Station identification

Thursday, Nov. 1, 2001 | 10:46 a.m.

When tourists enter the giant Coke bottle at the Everything Coke retail store on the Las Vegas Strip, they can hear the sound of a beverage being poured over ice and the fizz of carbonation. On hot days, the not-so-subtle advertisement probably sells a lot of cola.

The same concept -- and other high-tech grabbers from the nation's Fortune 1000 companies -- will be used along the 3.8-mile Las Vegas Monorail Co. transportation line under construction between Bally's and the Sahara hotel-casino.

Promethean Partners, Las Vegas, which is under contract to develop advertising for non-profit Las Vegas Monorail, is going beyond conventional ad strategies for the seven stations along the monorail route.

Skip Vose, chief executive officer and president of Promethean, wants each station to be an entertainment experience, not just a stop along the way.

"This is a public transportation system that has the ability to become an entertainment zone," Vose said. "It is absolutely essential to us to bring quality advertisers that will turn their pavilions into something that is an experience to the riders."

As it is on rides at EPCOT Center in Florida, sponsors are being sought for each stop, an ultramodern train station that will be seen by an estimated 46.7 million riders a year.

Among the companies being approached by Vose: Coca-Cola, Intel, Verizon, American Express and Southwest Airlines. Vose said repercussions of the terrorist attacks have put many corporate decisions about advertising on hold, but he still hopes to announce his first station sponsorship this month.

The cost of a brand sponsorship is expected to be in the millions of dollars -- "in the stadium-naming-rights league," as one Las Vegas Monorail executive put it.

But Vose says right now, he's more interested in the creative content and getting the right fit with sponsorships than with the dollar signs.

"A lot of focus from different magazines and television outlets has been on the size of the deals and who the clients are," Vose said. "But the goal is to make the pavilions something that visitors will want to see."

Vose said he has been contacted by several companies interested in traditional train station advertising and retail opportunities at monorail stations, but for now, that's not what he's interested in developing.

Gary Johnson, director of advertising for Las Vegas Monorail, said his company will have the ultimate say on what companies will sponsor stations and advertise. Johnson, who formerly coordinated advertising at McCarran International Airport, said ad revenue must contribute a minimum of $6.5 million a year to retire bond debt. At McCarran, Johnson helped build ad revenues to $12 million a year.

Rob Dondero, executive vice president of R&R Partners and an expert in branding, said a modern transportation system in Las Vegas should be a formula for success, but the big price tag could be hard for some companies to justify.

"In Las Vegas, we've done a good job of theming properties," Dondero said. "Most corporations are looking for a little bit more than hanging something on the wall. We should be able to use our 38 (million) to 40 million visitors a year and use that as a selling tool. I don't think anyone can beat that."

Construction is under way on the $650 million transportation system. The monorail line would be an extension of an existing system linking the MGM Grand hotel-casino with Bally's. Over the next three years, the line will be built north from Bally's, with stations on the east side of the Flamingo and the Imperial Palace and Harrah's hotel-casinos. Stops also are planned at the Las Vegas Convention Center, the Las Vegas Hilton and the Sahara hotel-casino.

Pylons to support tracks already have been built just south of Sahara Avenue in a parking lot east of the Sahara hotel-casino. Those tracks will lead to a maintenance center at the end of the line.

The system is expected to open in 2004 with one-way fares of $2.50 and discounts proposed for local residents. Interest already has been expressed to extend the line north toward downtown and south to the airport in the future.