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Gala
Gala casino stands for Enter’game’ment; priding it ‘self on being the most entertaining, friendly casino experience possible, offering as much fun as going bowling with friends. We wanted to show this off and get more people visiting, playing and tasting their delicious flamed grilled menu.
Research had shown an underlying fear factor associated with visiting casinos, people worry that they'll lose their shirt or look silly infront of their mates. To counter this Gala had developed “casino magic “ – a friendly, bite sized, no stakes way of learning roulette and blackjack.
It was the perfect vehicle to re-introduce gaming to the masses, we just had to get it out there. We converted a bus into an accessible, fun place were we could recreate the Gala Casino Magic experience; giving our audience a little taster, explaining the odds and show them a couple of tricks.
Such a program was a first for the gaming industry, an industry renowned for adverse press and as negotiator and the point of contact for councils, landlords and the general public, this was a showcase for best practice at every point. Prior to implementation, every detail had to be planned methodically and precisely, approval being sought from both Gala’s internal compliance officer and the Gaming Commission. Through this due dillengence we gained the support of various councils and private landowners to co-ordinate 50 events throughout the nine-month national road show, pitching up in the best spaces close to the big Gala casinos across the UK.
As the gala estate is vast and diverse, we needed to ensure that this project, the company’s single largest marketing investment of the year had the full support of each of the casinos the road show visited. It was up to us to meet with the staff and management of the host casinos and gather the local intelligence which allowed us to tailor the events and share the campaign ambitions across the group.
We employed a “circus coming to town” pre-awareness integrated promotional strategy, which included press; both PR and paid-for (featuring £10 free bet token), a tour micro-site, local radio ads and tactical leafleting, raising the local casino’s profile as well as announcing the tour.
The creative agency; Ruby Integrated, injected fun and intrigue into these elements; inviting passer’s by to "hop-on board”, & have a “crack at Black-Jack,” and devising a “thank-you” Gala goodie pack, containing a £10 free bet chip, and a VIP visit to their local Gala Casino. Any spectator, who didn’t get the chance to have tutorial, entered the SMS “spin the big wheel” competition or participated in the “close hand magic demonstration”and leaflet recipients, received the £10 free bet when registering at a Gala Casino.
Using the sophisticated tracking element Gala has within their loyalty scheme we were able to measure the financial value of the people introduced as part of the campaign. The results showed the recipients of the tokens had an above average spend per visit at the casinos. In-fact during difficult times there was a 31% uplift in new members driving £380,000 in incremental revenue into the business.