Randy Interviewed in Casino Journal - July 2011

Randy was interviewed in the Casino Journal by Charles Anderer on July 8, 2011 for the article TALKING POINTS: Marketing is Job One.

Last year you [Randy] caused a bit of a stir at the Casino Marketing Conference by saying that marketing is not only the most important function at a casino, but that the CEO should also be a marketing specialist. This year, we are looking forward to your presentation called, “Why Marketers Rule.” Sounds like you are sticking to your guns.
Fine: I think the industry is transitioning to a world where marketing really is the most important function inside any casino. Five or 10 years ago, when we didn’t have that many casinos, you could make a fair amount of money just by being open. It was critical, once you were open and customers streamed through your doors, to give them good service and handle those transactions in an effective way, so operations was king. The notion that casinos would go bankrupt, that casinos would be unprofitable, that there would be state licenses that no one would want, that would have been heresy five years ago. But today, we’re in a world where, in some markets, we have too many casinos, and others where casinos don’t cover their operating expenses. The only solution to that is punching above your weight in terms of your market share. And the way you do that is through marketing. This is why I think in today’s world of highly competitive casino markets, marketers should be running the show.

Read the full article for insight into the rest of the interview, just a few highlights;

How do you segment the market differently from, say, the typical casino marketer?
On the execution side, does it take time to get your arms around a more segmented market?
Is the marketing function becoming more integrated with other functions within gaming organizations, such as gaming operations and IT?
There is a lot of marketing-oriented technology out there, be it business intelligence packages or the basic slot systems themselves. How do you rate the quality of these solutions?
Is social media something you keep your eye on as a casino marketer?
What do you make of the 360-degree view of customers gaming and non-gaming behaviors and leveraging that to communicate value?
Where do you come down on the question of promoting value to the player through the marketing of “looser slots”?

Read the full article now.