\nHannah Dreier, Associated Press<\/p>\n
\tLAS VEGAS (AP) \u2013 Baby boomers are suckers for appeals to their narcissism. Generation Xers can\u2019t stand their parents. And millennials want to feel like do-gooders.<\/p>\n
\tThese aren\u2019t tired stereotypes. They\u2019re lessons marketing consultants say the Nevada tourism industry needs to start using if it wants to pull new customers into casinos.<\/p>\n
\tMarketing consultant Chuck Underwood urged a room of executives and officials to think more critically about their patrons during the annual Nevada Governor\u2019s Conference on Tourism on Wednesday in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n
\tVisitor volume in Sin City has only recently bounced back after cratering during the recession.<\/p>\n
\tGambling revenue has been slower to rebound, and the tourists that do come to town are still spending less. A record number of visitors came to Las Vegas in 2012, but each one spent an average of just $1,021 per visit. In 2007, visitors spent an average of $1,318.<\/p>\n
\tThe tourism conference, held at Red Rock Casino, focused on finding creative ways to lure new patrons.<\/p>\n
\tUnderwood, who heads a consulting firm specializing in generational branding, suggested that the gambling industry might be in for a rough several years.<\/p>\n
\tGen Xers are just never going to be as into casinos as their parents, he said, and millennials are going to be broke for a long time to come.<\/p>\n
\tHe had better news about patrons in their 60s and 70s, many of whom could be seen plugging slot machines on the gaming floor outside the conference room.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cWith their zest for squeezing life of all of its satisfactions, baby boomers represent a golden opportunity for Nevada tourism,\u201d Underwood said.<\/p>\n
\tHe later cautioned against using a series of baby boomer trigger words, including \u201caging,\u201d \u201dmature\u201d and \u201cgolden years,\u201d as men and women in suits scribbled on notepads.<\/p>\n
\tCasino bosses are devoting increasing resources to luring younger customers.<\/p>\n
\tMGM Resorts International, which owns about a third of the major Strip casinos, is spending $100 million to build a park outside of its New York-New York and Monte Carlo hotel-casinos.<\/p>\n
\tCaesars, which owns another third of Strip properties, is planning its own outdoor shopping and dining \u201cdistrict.\u201d That project, Linq, is anchored by a 550-foot-tall observation wheel slated to open in 2014.<\/p>\n
\tExecutives from both corporations say the new spaces are intended to lure a younger, more social and outdoorsy group.<\/p>\n
\tUnderwood said Gen Xers might be more likely to come to Las Vegas to explore the striking rock formations outside of town.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cYou\u2019re probably going to take a hit with this generation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\tThat pronouncement did not sit well with some grunge generation attendees.<\/p>\n
\tKristi Miller, who works for an online travel booking company, spent lunchtime railing against Underwood\u2019s apparent resignation.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cWhat\u2019s going to happen when the boomers start dying if we haven\u2019t gotten Gen X on board with our brands? I don\u2019t think the tourism industry should take that lightly,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\tMillennials, many of whom are still too young to set foot on a casino floor, sounded a bit more promising. Underwood advised executives to set up programs that reward 20-somethings for just showing up.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cIt\u2019s not their fault. It\u2019s what they grew up with \u2013 everybody got a trophy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\tUnderwood also recommended tapping into the generation\u2019s patriotism and spirit of social involvement.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cThey have been described as Generation Give, and there is an enormous opportunity for you in this,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\tMillennial Jenny Patterson, who books hotel rooms and shows for tourists, said the workshop convinced her of the need to target specific demographics more consciously, instead of always going for a general audience in her marketing. She was especially grateful for the insights into the mind of the older gambler.<\/p>\n
\tShe\u2019d intuited that baby boomers are more likely to pay for convenience and service, she said, \u201cbut I\u2019d never really understood the \u2018why\u2019 of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tCory Brooks, who runs a charter place service out of Las Vegas, said he planned to take Underwood\u2019s advice and make more emotional appeals to his older customers.<\/p>\n
\tAfter the talk, several members of the audience could be heard defending their generation to a group of older or younger people.<\/p>\n
\t___<\/p>\n
No replies were posted for this topic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Hannah Dreier, Associated Press LAS VEGAS (AP) \u2013 Baby boomers are suckers for appeals to their narcissism. Generation Xers can\u2019t stand their parents. And millennials want to feel like do-gooders. These aren\u2019t tired stereotypes. They\u2019re lessons marketing consultants say the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6625","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-latest-casino-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6625","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6625"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6625\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}