R&R wins Nevada casino resort account

David Strow

Monday, Feb. 4, 2002 | 11:15 a.m.

R&R Partners Inc. has been named the agency of record for Park Place Entertainment Corp.'s eight Nevada properties, securing yet another huge gaming and tourism contract for the powerful Las Vegas advertising and public relations firm.

The move appears to have been driven by a desire for more efficiency by Park Place, as four separate agencies previously held contracts with Park Place's Nevada casinos. Company spokesman Robert Stewart described the move as "consolidation of our advertising activities in ... the state of Nevada."

Stewart declined to identify the four agencies that were displaced in the shift.

One agency displaced in the move was Los Angeles-based Grey Advertising, which has held the contract for Caesars Palace for about 15 years. Grey officials couldn't be reached for comment this morning.

R&R is the advertising agency of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority and the Nevada Commission on Tourism. It also represents four Mandalay Resort Group properties -- Luxor, Excalibur, Circus Circus and Detroit's MotorCity.

Park Place's Nevada casinos include Caesars Palace, Paris Las Vegas, Bally's Las Vegas, Flamingo Las Vegas, the Las Vegas Hilton, Caesars Tahoe, the Reno Hilton and Flamingo Laughlin.

Both R&R and Park Place declined to discuss the potential value of the contract, though Dale Erquiaga, vice president of brand services at R&R, said the agency's contract with the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority is expected to remain R&R's largest with a value of about $50 million annually.

"Financial details are still being worked out with Park Place," Erquiaga said.

"We'll be providing strategic planning, working with the brands, developing recommendations for marketing the various properties," Erquiaga said. "They're one of the finest gaming and entertainment companies in the world, and we're proud to have them on our client roster."

The move leaves MGM MIRAGE as the last of the Strip's three largest operators not to have contracted with R&R. But an MGM MIRAGE official did not express concern that R&R now represents both the LVCVA -- the body tasked with marketing the city's entire casino industry -- and two of MGM MIRAGE's largest competitors.

"Conflicts are defined by clients," said MGM MIRAGE spokesman Alan Feldman. "If a client feels it's a conflict, it's a conflict. (Having the Mandalay contract for several years) means the LVCVA has known for years (that R&R represents individual casino properties), and has made decisions accordingly.

"We judge by the quality of work for LVCVA, and that speaks for itself over the last 20 years. They (R&R) have every ability to keep things separate."

To avoid any conflicts, Erquiaga said separate teams work on the Mandalay and LVCVA contracts.

"Now there will be a team unique to Park Place," Erquiaga said. "If we conduct research for one client, it's proprietary, and never shared (by teams). It (representing competing companies) is done all the time with agencies, but it's our job to make sure the firewalls are in place."

Park Place and Mandalay won't receive preferential placement in the LVCVA ads produced by the agency, Erquiaga said.

"We rotate among all properties in showing their images in the ads ... because we understand it is the sum of the parts that make up the whole brand," Erquiaga said.