling could be a good start. In Macau, the Chinese government’s restrictions on gambling wouldn’t
come in to play as Twitter is not officially available in China.
As for building fanbases, “Big brands–including casinos–that don’t develop social media programs do so at their
peril, said Jennifer Van Grove, an associate editor at Mashable.com” (Benson, 2009). With over 8,000 Twitter
followers, Van Grove makes the point that if she posts something, some of her followers are going to reply and may
share her Tweet with their followers (Benson, 2009). As she so succinctly warns, “You could have a whole chain of
comments based on one incident. These hotels have to be involved” (Benson, 2009).
In Macau, I have heard stories about certain sports betting websites that pay handsome fees to Chinese bloggers
who tout these websites as they make their weekly Premiere League picks. They have followers who number in the
hundreds of thousands and, trust me, Chinese gamblers are an industrious lot, they have found it easy to get past the
not-‐so-‐great Internet firewall of China. While visiting different cities in China, I often do a test to see which sports
betting websites are available on the Mainland. A few American horseracing sites are unavailable, but most of the
European and Australian sports books are available and seemingly open to taking bets. Getting money into these
accounts might be tricky, but not impossible.
Real time technology gives hotels and casinos the ability to see—and know—what is going on in real time around
them, and this allows them to easily counter negative perceptions instantly. As was the case with the negative South
Point Casino and Resort diatribe, the countering positive comments would be considered more trustworthy as they
came from an actual user, rather than a press release from the criticized company, which are usually, and,
understandably, viewed with skepticism. “There is a great upside for companies that go about it the right way, Van
Grove argues (Benson, 2009). “Social media can hold hotels more accountable to their customers, fix problems,
correct misconceptions and build loyalty,” she adds (Benson, 2009).
In March 2008, MGM created its Facebook page and it has now attracted tens of thousands of followers. MGM
also started a Twitter page around the same time and, today, MGM uses both Facebook and Twitter to promote and
drive business to its establishments, as well as to learn what people are saying about them (Benson, 2009). MGM also
uses these social networks to interact with customers and positively influence a broader audience of consumers
(Benson, 2009).
Social media marketing makes good economic sense as well. Given the explosive growth of social media sites,
“these might become more cost-‐effective than using traditional advertising and marketing methods” (Benson, 2009).
Social media is also universal, for every Facebook in the US, there is a corresponding RenRen or WeChat in Asia, yet
there is no reason why a casino in Macau isn’t on Facebook today; in reality, most of them already are. Facebook
helps Macau’s integrated resorts to market their properties and services to customers in Hong Kong, Japan, South
Korea, Taiwan and even such faraway places as Singapore and Indonesia. Conversely, there’s no reason why a US
land-‐based casino shouldn’t market itself on WeChat either. The fact that the Chinese market is such a lucrative
market would seem to dictate that Las Vegas casinos should use such channels to court these highly-‐motivated Asian
customers, many of whom can easily afford a trip to Las Vegas.
To maintain credibility with customers, casino companies shouldn’t remove negative comments or constructive
criticism from these social media sites unless the person posting the comment uses foul language or says something
offensive to others (Benson, 2009). “Everyone’s entitled to their opinion,” Sally Gaughan, South Point’s director of
Internet marketing, said about the negative slot machine comment (Benson, 2009). “We wanted to give people a
place to talk about the South Point and we wanted it to be genuine” (Benson, 2009).
Fostering this kind of goodwill can reap many rewards. Another example of great near real-‐time customer
service is from the MGM Mirage, which won plaudits from fans—and perhaps more business—for how it responded
to a disgruntled dinner couple (Benson, 2009). “After a customer posted on Facebook that he was unhappy with his
meal at one of the company’s Strip resorts, the property’s concierge contacted the customer, who was still at the
hotel, and offered to fix the problem” (Benson, 2009). “In another instance, a customer who had won show tickets
complained online that he couldn’t use the tickets because he had a conflict. MGM Mirage gave the man free tickets
for another date” (Benson, 2009). This kind of social media proactivity will, undoubtedly, go far in customer relations.
I highly doubt, on that customer’s next visit to Vegas, he or she won’t think, first and foremost, of MGM when
deciding where to stay and gamble. The fact is, this is the kind of service that people love to tell their friends about so,
for the small price of a steak dinner and some concert tickets, MGM probably got some invaluable word-‐of-‐mouth
marketing.
