Monday, March 1, 1999 | 11:31 a.m.
For Richard Schuetz, the three most important thing a casino marketer can remember are not "location, location, location," but "position, position, position."
A casino's position statement -- a document that clearly articulates how a casino wants to be perceived, and to whom it is trying to appeal -- is the most important component of a marketing plan, said Schuetz.
The former Grand Casinos marketing executive and the former president and chief executive of the Stratosphere hotel-casino, spoke at a recent Casino Management Association seminar.
"Positioning is the most important thing anybody will ever do in marketing," said Schuetz. "Once you have your position statement, the rest of the work's done, the rest of the work's detail."
All of the other components of a marketing plan are easy to borrow or steal, said Schuetz.
"Marketing has absolutely nothing to do with creativity whatsoever," said Schuetz. "It's me-too marketing out there. Everybody rips off from everybody."
But me-tooing will only work if it fits a company's overall strategic plan, he said. Schuetz urged casino executives to differentiate between strategic and tactical planning. A tactic is a single component of an overall strategy, he said, such as a slot promotion or players club. But all too often that distinction is lost on executives who decide -- often on a whim -- to "reach into the grab-bag" of tactics for a program or promotion that simply does not fit their casino's overall strategy.
"The vast majority of people are tactical thinkers: let's do this," said Schuetz.
Before a casino's marketing department does anything, it should make sure the casino knows what it wants to be, said Schuetz. And the best way to do that is to make senior executives draft a position statement.
It's not enough to have the chief executive tell you the casino's goal in general terms, said Schuetz. You want to make that executive sit down and articulate what, exactly, the company's goals are for the casino.
"You're going to have to beat on your CEO to get that," said Schuetz.
The casinos with the clearest position statements are the most successful, he said. For instance, from a walk through the Mirage or Bellagio, it's pretty easy to tell Mirage Resorts' position statement calls for company resorts to be the best in the business, said Schuetz. On the other hand, there's nothing wrong with being the cheapest place in town, as long as that is by plan.
If you don't have a position statement, said Schuetz, "You're going to miss the mark. You're going to be one of those firms that people say, 'who are they?"'
Once a casino has a position statement, its marketers can test each component of the casino against that statement, he said. Following the Mirage position statement, Bellagio is not likely to offer 89-cent shrimp cocktails and free fanny packs, said Schuetz.
Schuetz is a firm believer in open lines of communication and in the use of a marketing plan or position statement as a living, organic document. A position statement doesn't do much good if it's well-understood by the marketing department, but unknown people on the casino floor, he said.
"Make sure everybody's on the same page," said Schuetz.
Maintaining position discipline is also important, he said. If a casino has a solid position statement, the marketing department can use that statement to deflect demands for short-sighted tactical moves.
Moving beyond position statements, Schuetz warned executives not to over-analyze their operations when making marketing decisions. For instance, it's impossible to measure the impact on operations of a single advertisement on a single billboard, and such ambitious analyses shouldn't even be tried, he said.
Schuetz drew some examples from his days with Grand and the Stratosphere. From the Stratosphere opening, which he called a "disaster," Schuetz learned not to have his marketing staff on-site during an opening. Marketing should stay focused on the opening and launch strategy, he said. Anybody on-site during an opening inevitably gets roped into moving tables and "putting out fires," said Schuetz.
Schuetz also answered a number of questions about his experiences at the Stratosphere and his views of the future of the casino industry. The Stratosphere fell into bankruptcy because of it's massive high-interest debt load, but mostly because it is in a bad location, he said.
"I believe if you put the Stratosphere Tower ... next to the Mirage, that would be a happening place," said Schuetz.
Schuetz said the tower itself was very profitable and its restaurant handled more than 750 customers a night.
The Stratosphere struggled financially from the moment of its April, 1996 opening and entered bankruptcy in January 1997. Billionaire Carl Icahn bought the Stratosphere out of bankruptcy.
Schuetz left the Stratosphere in July 1997. He now runs his own consulting firm, Schuetz Consulting Inc.
As for the future of Las Vegas, Schuetz said the gambling boom in other parts of the country necessitates an emphasis on entertainment.
"There's got to be a reason to come here other than gambling, because gambling is everywhere," said Schuetz. "If the product you're offering is a 25-cent slot machine, there's going to be one a whole lot closer to where your target market comes from."
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