Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Tourism commissioners scrutinize ‘Sin City’ label

"What happens here, stays here," says the tagline for Las Vegas' advertising campaign invented by R&R Partners and approved by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

But does what happens here make Las Vegas worthy of being known as "Sin City?"

Certainly not, says Manny Cortez, president and chief executive of the LVCVA, who, in his role as a member of the Nevada Commission on Tourism, on Monday criticized a state ad campaign that made a "Sin City" reference in a print ad that has been approved for publication.

Cortez has been on the receiving end of some public criticism about Las Vegas' racy "what happens here, stays here" ad campaign, which debuted earlier this year and features 30-second vignettes of Las Vegas tourists' adventures in the city with outcomes the subjects might not want to share with family and friends back home.

One ad features a group of conventioneers discussing the fate of a colleague missing after a wild night of partying while another shows a woman scratching out portions of her postcard after realizing what she had written to friends back home.

"I've been able to register some of the feedback," Cortez said of the criticism leveled against the Las Vegas ads. "But to refer to us as 'Sin City?' It's not something we do. We try to convey that we're a city of entertainment and excitement, but I think there would be some that be upset if we referred to ourselves as 'Sin City.' "

The Sin City reference is in an ad created by DRGM Advertising, which took over the state's tourism ad contract from R&R last summer.

The Tourism Commission, meeting on the first day of the three-day Governor's Conference on Tourism in Las Vegas, reviewed DRGM's progress on a television campaign for the state. Jennifer Evans, a vice president for DRGM, and Teri Gibson, an account executive on the state tourism campaign, gave a brief presentation with a storyboard presentation of a TV ad, scheduled to run February through June.

Evans and Gibson explained that the ad is designed to encourage viewers to call a toll-free number for a free Nevada travel planner. Gibson said that by using a national direct-response television program linked to different toll-free telephone numbers, the state would be able to determine the location of its best television ad markets and focus resources there.

As part of the presentation, Gibson showed how the theme of the television ads would be similar to three print ads already prepared for publication. It was one of those print ads that caught Cortez's eye.

The ad described a "guys' week out," referencing a map of portions of Nevada and photographs showing outdoor activities from across the state. The ad suggested enjoying those outdoor activities followed by "a Sin City chaser" -- an apparent reference to wilder times in Las Vegas at the end of the week.

What had started as a glib look at light-hearted advertisements suddenly got serious for Cortez, who was clearly irritated with the Sin City reference.

"I'm just telling you," Cortez said in the meeting, "that those of us who sell Las Vegas, who market Las Vegas, don't use it."

After the meeting, Nevada Commission on Tourism Executive Director Bruce Bommarito said in light of Cortez's remarks, he would review the campaign with DRGM and rethink whether the Sin City reference would stay or go.

After the meeting, Gibson said the ad with the Sin City reference is part of a series and that a similar ad showing a group of women rallying around a friend with an itinerary of Nevada adventures already ran or was scheduled to run in National Geographic Adventure and Backpacker magazines in December and January. But the "Sin City" ad isn't scheduled to run until February and March, and could probably be changed if Bommarito, his staff and DRGM choose to change it.

Commissioner Ferenc Szony, president and chief executive of Sands Regent, a Reno casino company, said he understands Cortez's concern about the negative connotation the name could inspire, but that some cities -- including Reno -- would love to have the instant notoriety associated with a nickname like "Sin City."

"I'll tell you, it (Sin City) probably has better legs than 'the biggest little city in the world,' " Szony said. "If Las Vegas wants to get rid of the moniker, I'll lead the charge in Northern Nevada to get it adopted up there."

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