Television Advertising

Traditional television is expensive, particularly in a top 20 market even at the local level. It's not out of the question but a broad local television campaign has not been part of the mix I have most recently managed. Rather, our engagement with television advertising involved a very strategic buy: placement through local cable advertising through USA Communications. This small and independant provider only serves two towns in Colorado: Black Hawk and Central City; the two primary gambling towns in the area (located about a mile apart).

This means that for many of the larger Black Hawk properties who weren't using satellite, for minimal monthly spend we could move our message right into the competition's hotel rooms in a fairly heavy rotation. In the spirit of thriftiness, most of the talent you see pictured are employees of the casino. We used these same spots for YouTube advertising for a short time as well. In future, the way to accomplish our targeting and spending goals for video advertising would be via OTT and streaming insertions.

Radio Advertising

As a property with a strong direct mail program, focused on generous player and VIP reinvestment, we allocated a small percentage of the overall marketing department budget to traditional advertising. And without a national or regional brand campaign, every dollar spent needed maximum reach and effect. There was no room for the shotgun approach. What was needed was a sniper rifle. So working with the GM, we made the early decision to drop an I-70 billboard and buy sports radio. We're now the benefactor of a multple year brand association with both the Denver Broncos and the Colorado Rockies through KOA/iHeart and Voice of the Rockies, and a burgeoning association with the Denver Nuggets and the Colorado Avalanche through Altitude Sports radio.

Billboard & Bus Skin

The majority of the billboard advertising in our feeding market of Denver has been handled via a cooperative buy funded via machine fees collected by the Central City Business Improvement district. Most of our individual billboard placements have been along the Central City Parkway, the connecting highway into town from the nearest interstate, I-70 via Exit 243. With my background in design for outdoor & transit, I have handled these designs myself, conceiving copy and intent in collaboration with the property GM. Our interest in bus skins is a simple desire to secure one of the few outdoor advertising positions we can that appears in the competing market of Black Hawk.

• Outdoor, Billboard, & Transit Advertising

Print Advertising

Print advertising has of course faded to a shadow of what it used to be as digital placements and digital inbound offer more cost effectivenes in its targeting and measurability of its effect. For a long time before that, print in our market was a bimonthly part of the mix, as Colorado had for a time two periodic newsprint publications dedicated exclusively to covering the casino industry in Colorado.

• Print Ad Design

Signage, Collateral, & Merchandise

Most brick-and-mortar businesses do a poor job of utilizing their paid-for real estate to provide enough internal promotion, but this is something I have championed and enacted for a long time. This internal signage has transitioned over the years from print-based poster and backlit translucent displays, to digital signage displays using both still designs and video, saving significant monthly collateral expense on an ongoing basis with an initial outlay in modest capitol. External signage in the Central City market is strictly managed and regimented due to local Historic Preservation Committee guidelines and requirements, yet I have maximized its impact for years. Finally, casinos smartly traffic in logo-printed merchandise, whether sold or distributed promotionally, to provide volunteer walking branding signage to a patron's friends and relatives.