Always turned on!?!

No, I'm not making my personal life part of Casino [ptz]. Rather, this is the new slogan for Atlantic City, developed at considerable expense and unveiled with considerable ineptitude. From NJ.Com:

The catchphrase and an accompanying logo, unveiled Thursday, will be used by the Atlantic City Convention & Visitors Authority in sales pitches, on literature and in appeals to meeting planners.

Unable to afford TV and radio advertising, the authority -- which spent $110,000 developing the slogan -- hopes to get its word out with a public relations campaign, the authority's Web site and new signs along the Atlantic City Expressway.

Early reviews were favorable.

"It suits Atlantic City," said gambler Shirley Valdes, 33, of New York. "It's always lit up, 24 hours a day, just like some of the people you see here."

Author and historian Vicki Gold Levi called it ideal for Atlantic City, which had a name for gambling, bootlegging and colorful nightlife long before casinos rolled in 25 years ago.

"Atlantic City's always been a little naughty, a place to lose your inhibitions. And `Always Turned On' fits right in with it. It's what we are now, a fun, grown-up town."

FULL STORY

More details from the Inquirer:

The slogan comes with a high-energy theme song that urges people to "lose your inhibition," rhymes "nonstop excitement" with "romantic delightment," and includes a rap-like verse touting the city as "scintillating, titillating, undulating, percolating, syncopating, palpitating, fascinating."

But the song and promotional film - presented at a fancy lunch for 350 community members and casino and business owners yesterday - will not be seen or heard much over the next year because of limited funding.

There will be no commercials for now. The tourism agency is focusing instead on a $500,000 public-relations effort to spread the word. (Howie Mandel is also doing a related spot on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno, Vasser said.)

The slogan will appear on the Atlantic City Expressway, on city promotional materials, and on the authority's Web site. The song will be heard when people who call the authority are placed on hold, said spokeswoman Susan Ricciardi.

FULL STORY

Before discussing this, let me say that I desperately want Atlantic City to succeed. I'm very proud of the fact that I'm from there, and I think it has all of the raw materials to become one of the greatest resort cities in the world.

But something about these stories bugged me, and when I did a little investigating, it bugged me a lot.

First of all, as I said yesterday, when you buy cheap, you buy twice. Why bother creating a new slogan if you are not going to invest the money in promoting it properly. Somehow I don't think America is looking to Howie Mandel for its travel plans. Las Vegas got a great deal of notoriety from the "what happens here, stays here" commercials, and Atlantic City could do the same with its own commercials. But no, commercials are too expensive.

So that leaves the Internet open. Yes, the Internet has revolutionized communications and therefore marketing. Look at how the Howard Dean campaign has been able to reach a whole new audience and pool of donors through the Internet, for example. So an Internet-based campaign could work, and could actually be revolutionary.

But here the wheels fall off completely. Checking the ACCVA authority website--provided with the news stories, shows no mention of "Always turned on." Look for yourself at atlanticcitynj.com. (Also compare it with lasvegas24hours, which is functional, on message, and very impressive.)

We know that the Haunted Seaport is going down in Tuckerton on 10/25, but other than that, no updates. The last press release is from September and just crows about the great summer season.

It is simply inexcusable that the ACCVA could not coordinate the announcement of the new slogan and updating its website. There is about a 30 second window of opportunity for media attention, and the window is closing very quickly. No body is going to "check back soon" to look for site updates.

It makes me wonder why anyone should care, if the people who developed the slogan and are charged with promoting it obviously don't. It isn't that hard to make sure that your website has the official new slogan. It is nearly criminal that the ACCVA couldn't master this simple task, and I don't understand why no one else seems to care. It's as if apathy and incompetence are expected, which is a very gloomy omen for the future of Atlantic City.

Speaking of which, here is an excerpt from the AC Press, which underscores my pessimism:

The gaming industry’s poor September revenues foreshadow an ugly fourth quarter as casinos fight for business lost to the new Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa, Wall Street analysts are warning investors.

Analysts sounded the alarm less than 24 hours after the Casino Control Commission reported a 12 percent decline in September gambling revenue at the 11 casinos open a year earlier.

“Conditions remain weak, there is little real growth and competitive conditions are intensifying. Even more disturbing, we are beginning to see an increase in promotional spending,” John Kempf of Goldman Sachs said in a research note.

Borgata, which opened July 2, increased the city’s supply of slot machines by 9 percent, table games by 11 percent and casino hotel rooms by 16 percent. Although Borgata has quickly become the city’s second-highest-grossing casino (behind Bally’s), it has helped boost citywide casino revenue by only 5 percent.

“With a full quarter of data now, it is clear that the new casino has cannibalized the rest of the market,” said Jake Fuller of Thomas Weisel Partners.

Borgata will force other casinos to spend heavily on incentives to recapture their customers, analysts said. The resulting decline in profits will result in more lost jobs, said Michael Pollock, publisher of the Gaming Industry Observer.

Casinos have already cut nearly 400 jobs since Labor Day.

“There’s going to be some pressure to cut some positions further. There’s no question about that,” Pollock said. “That’s going to take a couple of forms. Some will be demand-related, some will be the result of further consolidation and some will be fueled by technology as ticket-in, ticket-out slots take hold.”

Analysts said it will be difficult for casinos to stay still while Borgata continues its broad-based marketing and promotional blitz.

“While other operators are claiming they have not responded, we believe they will have little choice if the market remains weak and Borgata continues to spend,” Kempf said.

“Thus, while we believe third-quarter cash flow will be weak for the market, fourth-quarter results may be a disaster if promotional spending were to increase,” he said.

FULL STORY

This doesn't bode well at all. The city needs to capitalize on the opening of the Borgata and the expansions of Harrah's and Tropicana and create the vibe of a "new" Atlantic City. But with the new slogan's launch seeming less than auspicious, I'm not that optimistic anymore.
posted by Dave at 12:42 PM