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Harrah's New CEO Plans More Targeted Marketing

"Gary Loveman, speaking to investors at an industry event in Las Vegas, laid out his broader strategy for running Harrah's after his scheduled takeover from Phil Satre as chief executive officer on Jan. 1.

"The Las Vegas-based company has wowed Wall Street over the last year, showing strength in the face of the broader economic downturn and even in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks that saw business drop sharply for most of its rivals.

"…Loveman was a major force behind that program, called Total Rewards, after he joined Harrah's in 1998. Since then, Harrah's has milked the system -- which transcends all its casinos -- extensively to tailor marketing programs to its best customers.

"`The holy grail is to get to the point ... where you can promote a specific product to a specific customer under specific terms,' Loveman told the group of investors at the Global Gaming Expo.

"…Loveman, who said he was hired after sending an unsolicited letter to Satre with ideas about how to make sales at existing casinos grow, said he borrowed many of his ideas from the financial services and retail industries.

"`The slot (machine) floor is really nothing but a retail floor,' Loveman said at the Global Gaming Expo. `It's just never been run that way.'

"In keeping with his approach, Loveman was heavily involved in setting up a loyalty program after his arrival at Harrah's, much like the programs used by airlines for frequent flyers.

"The result has been not only more business for Harrah's, but a big new source of information for the company to analyze in determining which players prefer what games, how often they gamble and other playing patterns.

"…`The database is the vertebrae with which we operate this company,' Loveman said…"

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