Casino company using diversity strategies in marketing campaigns

Thursday, Feb. 27, 2003 | 11:04 a.m.

When the nation's largest black-oriented Greek society was scouting for a site to host its biannual meeting, it was approached by a group of "diversity relations" employees at MGM MIRAGE.

As a result, the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. -- a socially conscious group of 200,000 women -- will hold its first gathering in Las Vegas in July 2004

It wasn't a natural choice, said Sandra Phillips Johnson, president of Delta's Las Vegas Alumnae chapter.

"Up through the 60s, Las Vegas was a place where blacks -- even the entertainers -- couldn't stay at the hotels," Johnson said. "That kind of impression of Las Vegas is still out there."

Over the past three years, MGM MIRAGE has aimed to change the way it does business from within by identifying, recruiting, hiring and even training minority employees and suppliers.

At the company's second annual diversity conference at the Mirage resort Wednesday, MGM MIRAGE announced what it calls a next step in that education process.

Starting this month, the company will craft a series of marketing and advertising campaigns that are aimed at drawing minorities to specific resorts. It will also initiate meetings with magazines and other media in the travel industry to draw minority businesses and other organizations to its properties.

The programs mark the first time the casino empire has made a concerted effort to target a more diverse group of potential customers, MGM MIRAGE Chief Executive Officer Terry Lanni said after the conference Wednesday.

"We said, 'Let's turn some of these good business practices into good revenue generators,' " Lanni said.

Muse, Cordero, Chen & Partners, a minority-owned ad agency hired by MGM MIRAGE last year, will develop campaigns for the company's Beau Rivage resort in Biloxi, Miss., the Golden Nugget casino in downtown Las Vegas and the New York-New York property on the Las Vegas Strip.

Through the second half of the year, managers at Beau Rivage will focus on how to better understand the perceptions of black customers about the casino industry and the property, Lanni said. Over the second half of the year, the company will create an advertising campaign for the resort that will target the black community, he said.

At the Golden Nugget, managers will reach out to Asian customers starting in the second quarter, he said. New York-New York will aim to attract Hispanic customers.

The idea for the programs was initiated by Mya Lake Reyes, who was promoted to sales and communications manager at MGM Grand in July. Chiefs at certain properties came up with their own concepts, which were then selected as pilot projects.

The campaigns aren't intended to attract certain minorities while excluding other ethnic groups, Lanni said. Nor are they aimed at remaking the properties into places where others don't feel welcome, he said.

The resorts "are for everyone," he said.

The marketing departments at each of the three properties will focus part of their efforts on these groups as a way to understand minority preferences and perceptions -- information that can help the company as a whole, he said.

Like the company's programs to recruit, hire and train minorites, the marketing plans have a business imperative, he said.

Marketing to Hawaiian Islanders, as Boyd Gaming Corp. has done successfully with its cluster of downtown casinos, makes sense for the Golden Nugget as well, he said.

The Golden Nugget is known as the premier luxury resort downtown, and Hawaiian customers already have a predilection for Las Vegas and for downtown, he said. They also tend to stay longer in town than other customers, he said.

New York-New York is a property that appeals to people who may have never visited New York but seek the excitement of the city, he said. Many of these potential customers are Hispanics from Western states, he added.

The company's resort customers should reflect the communities that are marketed to, he said.

More than half of all blacks in the United States live within an 11-state radius of the Beau Rivage, for example, he said. Meanwhile, about 11 percent of neighboring Californians are Asian, especially Chinese and Filipino. And Hispanics represent the fastest-growing minority group in the country, he said.

In addition to the marketing campaigns, MGM MIRAGE last year selected a public relations firm to help the company target minority groups through travel industry media outlets.

The firm, Howland Public Relations in Dallas, has already initiated meetings with magazines including Black Enterprise, Heart and Soul and Savoy.

"Through efforts such as these, we will foster relationships with editors around the country in order to develop stories of interest to their readers, introducing them to the wonders of Las Vegas and extending an invitation to visit our properties," Lanni said.

Howland Public Relations has represented the National Conference of Black Mayors, the Dallas-Fort Worth Association of Black Communicators and the National Bar Association.

Los Angeles-based Muse, Cordero, Chen & Partners specializes in campaigns targeting ethnic minorities. Clients include Nike, AT&T Wireless, American Honda Motor Co., Qwest Communications and California Federal Bank.

Some conference attendees -- including representatives from the Las Vegas Asian Chamber of Commerce and the recently-disbanded Hispanic American Partnership Inc. -- criticized MGM MIRAGE for selecting out-of-state agencies rather than tapping local firms.

It's "not appropriate" for a company with a worldwide customer base to limit its talent search to Nevada, Lanni countered.

Black organizations will be watching the Delta sorority gathering as a test case for how they will be treated in Las Vegas, Johnson said.

"We're the host chamber for the convention so we feel a sense of responsibility for the group," she said.

Johnson said she feels good about the selection of the MGM Grand resort because of the progress that the company has made in diversity education and hiring.

The rest of the convention will be staying at the Las Vegas Hilton, which is owned by Park Place Entertainment Corp.