Columnist Jeff German: Britney’s fling good for Vegas

Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2004 | 11:04 a.m.

Britney Spears isn't likely to become the official spokeswoman for the $58 million Las Vegas marketing campaign that features the slogan, "what happens here, stays here."

That's because what happens to the 22-year-old pop princess not only doesn't stay here, but it goes everywhere.

My guess, however, is that the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority isn't complaining about the barrage of publicity Sin City is receiving from her short-lived weekend marriage to childhood friend Jason Allen Alexander.

Tying the knot was either a silly, immature act on the part of Spears or a calculated publicity stunt.

George Maloof, owner of the Palms, where Spears and Alexander reportedly hatched the idea after a night of post-New Year's Eve partying, swears, just as the couple does, that the two friends merely got caught up in the moment.

"This wasn't planned at all," Maloof says. "They just took something a little too far."

No one on the Strip probably even cares whether it was planned.

The story, though pale when compared to compelling world events, has been picked up in a big way by news organizations, print and broadcast, across the globe.

Maloof says he has received phone messages requesting interviews from more than 500 reporters, some as far away as Tokyo.

Out of respect for Spears, his friend and frequent guest at the trendy Palms, Maloof says he has declined a flood of on-camera requests from network news magazines, morning shows and entertainment tabloids.

But then Maloof hasn't needed to give any interviews. The Palms has been mentioned prominently in every news report about the annulled marriage, cementing its reputation as the city's favorite celebrity hangout.

Beyond the good fortune Spears has brought the Palms is the boost her 55 hours as a married woman has given Las Vegas.

Tourism experts tell me this little antic illustrates how Las Vegas has become the nation's hottest playground for the young stars of today. Not since Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack in the 1960s and 1970s has the Strip benefited from such a celebrity buzz.

Amid the tidal wave of publicity, one British tabloid cleverly pointed out that, if you rearrange the letters of Britney Spears, you'll come up with the phrase "best PR in years."

R & R Partners President Billy Vassiliadis, who knows something about public relations, understands that message.

Vassiliadis, the architect of the LVCVA's edgy marketing campaign, which seeks to entice visitors to do things here they would never do at home, says the publicity generated by the singing star's escapade probably is worth $50 million in free advertising to Las Vegas.

That's almost the price tag for the entire marketing campaign, which makes me wonder whether the LVCVA is paying Vassiliadis too much to produce and place advertisements for us around the world.

Who needs to pay for advertising when we have sophomoric celebrities like Spears giving us free publicity?

Vassiliadis says he doesn't share that opinion.

But he also says he'll volunteer to drive Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck to the Little White Wedding Chapel on the Strip if they ever decide to follow in the footsteps of Britney Spears.