Facebook should be a part of every casino’s social and mobile media marketing plan, but simply putting up a
Facebook page won’t cut it these days; creativity and uniqueness are needed to get noticed in today’s highly competitive
social media market. Gamification is also a good way to stand out from the crowd.
A few years ago, California's Pechanga Resort & Casino used Facebook to increase brand awareness in a unique
and innovative way. Pechanga created Slot Wars™, an interactive Facebook game that allowed fans to “battle” with
each other on competing slot machines. Players could customize their slot machines by uploading personal images
and these became part of the slot wheels. At its peak, Slot Wars™ had over 10,000 active players from Southern
California alone. Pechanga also saw significant increases in its on-‐property slot play, which was, the casino believed,
directly attributable to its Facebook presence.
Mohegan Sun also used Facebook to attract patrons. Through the Facebook Connect feature, Mohegan Sun
pulled a user's Facebook profile into its Shine Maker app, where a customized experience was created for him or her.
By asking users to rate their desires according to a series of six scales, a customized video catered specifically to the
individual was built. The individual could then distribute the video to his or her social media friends and
acquaintances, spreading word of the casino’s brand far and wide.
Perhaps as more of a marketing gimmick than anything else, in August of 2013, The Casino at The Empire in
London, performed the world’s first ever casino crowdsourcing experiment (Amsel, 2013). Leveraging the powers of
social media, The Casino at The Empire gave Dave Sargeant (the lucky punter who earned his role as a social casino
lab rat via a Facebook contest) “£1K with which to wager, with any winnings going straight into his pocket” (Amsel,
2013). “The kicker was his every wagering decision—whether to hit, stay, pick red or black or play a three card poker
hand—would be crowdsourced via the Empire’s Twitter followers” (Amsel, 2013). “It took three hours for Sargeant to
go through his stack of chips, making a total of 63 wagers on the advice of his digital backseat drivers. The net result
was a £932.50 payday for Sargeant, who said, ‘All that tweeting was hard work’ but he wasn’t complaining”
(Amsel.com, 2013).
Geofencing applications like Jiepang and Foursquare are useful services for hotel and casino marketers as well.
Macau casinos, specifically, should be exploiting this medium because of its high concentration of mobile subscribers
(Weiners, 2012). SMS is a bit passé now. In his article LBS Opportunities for Casino Marketers in Macau, Chris Weiners
(2012) offers the following ideas for casino operators to get their LBS promotions rolling:
1. Pick your LBS service and claim your location.
2. Offer tips to customers via LBS.
3. Reward loyalty creatively. Start by offering your most loyal customers rewards, special access, and other
promotions. Those that become your “Mayor”—or any other significant title—should be rewarded for their
loyalty. This is a great way to identify potential social influencers and utilize them to further promote your
venue.
4. Reward new customers: First time check-‐ins should receive special promotions or incentives and give
people a reason to check in to your establishment.
5. Understand who your loyal customers are online, and work with them. “Develop a plan to utilize these
‘influencers’ and tap into their social networks. “Casinos do it offline all of the time; develop a similar
approach for high-‐valued customers online through social connections. Encourage your followers to
promote their checked-‐in status to their friends via social networks and micro blogs like Sina and Twitter”
(Weiners, 2012).
6. Promote your services both on-‐ and off-‐line.
In May of 2013, Lighthouse Signal Systems launched its indoor positioning system as an open service for Android
app developers (Takahashi, 2013). Developers can use the technology to create Android apps that will help users find
their way through the vast indoor terrain of Las Vegas’ hotels and casinos (Takahashi, 2013).
Although global positioning systems have made outdoor navigation as simple as following directions on a mobile
device, indoor navigation isn’t so simple, it is actually one of the last major hurdles that smartphones have yet to truly
conquer (Takahashi, 2013). However, Cambridge, Mass.-‐based Lighthouse Signal Systems has launched a service that
covers 20 million square feet of entertainment and retail space at leading casinos and hotels on the Las Vegas Strip
(Takahashi, 2013).
Lighthouse is “making its service freely available to Android app developers, resort operators, retailers, and
others seeking to enhance the visitor experience in Las Vegas. Indoor navigation is the Holy Grail for the mobile
industry, and Lighthouse says it is the first to provide GPS-‐like indoor positioning on a wide scale in a major U.S.
metro” (Takahashi, 2013).
“We are excited to support app developer partners as they create new mobile experiences with indoor
positioning in Las Vegas, where large resort interiors have traditionally presented a vexing challenge for visitors,” said
Lighthouse co-‐founder Parviz Parvizi (Takahashi, 2013).
