2008 Fall Survey

What Tribal Casino Marketing Directors Want to Know

Cash Is King
Question 1: What was your most successful promotion this year,
and why was it?
The overwhelming response to this question was "They all were." Only one respondent had no success story to share. It's no big surprise that "cash is king," but this year the reign has been supreme.Cars, including motorcycles, ran a close second, and ran the gamut from classics like a 1968 Camaro to luxury vehicles like Mercedes Benz and Porsches. Almost all promotions ran over a four - eight week time period, and all resulted in excitement on the gaming floor and more coin in! Some tied in with the casino's anniversary, loyalty rewards, points multipliers and seasonal events. Many were designed to have more winners being awarded smaller prizes as opposed to only one or two winners getting a huge prize.Those big jackpots were still offered at some of the larger properties.Creativity and innovationmade the special events promotions especially appealing, and some casinos built elaborate sets with props and unique activities to showcase the fun names and concepts of these promotions. Somewere admittedly "game show rip-offs"; others featured a concert or entertainment event, and a fewcelebrated the luckiest day of the year for Asian gamers: 8-8-8. Outstanding names among these were:

Play it Safe
Cracker Jacks and Cash
Reelin' in Cash
Soul Survivor
Trade or No Trade
Love of Money

Obviously not every property could give away $1 million or several Mercedes or Porsches, but a few did. Sometimes size does matter! Multi-media ad campaigns, plus direct mail to players clubs, were the marketing tools that were commonly employed. Here's the general breakdown of your most successful promotions by category:

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