Case Study: Brand Repositioning of Las Vegas
Adult Freedom
In 2004, previous research conducted on people living in the U.S. on people’s thoughts on holidays showed that people needed a break, a holiday from their daily lives. Consumer wanted “adult freedom“. Previous research companies created a campaign entitled It’s Time For You to cater for consumers’ needs and wants, and to give them a location to visit for a well-deserved break. Brand managers worked hard to develop a new campaign called What happens Here, Stays Here (abbreviated to WHHSH).
Las Vegas: Not just a gaming city
However, “adult freedom” required more than giving the consumer “a time” of freedom. It was much more. The company wanted to change consumers’ perceptions and behaviours associated with vacation experiences. They needed to put Las Vegas back on the map, and give visitors permission to enjoy and indulge and encourage them to challenge themselves on the types of activities to do in the city of Las Vegas.
The aim was to have a campaign that was individualistic, challenging and implicitly permissive. Not to tell the complete story, but to imply it , allow viewers to inject own experiences and relate themselves with the brand. The WHHSH campaign was deemed successful, but Las Vegas wanted to appeal to an even wider audience.
Lacking Knowledge
In order to appeal to a wider audience, research company Harris Interactive along with advertising, marketing, public relations and public affairs company R&R Partners and the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) needed to understand the current WHHSH campaign as well as find ways to gauge target markets and find out their current perceptions of the Las Vegas brand. Analysis of the WHHSH campaigns indicated that people lacked knowledge of Las Vegas’ products and services. Their awareness of the brands’ offerings (besides being the world’s best gaming destination) signified that these problems would be improved through implementation of a new strategy.
The new brand strategy was simply to: continue to reinforce the current WHHSH positioning and maintain the national brand image, whilst backfilling and linking Las Vegas’ offerings with their benefits to drive product knowledge to target markets.
Las Vegas owns some of the best chefs in the world
The New Strategy
- create familiarity and awareness for visitors to understand the brand’s benefits that are personally relevant and emotionally charged
- increase favourability, likelihood to visit and intent to return
- educate people about Las Vegas’ benefits (world renowned hotels, restaurants, wines) through “Vegas IQ”
- use Vegas IQ as a means to find out current consumer perceptions of Las Vegas brand. Factors included Brand Awareness, Brand Performance, Brand Quality and Brand Loyalty
- select geographical markets further away from Las Vegas where other cities lacked knowledge
- produce a “Vegas Alibi” campaign to inform consumers about relevant Las Vegas products and services they can use as their alibi when they indulge in the many facets of ‘adult freedom’, continuing to tie in with the WHHSH positioning
Las Vegas used integrated marketing communications (IMC) campaigns via TV, print, radio, digital, PR, guerilla marketing techniques (unconventional marketing) to educate people about their relevant product offerings they can use as an alibi whilst staying at Las Vegas. Not only did Las Vegas’ expanded brand benefits communicated to the consumer, but it maintained and strengthened the WHHSH national image positioning and extended the original stagnant view of “adult freedom”. This strategy proved to be a massive success especially in 2005, inviting in over 3.2% in demand growth, 3.3 million website hits and 1.8 million referrals, 42% word-of-mouth increase (Harris Interactive, 2007).
Las Vegas' ever-changing brand architecture
Future Destination
An increase of social media networking, complex multi-generational attitudes and behaviours, and branding in movies such as 2008′s What Happens in Vegas (with Ashton Kutcher and Cameron Diaz) will see the Las Vegas brand potentially sky-rocket.