The standard line is that casinos want you to get lost on their floors so you spend more money so they create
circular floors that differ little from whichever direction you enter or exit, but times are changing. Casino operators
now recognize the importance of getting their gamblers in front of their preferred gaming table or slot machine as
quickly as possible. A line stretching out the door at the entrance of a casino in Singapore (because every guest’s
passport must be checked to ensure a Singapore local isn’t attempting to slip in without paying the local’s entrance
fee) means minutes of lost gaming time, which can add up to thousands of dollars of lost revenue per day. Giving a
gambler directions to his favorite slot machine bank or preferred Baccarat table could mean, at minimum, decreasing
a player’s frustration at not being able to find what he or she is looking for or, at best, increasing gaming floor
revenue by increasing the gaming handle.
“Providing location-‐based services does not really reduce how much time people spend at the resorts but
instead has the potential to enhance the overall experience,” said Parviz Parvizi (Takahashi, 2013). “From a resort
owner perspective, the time that a visitor spends wandering around being lost is a wasted opportunity that could be
better and more profitably spent on gaming or entertainment” (Takahashi, 2013).
Lighthouse’s platform “includes indoor geofencing: a hosting platform for location-‐based offers and user
analytics” (Takahashi, 2013). The apps include user opt-‐in agreements and developers cannot use the service to track
mobile phone users without user consent (Takahashi, 2013).
The technology uses “a combination of WiFi fingerprinting and sensor data. As long as there are WiFi networks in
the area, Lighthouse can provide positioning info” (Takahashi, 2013). Google, Cisco, Ekahau, Euclid, Shopkick,
PointInside, Aisle411, Sensionlab, Indoor.rs, Yfind, and CSR are all developing similar systems (Takahashi, 2013).
Mobile marketing in general and OTT, MMS and SMS marketing in particular can help casinos create a one-‐to-‐
one, two-‐way interactive experience with its patrons. These channels are not just about sending out a simple
message, but rather they are about starting a customer relationship that can be analyzed so that the casino has a 360
degree understanding of its patron. It is an understanding that includes his or her wants, desires and needs.
Signing onto an OTT service like WeChat in Macau should give a user access to all kinds of information, such as
his player card point balance, coupons to onsite restaurants or bars, signups to gaming tournaments, as well as free
play gambling coupons.
By giving customers instant access to the information they need when they need it most, a casino can enhance
their patron’s on-‐property experience. Whether its patrons are on-‐property to play baccarat, poker, blackjack, slots,
bingo, or if they want to gamble in the sports book, these instant messaging services can provide a patron with
instant information that can not only enhance their experience but, potentially, shape it.
As previously mentioned, Snapchat teamed up with Betfair to offer “self destructing” odds to gamblers during
two football games in February 2014 (Sparkes, 2014). “The offer was extended to anyone following the company’s
official Shapchat account, betfairofficial, during the Chelsea versus Everton and Crystal Palace versus Manchester
United Premier League fixtures” (Sparkes, 2014) and enhanced odds were given to bettors. This may seem like a
gimmick but, in this day and age, this is the kind of thing that gets you noticed.
Ceasars is one company that has been able to use social media to measure marketing data. “While social media
networks like Facebook provide metrics that measure activity within its platform, integrating that data to enable
visibility across a brand's entire marketing organization is difficult. Caesars, however, unites information from
customers coming through social channels across business units, program teams, time zones, and languages. A
content-‐building component allows Caesars' marketers to listen in and respond in real time (Urbanski, 2013).
No matter where the customer interaction originates, engagement is a key factor in moving those interactions
from the top of the sales funnel to an eventual purchase (Urbanski, 2013). “It doesn't matter where customers come
in or leave or reenter,” says Chris Kahle, Caesar’s Web Analytics Manager (Urbanski, 2013). “If they come to your
social page and click your button, or if they go into your content or email and click on that, it's all the same app and
you've got them. [The app we use] IDs a cookie and if [prospects] come back around on paid search three days later,
we can track them. We can track them on every website, even if they came in on a Las Vegas site and then jump
markets to Atlantic City,” adds Kahle (Urbanski, 2013).
Caesars also tracks activity in real time, while responding to customer cues (Urbanski, 2013). Unsurprisingly,
different types of customers are more responsive to different interactions from Caesars. Aside from dividing
customers into categories such as “Frequent Independent Traveler”—or FITs and Total Rewards members, the
Ceasar’s team uses tracking data to further segment customers by property or market as well as determine how each
of their various segments respond to content (Urbanski, 2013). Using this data, Caesars evaluates campaigns in regard
to KPIs, such as number of nights booked, and adjusts them on the fly to ramp up conversion rates (Urbanski, 2013).
