Brief:
- MGM Resorts International, the hotel chain whose sales rose 16% to $2.64 billion in Q2 2017 from a year earlier, is debuting its first corporate brand campaign, including several promotions on mobile media, according to the company, whose "Welcome to the Show" campaign was created by McCann New York.
- MGM Resorts is the first travel industry company to develop a Snapchat World+Face lens, the hotelier said. Rolling out on Sept. 25, its Twitter campaign will include an exclusive 15-day emoji-driven sweepstakes that lets contestants play daily to win a variety of resort packages, including a $40,000 grand prize.
- The campaign launch includes takeovers of highly trafficked public spaces in New York, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles. The subsequent rollout will feature extensive efforts across TV, print and out-of-home media.
MGM Resorts launches first-ever corporate brand campaign. #WelcomeToTheShow https://t.co/dlbpFhEE9q pic.twitter.com/fN7P5FhxJV
— MGM Resorts (@MGMResortsIntl) September 19, 2017
Insight:
MGM Resorts clearly wants to make a major splash with its first corporate brand campaign and reach a broader, younger audience via mobile tech and social media. A main goal of the campaign, according to MGM, is to shift the brand's image from hospitality to entertainment and embrace consumers' tendencies toward social media use to lure potential guests.
Unfortunately, throwing money at popular channels like Snapchat is not always a guaranteed win. The image-sharing platform's audience skews quite young, with data from eMarketer showing that 59% of 12- to 17-year-olds, 68% of 18- to 24-year-olds and 42% of 25- to 34-year-olds use Snapchat at least once a month throughout the year in the U.S.
While Snapchat is more popular with millennials and Gen Z than with older generations, the younger generation is less likely to spend on travel to allocate those dollars elsewhere. Millennials spend more on restaurants and cell phone bills while cutting back on what they pay for TV and travel, according to a Bankrate study published in July. Millennials report spending an average of $1,943 a year on trips or vacations, while older Americans are shelling out $2,665. For TV services like cable, satellite and streaming, millennials spend $80 a month, compared with $114 for those 37 and older, Bankrate found.
