As a public company, Century handles overall press releases at corporate through P.R. Newswire. Nonetheless I have had some opportunities to successfully manage limited press and P.R. functions, through local television infotainment programming, local casino enthusiast periodicals, and local online directory listings and competitions.
COVID Mitigation Coverage - Nov, 2020
We were in a tough position with a short-notice request for footage and interview regarding new restrictions due to COVID-19 risk mitigation. Focusing on the footage and the facts and directing the on-camera interview towards a willing guest gave us the coverage while complying with media policy. We are of course not responsible for any comments made in the interview by the mayor of Central CIty.
NEWS REPORT:
Influencer Representation - July, 2017
Live casino play streaming has been a steadily growing segment for the last couple of years now. I had a fair amount of understanding of this media via familiarity with Twitch and other game streaming services. As is the case with Twitch, a great many of the people streaming out there now have simply decided to do so of their own volition, and for their own ends.
A few years ago, however, when we first decided to engage with this arena, essentially the influencer platofrm for casinos, we worked directly with The Big Jackpot. Although I didn't personally find them but rather was approached, we negotiated and managed some representation. This streamer has been travelling and filling this entertainment niche for quite a while now, and his custom video produced in exchange turned out nicely as well.
LIVE CASINO STREAMING:
Discover Colorado - July, 2016
It's really only the press-like veneer that keeps this example here rather than in the advertising section. But this infomercial-style buy in a local community activity program through KMGH Denver's 7 was coordinated with our Ten Year Anniversary celebration which was underscored through corporate press releases which also highlighted our recent top spot placement in a local business ranking directory site (see below), Cityvoter.com's Denver's A-List.
Making up one-third of a half-hour program, our slot highlighted the best details about our business as our GM toured host Gina Belich around the property. It came with a round of digital display and social ad placements as well. We were also able to obtain all the B-roll footage from this shoot royalty-free for our own uses as a part of this deal.
INFOTAINMENT PROGRAMMING:
Cityvoter.com Denver's A-list - 2012-2020
For my entire tenure at Century, the cityvoter.com Denver's A-List competition has been a priority for the GM, ever since a neigboring property secured the top spot in their inaugural year and promoted it widely right across the street. Cityvoter ran regional voting copetitions for local businesses, administering a fair competition via email address and account registration for voting and offering direct offers through their site. Therefore, from 2012 through 2020, we ensured the merits of our team and property were properly recognized, primarily through aggressive email and social media campaigning. We thus secured the title of "Denver's Best Casino" for every competition for the years 2012 through 2020. The secret each year was ensuring our campaign launched the moment the voting did. in 2020, after declaring us the victor one final time, the cityvoter.com site closed down, in such a way that archive.org fails to present record of our final victory. It appears the site is an unfortunate victim of the COVID-19 pandemic.
DESIGN SAMPLES:
The Colorado Gambler - 2011-2017
The Colorado Gambler was a local newsprint periodical dedicated to the local gambling market. Our primary relationship with this outlet was ad buying, for a number of years. For a time we moved our buy over to the competing product from the Denver Post: The Deal. However, the Gambler was the longer-lived publication with more loyalty and readership and reach, with distribution not only within the local casinos but in local grocery and specialty stores as well. In addition, and more relevant to this category the Gambler offered annual cover stories to properties who bought a certain volume of ads, as we did. These articles were very much spoon-fed by the advertisers. The Gambler would eventually cease operations in July 2017, concluding its run with a final cover story about Century and our latest placement as Best Casino in Denver's A-List.
DESIGN SAMPLES:
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I had the pleasure of working closely with Dana Laratta for 10 years as my Marketing Manager and Data Analyst while serving as General Manager of Century Casino in Central City, CO. Dana is very passionate and highly skilled in all aspects of marketing data analytics. He also developed a very strong talent for marketing messaging and graphic design construction as well as social media implementation and analysis. Dana has great ideas and is a solid communicator. He is always researching the latest trends and looking for avenues to implement them into the business model. Dana is a guy that can get things done. He is bottom line driven in his approach and a great team player.
