LVCVA launches last-minute New Year’s ad blitz

Thursday, Dec. 16, 1999 | 11:04 a.m.

With the countdown for the millennium hitting the final two weeks and local hotel rooms still available, marketers have put together a last-ditch promotion to get Californians to party in Las Vegas over New Year's.

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority has engineered a one-week, $500,000 radio and newspaper advertising blitz aimed at potential customers within a day's drive of the city.

LVCVA spokesman Rob Powers said the campaign includes full-page newspaper ads, 60-second radio spots and 10-second traffic report sponsorships in publications and stations in Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino counties, San Diego, Phoenix and Tucson.

The centerpiece of the campaign is a full-page newspaper ad that has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, the San Diego Tribune, the Riverside Press-Enterprise, the Arizona Daily Star in Tucson and the Tucson Citizen.

The full-page advertisement includes a photograph of the Nov. 29 cover of Time magazine on a stark black background. On the magazine cover are two champagne flutes with the headline, "The simple New Year's Eve," and a secondary headline that reads, "Why we're saying no to the hype and opting for a quiet, meaningful evening."

In large text below the photograph, the LVCVA asks: "Are you gonna stand for this?"

The small text along the bottom of the ad says, "C'mon, people. This happens once every thousand years. You're going to be one of the 6 1/2 billion people lucky enough to actually be around when it happens. The planet's biggest party is happening practically next door.

"And you're going to stay home?

"No, you're not. Not when you can drive to Las Vegas in less than half a day. Not when there are still rooms and show packages available. Not when you can say goodbye to the millennium in style. Do the right thing. ... "

The ad then lists a toll-free number for room information and shows the trademark "Welcome to fabulous Las Vegas" sign.

The campaign was developed by Rossi Ralenkotter, vice president of marketing for the LVCVA, and the advertising staff of R&R Partners, which has the LVCVA's ad contract.

Powers said the campaign is scheduled through Sunday and was mobilized earlier this month when it became apparent there would still be rooms available for New Year's Eve.

"We're in constant communication with the resorts and they told us there was still some availability," Powers said. "The goal of this campaign is to make sure the city is full for New Year's Eve."

Powers had no estimates on how many rooms are still available or any details on how much properties are dropping room rates to encourage sales.

The ad campaign doesn't focus on pricing, but Powers said readers are encouraged to call and when they do that, they'll find some room prices lower than they have been.

Powers said although the promotion was unexpected, the LVCVA's budget can handle it. The agency's budget recently was augmented with higher-than-expected tax revenues and Powers said that and not cutbacks to other campaigns would finance the late blitz.

"If you would have asked me back in October whether we were going to heavy up (run a large campaign) in December, I would have said 'no,"' Powers said.

Anthony Curtis, whose Las Vegas Advisor publication tells readers about Las Vegas' best deals, said the city's campaign may be too late and that many people already have made up their minds to stay home.

"They went from controlling all the game pieces to begging for players," Curtis said. "I think you can assume that panic has set in."

Powers said the campaign doesn't represent a panic buy. The LVCVA and the resorts, he said, just want to be at capacity as they usually are for New Year's Eve.

He pointed out the phenomenon is not unique to Las Vegas. Millennium celebrations all over the country are finding that people they thought were going to party are going to stay home instead.

But Curtis said it goes deeper than that. While many would-be partiers are staying home for New Year's Eve, others have been turned off by perceived price-gouging.

Curtis said consumers rose up and collectively told companies attempting to be millennium profiteers that they weren't going to buy into it.

"I thought about getting a room and concert tickets for $4,000," Curtis said. "Then I came back to Earth and said, 'Why, what for?' I can buy a couple bottles of champagne and spend time with my friends and have just as much fun."

Curtis said it's an example of the free market at work.

"Everybody tried to make money off the millennium and some were excessive," Curtis said. "But people have a choice. I'm sure it's a statement of principle for some. There are people out there who say, 'I can afford this, but why should I spend the money?' "