Case Study for Agency
03-1014789-948

Situation
The Downs Racetrack & Casino in Albuquerque faces stiff competition
from Indian gaming casinos. They were not doing well, and asked a
successful successful racetrack and casino (Sunland Park) for advice.
One of Sunland Park's suggestions was to hire their ad agency, which is
us.

Marketing Challenge
The challenge was to attrack gamblers from the other casinos, get them
to try ours, and give them a good enough experience to convert them
into regulars.

The Solutions
We determined that the fastest way to turn the situation around would
be through television, plus a direct mail campaign targeted to gamblers
(we bought lists of people living in Albuquerque and making several
trips a year to Las Vegas).

We played upon the client's racing heritage as a point of difference
(the Indian casinos don't have horse racing). For example, one
television spot opens on a close up of the starting gate. The gate
opens, and jockeys come out, running a foot race, elbowing and bumping
into each other as they run down the track in their full togs. An angry
boss reaches the operations manager via walkie talkie, asking what's
going on. The operations guy says the horses are in the casino playing
video stud poker and he can't get them out. We show horses at the slots
(no, we didn't take the horses inside; we took the slots outside to set
up the shot). At the end of the spot we see the winning jockey
receiving the ring of flowers as he celebrates. The theme line is, The
Downs Racetrack & Casino, the winners' choice. Another spot shows
jockeys in their togs playing slots with the horses impatiently
waiting.

Whereas television is used to depict fun and bring in new blood, the
direct mail features promotions to attrack the tried and true gamblers.

Results
The results have been astonishing. The first month that the television
campaign began was their best month ever, and every month since has
been a record-breaker.