Plan

When Casino Del Sol, the Pascua Yaqui Tribe’s second tribal gaming establishment, opened in October 2002, our marketing team was faced with developing a unique brand. The challenge was to avoid cannibalization of the tribe’s first gaming establishment, Casino of the Sun (located only two miles away, while drawing players interested in a heightened gaming experience to the new establishment. Off Madison Ave was intimately involved in creating the new brand for Casino Del Sol very early in the new casino’s development process. The agency was provided with architectural drawings, fabric swatches and detailed descriptions of the new property, which allowed us to develop a comprehensive integrated marketing plan many months before the new casino was completed. While Casino of the Sun was positioned as the local hangout for serious players, Casino Del Sol had to occupy a position that communicated a heightened gaming experience. The property needed to be perceived as a unique entertainment destination.

Off Madison Ave provided an unconventional solution for gaming marketing: we used a building. Casino Del Sol was beautifully designed and the architecture was at the core of making this facility like no other gaming experience in the state. The beauty of the advertising showcased specific design elements in sharp contrast to the public’s perception of Indian gaming. The advertising created a buzz — a “you have to see this place” word of mouth campaign — among the client’s current customer set, while inducing trial among new customer sets. This allowed our marketing team room to establish a brand separate and distinct from competitive properties, while still continuing to grow in the overall gaming and entertainment market.

Create

Very quickly, Casino Del Sol was bleeding the competition in gaming and Off Madison Ave set out to build an even broader base of customers from which to draw. The first big push to that end was the launch of the Anselmo Valencia Tori Amphitheater, (AVA) a concert venue slated to be Southern Arizona’s largest concert venue patterned after the Cricket Pavilion in Phoenix.

Off Madison Ave was now charged with continuing to build on the buzz we had created for Casino Del Sol’s gaming facility. The new campaign conveyed the brand personality of a casino revolving around customer desires. The advertising celebrated the allure of a less typical brand of gaming; one offering gaming within an environment of both discovery and entertainment. Armed with an arsenal of top name acts such as Alan Jackson, Tony Bennett and Pink, we partnered with our client to develop print, direct mail and outdoor, along with a proactive PR campaign, to communicate the new message.

At Off Madison Ave we pride ourselves on thinking laterally. In this case, we felt the outdoor needed to work even harder to create awareness of the new facility and generate word of mouth. Concerts are about the music and the fans interacting in celebration. At three strategic traffic locations, we produced outdoor boards that could broadcast the music of upcoming shows using low frequency FM transmitters onto the car radios of nearby drivers.

Positioning the casino property as an entertainment destination was dependent upon the quality of acts featured. Most Arizona Indian gaming facilities book third-tier acts that have long exhausted their popularity. Attracting national level performers required that the facility build a terrific reputation with promoters and performers alike. To accomplish this, we decided to advertise directly to them in their own trade publications to build the AVA brand among performers, promoters and crews. We witnessed the success of our efforts with a testimonial from musician Don Henley, who on stage said to media and customers attending the concert how great the venue was and how much he liked it. And so, performers like Don Henley have become another champion of Casino Del Sol. Recent AVA acts have included Weezer, Sheryl Crow and Natalie Cole.

Achieve

The launch of the Casino Del Sol gaming/entertainment complex was extremely successful. Accompanied by a series of national name musicians at its entertainment amphitheater, coin-in goals were exceeded by 11% within the first two months of opening. The casino is currently operating at a $6 to $1 revenue-to-marketing dollar ratio. Additionally, the success of the opening of this casino has contributed to tribal revenue doubling between 2000 and 2001, this despite initial and Phase 2 construction costs. The doubling of revenue also demonstrates Off Madison Ave’s success in building a second completely different brand for Casino Del Sol and avoiding cannibalization of Casino of the Sun.

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