Testing Texting
by Marian Green
March 2, 2009
Barona Valley Ranch Resort and Casino is testing a new mobile marketing offer that sends text messages to players, allowing them to take advantage of special rewards, such as dining offers in the Sage Café.
Barona launches cutting-edge mobile marketing campaign leveraging barcode –scanning technology
Barona Valley Ranch Resort and Casino is testing an
innovative mobile marketing campaign that could revolutionize how casinos
deliver player-loyalty rewards.
The San Diego-area
resort’s pilot test uses barcode-scanning technology to send 2-D barcode text
messages to players. Each text contains a barcode with a special offer for
rewards such as restaurant specials, food and beverage deals, and cash offers.
“As one of the first
organizations in the country to utilize this technology, our goal is to create
a mobile marketing program that will provide convenient services to our players
with added benefits,” said Troy Simpson, Barona senior vice president of
innovation. “Since the barcodes are sent to players that opt to receive them
directly on their mobile phones, they are easily stored and scanned – making
this program ideally suited for players who are moving throughout the resort
and casino.”
Some 360 opt-in Club
Barona Diamond-level players are participating in the pilot test. Each player
received a text message with a special restaurant offer. Players with
Web-enabled mobile phones are able to view a 2-D barcode from a Web link within
their text message. Once at the restaurant, this barcode comp can be redeemed
tableside by a server, using a handheld 2-D barcode
scanner.
Players without mobile Web
capabilities also can redeem the offer via individual redemption codes provided
within the body of the text message.
Barona is testing the
technology to gauge delivery as well as participants’ acceptance and response
of 2-D barcode text message-based offers. Players were selected for the test
based on their top tier level in Club Barona (Diamond Card holders) and through
exclusive invitations from their executive hosts.
“Our mobile marketing
program is the latest effort in our ongoing commitment to technological
advancement in the gaming industry,” said Scott Reinhardt, Barona director of
database marketing and innovation.
Both Simpson and Reinhardt
said they are encouraged by the initial response from players’ initial
response.
“We really see great
opportunity in this move,” Simpson said. Players weren’t put off by text
messages. “What they told us and what we found very heartening for the future
is they prefer receiving their offers via texts,” he said.
They appreciated the”
simple, short and sweet” offers, and found the instructions on how to redeem
the offer intuitive, Simpson said.
“They were very clear in their understanding of
all the offer details. That speaks positively about our future ability to use
that channel to deliver various offers,” he said.
Immediate benefits
The technology has clear
benefits, to both players and operators, Simpson said.
“It’s real time. If you
look at the way a regular mail piece is sent out – there’s three months of production,”
Simpson said. “Now we can look at gaming behavior today and send you a
real-time text. It’s more relevant, it’s simple and it’s more compelling to our
players.”
In that way, he said,
Barona can tailor offers and content in a more personalized way to the player
who’s receiving them.
Using the phone to deliver
text messages also easily accessible, he said, since most people are “probably
never with their phone except when they’re in the shower.”
Players, he said,
appreciate receiving Barona offers in any form. “What this does is speed up the
timeline to talk to them,” he said.
Such programs may cut
operator’s marketing costs, Simpson said.
“ Certainly if you are
sending somebody a text message, the cost per communication is substantially
less than that of a mail piece,” he said. But that’s not Barona’s focus, he
noted. Simpson said Barona would plow savings into the player reinvestment
kitty.
There is potential for
operators to use such mobile marketing as a yield management tool, offering
last-minute deals on unused room inventory, or another amenity.
Using text messages also
is a good sustainable initiative, Simpson said.
“We like it because it’s a
good steward of the environment,” he said.
Rinehardt noted that
Barona carefully introduced the new pilot program to participants. “There was a
lot of front-end dialogue to get folks to opt-in,” he said.
The casino operator
continues to tread carefully to ensure it is respectful of people’s privacy,
and that the content is the kind of content people want and a viable
communication channel, Rinehardt said.
Players, Simpson said, can provide valuable
word-of-mouth advertising for a program. “Players talk to players. They’re our
best sales force,” he said.
Out in front
The ability to innovate has been one of Barona’s
differentiating factors, “giving players a very clear reason to select us
gaming destination of choice over the competition,” Simpson said.
Rinehardt
noted that “everything is engineered at giving the casino player more reasons
to want to be at Barona and to be loyal to Barona.”
Marian Green
greenm@bnpmedia.com
Did you enjoy this article? Click here to subscribe to the magazine.
