by Emanuel Graça
Wielding a brand C
Increased competition is forcing Cotai’s casino resorts to improve their marketing efforts
otai is getting more crowded by the day. As new casino resorts open, their marketers are stepping up their game to ensure nobody is a loser.
The era of “build it and they will come” has
passed, industry insiders say, and non-gaming attractions are now used to distinguish Cotai’s casino resorts. Galaxy Macau’s vice-president of marketing
communications Jane Tsai says casino resorts have been benefiting from a tendency in Asia for anything new to win a lot of attention in the months after it is launched. “But if you haven’t done the marketing and the positioning right, you are not going to get the long-term return,” Mrs Tsai says. It benefits nobody for the operators of
casino resorts to engage in marketing quarrels, she says. “We, as well as Macau, all benefit if we work together. We all have distinct-enough products.” With gaming advertising forbidden in the mainland, Macau’s main source of visitors, Mrs Tsai says it is even more important for casino resorts to work on their brand positioning. It comes down to the basics: how well casino marketers know their customers. “You cannot market something effectively if
you don’t even have a good product niche. You definitely have to know the customer segment, you have to know the market and you have to have a good product.” Mrs Tsai says Galaxy Macau’s positioning strategy revolves around the theme of being the
22 JULY/AUGUST 2012
“new palace of Asia”, offering an authentic “Asian resort” experience. “The insight on the Asian resort is
understanding that most consumers in the Asian region head to Southeast Asia to go on holiday. Why not then take that understanding of a choice to travel and give them a reason to come to Macau? It is using that customer insight to create a product,” she says. She says the Galaxy marketing team works in such a way that when visitors arrive in Macau, they are already aware of the brand through active marketing in source markets.
Word of mouth To achieve success, casino resorts need to
invest in an integrated marketing plan that includes everything from regular advertising to inviting reporters to visit and write about the property. “There is some amount of last-minute decision-making that does happen at the border itself,” Mrs Tsai says. “You can actually influence a percentage of the traffic coming across the border with prominence of signage and top-of-mind awareness.” Also important, is that patrons leave Galaxy satisfied with the service. “Word of mouth is the most powerful form of marketing,” Mrs Tsai says. Brendon Elliott, the vice-president of sales
and resort marketing of Venetian Macau Ltd, a subsidiary of Sands China Ltd, has among his tasks the promotion of Cotai’s newest casino resort, Sands Cotai Central. The first phase
Galaxy Macau’s vice-president of marketing
communications Jane Tsai
opened in April and includes a Conrad hotel and a Holiday Inn. “What we are starting to do is have greater alignment with those global brands,” Mr Elliott says. “We are working on maximising Conrad and Holiday Inn’s brands and DNA, their loyalty [programmes] and their market positioning for the positioning of Sands Cotai Central.” He says the hotels bring a new level of customer that the Venetian Macao and even
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