Resort launches image branding campaign

Wednesday, April 12, 2000 | 10:38 a.m.

The MGM Grand hotel-casino is putting $1.5 million into a national advertising campaign designed to promote its recently completed "City of Entertainment" expansion project.

The campaign, which will account for about 10 percent of this year's advertising budget, is the MGM's first effort to promote its brand among Las Vegas visitors. Previously, the hotel focused on "tactical" advertising -- that is, promoting specific items such as rooms, gaming facilities or restaurants.

"This is the first time the MGM has dedicated money to image branding," said John Schadler, founder of SKS Advertising, the firm that designed the campaign. "It's a big move for them."

MGM Grand spent more than $700 million on the City of Entertainment makeover, completed last year. But until now, Schadler said, the resort hasn't really seized the opportunity to use the theme as its calling card on a crowded Strip market.

"What we recognized ... is that the whole concept of City of Entertainment was one they used to underscore their logo. It was a tagline, never really brought to the forefront.

"We felt that instead of understating the concept, they should bring it out to the forefront and kind of herald it."

One thing the MGM isn't doing, he said, is trumpeting size for its own sake. With 5,005 rooms, the MGM is the nation's largest hotel, but the new campaign focuses more on breadth of offering rather than sheer size, Schadler said.

"It's not so much size as all the things there are to do under one roof," Schadler said.

One ad in the series is a montage of affluent patrons enjoying a variety of activities around the property, such as dining, swimming at the spa and the pool, gambling and golfing. The center of the ad is performer Tommy Tune at his show, EFX.

The ads have begun to appear in such publications as People magazine, Conde Nast Traveler, Variety and Golf Digest. The MGM has also initiated an outdoor advertising effort using the ads in the Los Angeles area.

In the future, Schadler said, MGM will expand out the "City" concept to various features around its property. The restaurants concept would be "City of Temptation," the lion habitat "City of Kings" and the Studio 54 dance club "City of Desire."

"It's a way to talk about all the things that are going on there," Schadler said. "The City of Entertainment continues to be their masthead."