LVCVA Details Ad Campaign with Goal of Drawing 43 Million

When Rossi Ralenkotter announced in January that the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority hopes to attract 43 million people to Las Vegas by 2009, he promised comprehensive details about how that would occur with the publication of the LVCVA's marketing plan.

Tuesday, Ralenkotter, president and chief executive of the LVCVA, Terry Jicinsky, senior vice president of marketing for the organization, and representatives of R&R Partners, the LVCVA's contracted advertising agency, unveiled the road map to the goal.

The 120-page plan, summarized in a 90-minute multimedia presentation, contains new variations on some familiar themes: The LVCVA will seek out new and repeat visitors, grow the Las Vegas brand and target leisure, meetings and international markets with a combination of advertising and public relations initiatives based on research.

At the center of the blitz will be the LVCVA's popular and successful "What happens here, stays here" media campaign. But Billy Vassiliadis, R&R's chief executive, said intense competition is resulting in a greater urgency to deliver results.

"We never rest," Vassiliadis told the board of directors in his presentation. "We're working with greater intensity and more focus than ever before" as a result of competition, primarily from other gaming venues and the cruise-ship industry.

While casting an advertising net in key feeder markets and appealing to the meetings and conventions industry to give Las Vegas a try isn't a new strategy, some of the details of the plan are. Among them:

The LVCVA will add three new feeder markets -- Seattle, Denver and Detroit -- in 2005 to the existing markets of Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Dallas, San Diego, Phoenix and Houston. In 2006, the agency plans to add Philadelphia, Baltimore, Atlanta and Minneapolis.

To improve the city's profile among trade-show producers and meeting planners, the LVCVA plans a new advertising campaign specifically geared to the meetings industry. Details of the theme were not unveiled. The LVCVA has had separate leisure and meetings campaigns in the past, with the "What happens here, stays here" campaign geared at the leisure traveler and "We work as hard as we play" pitched to the meetings industry.

On the international front, the LVCVA plans its first-ever direct-to-consumer advertising campaign. In the past, the LVCVA has focused its attention on foreign travel agencies and wholesale tour operators to get the message out about the city. Now, in key international markets, ad campaigns will take the Las Vegas story directly to the travelers. The agency won't use the "What happens here, stays here" campaign, with executives saying they want a more sophisticated message to travelers who may look at their visit to Las Vegas as a trip of a lifetime. The focus will be on markets where there are nonstop flights to Las Vegas -- from Canada, Mexico, Japan and Great Britain. The LVCVA also plans to open a tourism office in Toronto to strengthen ties to its No. 1 international market.

Also on the international front, the LVCVA has identified secondary countries -- those on the brink of offering nonstop flights to Las Vegas -- and emerging countries and regions -- those that will take additional time to develop into key tourist providers. The secondary countries include South Korea, Australia, Germany and France, while the emerging countries and regions include China, Taiwan, the Netherlands, Ireland, Italy, Central America, Scandinavia, Eastern Europe and Russia, and Brazil and South America. Jicinsky said the plan allows the LVCVA to move quickly to re-categorize a destination if conditions change.

R&R officials said they plan to quantify their results whenever possible. While visitation statistics will be the most telling sign of success, the agency said it plans to develop ways to measure the effectiveness of their efforts. For example, the agency plans to give a "Vegas IQ test" in the feeder markets. Through polling, the agency will measure how much residents of a specific market know about the Las Vegas destination and its amenities. After the advertising and media campaign, the poll will be repeated to determine how effective the message is being communicated.

Flexibility built into the plan enables the LVCVA to move quickly during an unexpected event. Calamities as varied as the SARS outbreak to weakening economic conditions can't be anticipated, but the marketing message can be altered in response to any occurrence, officials said.

While the foundation of Las Vegas' ad campaign is the "What happens here, stays here" messages -- the five newest ads in the series were shown Tuesday -- the LVCVA also has a print campaign centered around "preparing your Vegas alibi" and the major revamping of two LVCVA Web sites, including www.VisitLasVegas.com, which the agency hopes will get double the existing site traffic to 1 million page visits a month within a year. Vassiliadis said research is key to making decisions about marketing the destination and R&R's Mary Ann Mele explained that the agency has identified five different types of Las Vegas visitor to reach with various messages.

For each type of visitor, R&R has researched demographics, travel preferences, gaming preferences, Internet use habits, the type of magazines they read, TV networks they watch, radio networks they listen to and what shows they'll watch from the prime-time TV lineup.

Here are the different types of Las Vegas visitors, through the eyes of R&R research:

"The Admiral's Club," the seasoned travelers, representing 12.9 percent of the U.S. population. They're 35 or older, married with children, college educated and have a household income of $50,000 or more. They're heavy foreign and domestic travelers, enjoy recreational gambling, read Golf Digest, Sports Illustrated and Playboy, watch ESPN, MSNBC and will watch "ER," "CSI," "Law & Order" and "The West Wing" at night.

"The Cultured Pearl," the independent, self-made women, representing 10.4 percent of the U.S. population. They're 25-54, married but tend to have no children, college educated with a household income exceeding $100,000. They're heavy foreign and domestic travelers, enjoy recreational gambling, read Gourmet, Bon Appetit, Vanity Fair, Vogue and Conde Nast Traveler, watch Food Network, MSNBC and Bravo and will watch "Alias," "24," "The Bachelor" and "The West Wing" at night.

"Fashionistas," outgoing and flashy, representing 9 percent of the U.S. population. They're 35 or older, married with children, with some college and a household income of $50,000 or more. They're heavy domestic travelers, enjoy recreational gambling and play the lottery, read Vogue, Vanity Fair, People and InStyle, watch ESPN, Comedy Central and USA Network and will watch "Judging Amy," "Will & Grace," "American Idol" and "The Bachelorette" at night.

"Jack & Diane," suburban to rural residents, representing 28 percent of the U.S. population. They're 35-64, married with children, high school graduates and a household income of $35,000 to $75,000. They do some domestic travel during short vacations and are heavy recreational gamblers and play the lottery often, read Sports Illustrated, Playboy and Entertainment Weekly, watch ESPN, E! and USA Network and will watch "Everybody Loves Raymond," "The King of Queens," "Survivor," and "Fear Factor" at night.

"Mr. Saturday Night," high-energy thrill-seekers, representing 12.9 percent of the U.S. population. They're 25-54, single or engaged, college graduate or having some college and a household income of more than $50,000. They are cost-conscious travelers, moderate gamblers and like to go to casinos. They read Playboy, Maxim, Rolling Stone and Sports Illustrated, watch ESPN, Comedy Central and USA Network and will watch "Joey," "Scrubs," "Fear Factor," "Survivor," "The Apprentice" and "The Contender" at night.