Connecticut Tribes Teaming Up On Poor Atlantic City
The billboards read “Two worlds beat one City.” Rivals, Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods have banded together for a marketing campaign to take on Atlantic City as the top gambling destination on the east coast.
The alliance between the two tribes, which were old enemies and have become current competitors, underscores the fierce fight for casino customers in the Northeast as casinos across the country struggle through a prolonged consumer recession.
“This is quite historic,” said Michael Speller, president of Mashantucket Pequot Gaming Enterprises, which owns Foxwoods. Mr. Speller said both sides agreed that “we can drive more business together than we can individually.”
The campaign, which is planned to go through the summer, will be initially target mostly northern New Jersey. This isn’t a surprise since this area seen as the midpoint between both areas. While they already spends significant money on television advertising, pooling together resources may be a smart use of marketing dollars for the Connecticut casinos as they should be able to get more bang for the buck. This would also allow for new and different marketing in these areas as noted by the campaigns website.
I don’t know that this will work, but the summer is a good time to run such a campaign. More people are staying close to home and there is potential for the extra billboards may influence potential customers to take the trip north instead of south to Atlantic City.
For more information, see the full article on WSJ.com and the news piece below from NECN.com.