“When Caesars sponsored free concerts by top artists at several of its properties last year, for instance, it streamed
the events live on the Web and used its new analytics suite to fine-‐tune loyalty program offers on its websites. It
resulted in a dramatic spike in Total Rewards program sign-‐ups during the concerts” (Urbanski, 2013).
“What's really dramatic about this is that you can determine what is engaging individuals and target them with
it,” Adobe's Langie says (Urbanski, 2013). “The high-‐roller segment, for example. They might respond to a very
different Web design than the casual visitor and Caesars tailors the page view to who is visiting. Think of the website
as a canvas. You can paint a still life of a fruit for one person and something different for another. The canvas is
dynamic” (Urbanski, 2013).
“The speed and the manner with which the chosen website designs and digital marketing tactics are
implemented across the Caesars network may well be the most transforming development of the company's new
data culture” (Urbanski, 2013). And this was no easy task as the Caesars landscape extends over 60 websites for its
various properties and services as well as 40 Facebook pages. “Prior to implementing a data-‐centric approach to the
decision-‐making process, it could take as long as two weeks to furnish the field with actionable data. They now get it
done in a matter of hours” (Urbanski, 2013). In 2013, Ceasars’ implemented Adobe’s Digital Marketing Suite, which
“includes real-‐time tracking and segmentation of digital site visitors, analysis of social media’s role in purchasing, and
content testing by segment or individual visitor” (Urbanski, 2013).
“The people at the individual properties who are managing the content of the websites are not all technically
sophisticated, but Adobe system provides them with built-‐in capabilities,” Kahle says (Urbanski, 2013). “Say one of
our properties wants to track social. Before, they'd have to spend a lot of time manually adding tracking codes. With
Adobe, tracking codes are integrated” (Urbanski, 2013).
In this day and age it is all about one-‐to-‐one marketing. “There's a competitive advantage to using customer data
to track and customize marketing appeals for targets of one as opposed to solely focusing on the general masses.
High rollers frequently drop tens of thousands of dollars at gaming tables, and they are the segment being lured to
brand new, luxury casinos in Macau, Singapore, and South Korea” (Urbanski, 2013).
“Right now we can assign a percentage value to social media if a booking doesn't result right away,” Kahle says
(Urbanski, 2013). “But with social we're going to be experimenting with a longer funnel, maybe a two-‐week time
frame” (Urbanski, 2013). “Values are ascribed to social media for being the site of initial contact with a new customer,
for instance, or for numbers of positive reviews by current customers” (Urbanski, 2013).
Currently, Caesars can’t measure the total value of a reservation booked online and also can't determine how
much an online booker spends at the tables during his or her stay (Urbanski, 2013). This is important information
when it comes to truly understanding a patron. Caesars would also like to know if, for example, “customers left the
Caesars' casino in Las Vegas and went to dinner at Gordon Ramsay's restaurant at the Paris Las Vegas, so they could
offer them a free dinner at the restaurant to close the deal on a future booking” (Urbanski, 2013).
“Eventually we're going to set a time frame that will never expire [on the sales funnel],” Kahle says (Urbanski,
2013). “But for now we've built a sales allocation model that goes beyond the last click, and that's OK. Most
organizations using multiple marketing channels are still stuck on that last click” (Urbanski, 2013).
Mobile and social media are going to be important channels for casino marketing and operations departments
for years to come. The mobile phone’s ubiquity, however, could be a double-‐edged sword. It allows a casino to
market directly to its patrons while they are not just on their property but also anywhere they might be standing. In
this changing digital world, If a casino isn’t constantly marketing to its patrons, some other casino might be and an
offer for a rival’s buffet received while its patron is in “decision-‐mode” could result in that patron leaving one
property and eating—and later, potentially gambling—at another.
You can’t get faster than real-‐time and, if patrons recognize that they are being treated in real-‐time (or very
close to it), they will be impressed, I have no doubt. The day when a gaming company fully understands its patron
because it is seamlessly integrating information from the gaming floor, the restaurants, the hotel spa or one of the
other onsite retail locations is fast approaching. Companies that can provide patrons with a one-‐to-‐one personalized
experience filled with engagement in the channels that they want will be the winners in this new gaming world.
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