Linking Winners By Satellite

Harrah’s Creates Customer Excitement

by James Careless

When it comes to attracting and keeping customers, Harrah’s Entertainment does not rely on casinos disguised as theme parks. Instead, this veteran of the U.S. gambling trade uses a combination of great service, big prizes and customer appreciation programs to keep the highrollers coming back for more. Perhaps this explains why Harrah’s, which was founded more than 60 years ago, now has 26 casinos operating in 17 U.S. cities nationwide. Besides the Harrah’s name, they are also branded under the titles of "Rio", "Showboat" and "Harveys."

One key weapon in Harrah’s promotional arsenal is business TV via satellite, using services and facilities provided by Convergent Media. It is not only Harrah’s staff who are being linked together by satellite, however, but loyal customers as well. They are brought together on a regular basis as part of Harrah’s Total Rewards program and offered the chance to win big cash prizes, really big prizes.

Take Harrah’s recent "Game of Life" contest, which was broadcast live via satellite to 16 Harrah’s locations on September 22, 2002. The grand prize winner was a 74 year-old Florida grandmother and Harrah’s regular identified as "Peggy B." She won $1 million as she watched a simulcast from Las Vegas in Harrah’s Atlantic City casino.

"I always believe that things happen in threes," Peggy B. was quoted as saying in a Harrah’s news release. "Two weeks ago, I won 11,900 nickels on a slot machine here at Harrah’s. Today, I won $5,000 in the drawing, and now I won $1 million!"

How Satellite Helps Harrah’s Marketing Efforts

Despite the fact that Peggy B. walked away with $1 million, it is Harrah’s Entertainment who was the big winner on September 22, 2002. Satellite-delivered contests such as the Game of Life are part of the company’s sophisticated market research program. While making customers happy, such contests are central to Harrah’s quest to keep its regulars happy and coming back for more.

Likewise, this all happens with one-to-one marketing. Drawing on a database describing the gaming habits of Harrah’s top customers, Harrah’s tailors offers for each player’s individual habits and preferences. In doing so, the company builds strong personal relationships with its customers; relationships it strengthens through occasional cash giveaway contests.

It is not just a sense of goodwill that Harrah’s fosters through Total Rewards, however, but also a sense of brand loyalty among its best customers. This includes encouraging them to play at the casino’s locations throughout the United States, especially when they can win prizes live on national closed-circuit business TV. In addition, Harrah’s also does local and regional linkups throughout the year.

This is precisely what happens whenever Harrah’s does a Total Rewards grand prize draw. To make it happen, the company uses satellite links, satellite airtime and broadcast crews at each of the 16 remote casinos plus Harrah’s Las Vegas flagship, from where the broadcast originates. Every location is equipped not only with monitors, but also TV lighting and manned video cameras. When it is time for the big draw, everyone in each location can see each other all at once, thanks to the banks of TV monitors set up at each site.

Making Simulcasts Work For Harrah’s

It is worth noting that the whole simulcast experience could have been a bust for Harrah’s, had Convergent not had the know-how to pull it off. Even with the challenge of coordinating 17 two-way satellite uplinks in real time, this Atlanta-based carrier made it happen.

One of Convergent’s secrets was organization. All 80 contest finalists were seated in areas covered by cameras, so that switching to winners during the live feed could be done fast. Meanwhile, in order to buy time for the switching crew, the name of the winning casino location was named before the winner was announced. "That way, when the winners’ names were announced, we shot right to them to show excitement," says Adrienne Blakesee, corporate director of Harrah’s Communications Networks.

Creating A Sense Of Community

The true genius of Harrah’s use of satellite-delivered business TV is the effect it has on the company’s Total Rewards members. It is not just the range of cash prizes– culminating in the $1 million grand prize–that excites and motivates these customers, although this obviously helps. No, it is their ability to see and hear their fellow Total Awards members in Harrah’s casinos nationwide that creates a sense of community among them. In a sense, these giveaways become a shared experience for everyone involved, no matter where they may be during the draw.

Moreover, these simulcasts are very good for business. For instance, the very first Total Awards giveaway in December 2000 created a tremendous amount of traffic for Harrah’s. In fact, "This was the most successful promotion in the company’s history," says Harrah’s Senior Vice President of loyalty marketing, David Norton. "We took what was traditionally a slow month, and turned it into a busy one. Every participating Harrah’s casino was packed."

Satellite Simulcasts Are No Gamble For Harrah’s

Since the success of its initial simulcast in 2000, bringing together Total Rewards members by satellite has become an annual event for Harrah’s. In doing so, the company has developed a unique promotional vehicle that generates excitement and media buzz, and brings customers into its casinos to boot.

"We think the Grand Prize simulcast is the ideal way to unite our Total Rewards customers," Norton says. It is a unity that just would not have happened without satellites.

James Careless is senior contributing editor to Via Satellite.