Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Harrah's Runs Mobile Loyalty Pilot for Rio Property

January 22, 2009: from Mobile Marketer -- Harrah's Entertainment Inc. is using mobile marketing to target personalized promotions to opted-in guests at the Rio All Suites Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. The company tapped interactive and database marketing firm Acxiom Corp. and its Acuity Mobile technology partner to provide real-time offers, property information and Total Rewards Club loyalty points balance to Rio guests on their mobile phones.

Acxiom, Little Rock, AR, has put together multilayer mobile programs for SMS texted offers using its Impact-X Mobile platform that is powered by Acuity Mobile's technology. For example, Rio guests can text RIO to the 227466 (CASINO) short code to opt in for offers. A return text will confirm that the opted-in guest will receive four offers for the next four days. A typical Rio's guests stays four days at the property, hence the four-day limit for offers. In addition to those steps, guests can also opt-in to download the Rio Text-Offers mobile application. The first text dynamically generates links to download the application or WAP. Essentially, users can pull information as well as receive offers from property restaurants, shows and entertainment through their stay. They can also check their Total Rewards points balance and status on the mobile site.

Full story at: http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/database-crm/2498.html?goback=.hom

Catfish Bend Reports Revenue Increase for 2008 -- Launches Internet-Based Marketing Program

January 22, 2009: from Daily Gate City -- Catfish Bend Casino is not having as hard of a time getting gamblers to open up their wallets - if the numbers passed out at the Southeast Iowa Regional Riverboat Commission meeting on Tuesday are any indication. Overall, the casino's revenues were up 8 percent for the year. Catfish Bend CEO Jerry Baum told SIRRC Tuesday that he is pleased with that number because many of the casinos in Iowa are down by 4 percent.

Something new the company is trying at the casino is to have an Internet-based program called "Gamelogic." People who have Players Club cards are able to sign up for Gamelogic at the casino. Then they can play games on the website at home and earn points for sweepstakes entries at the casino. Baum said that when the players come to the casino dollars spent at the casino will translate into points to play on the games at home.

Full story at: http://www.dailygate.com/articles/2009/01/22/news/05.txt

Generations Online in 2009

January 28, 2009: from Pew Internet & American Life Project -- Contrary to the image of Generation Y as the "Net Generation," internet users in their twenties do not dominate every aspect of online life. Generation X is the most likely group to bank, shop and look for health information online. Boomers are just as likely as Generation Y to make travel reservations online. And even Silent Generation internet users are competitive when it comes to email (although teens might point out that this is proof that email is for old people).

The biggest increase in internet use since 2005 can be seen in the 70-75 year-old age group. While just over one-fourth (26%) of 70-75 year olds were online in 2005, 45% of that age group is currently online.

A few online activities previously dominated by either older generations or younger generations are now being done more equally across all generations under 73 years old. One such activity is downloading videos, an activity that in 2005 was significantly more popular with teens and Generation Y than with any other generation. Generation X is catching up, as 31% of that generation claim to download videos as of 2007, compared with 38% of Generation Y. Generations on the oldest end of the spectrum also became significantly more likely than they had been two years before to download videos. Some 13% of G.I. Generation internet users (age 73+) reported downloading videos, up from 1% in 2005, and another 13% of the online Silent Generation (ages 64-72) say they download videos, up from 8% in 2005.

Full story at: http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1093/generations-online

Game On! Online Game Play Surges as Gamers Seek Out Free Alternatives in Tight Economy

Minutes Spent Playing Online Games Jumps 42 Percent versus Year Ago

January 28, 2009 - comScore, Inc. a leader in measuring the digital world, today released an analysis of Americans' usage of online gaming sites, which showed that the category has grown 27 percent during the past year to 86 million visitors in December 2008, while the total time spent playing online games has jumped 42 percent. Americans' total share of Internet time spent playing online games grew from 3.7 percent in December 2007 to 4.9 percent in December 2008.

Yahoo! Games ranked as the most visited site in the category with 19.5 million visitors (up 20 percent), followed by EA Online with 15.4 million visitors (up 21 percent), and Disney Games with 13.4 million visitors (up 13 percent). The tenth most visited site, Spil Games, saw traffic surge 269 percent to 6.7 million visitors.

"It appears that online, ad-supported gaming is one of the activities that has benefited during this economic downturn," said Edward Hunter, comScore director of gaming solutions. "Not only have consumers turned to outlets such as gaming to take their minds off the economy, but as they curtail their discretionary gaming-related purchases they are turning to free alternatives."



Full story at: http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=fcs8dxcab.0.0.o7uw4wcab.0&ts=S0384&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.comscore.com%2Fpress%2Frelease.asp%3Fpress%3D2706&id=preview

Santa Ana Star Casino Becomes First Casino to Launch Social Networking Web Site

January 9, 2009: from New Mexico Business Weekly -- Santa Ana Star Casino has jumped on the social networking bandwagon. My.santaanastar.com combines applications similar to Facebook and MySpace. Users can create a profile share photos and do instant messaging. They receive notices on events and promotions and can submit comments and feedback. Users also can customize their pages with widgets - links or buttons embedded in the Web site with information on sports, weather, news, business and travel.

Several hundred players have signed up since the site went up in November, Burdick said. "This allows them to keep connected to people they met at the casino, and with friends and family, as well as get local news and play some games," he said. "Now we can target directly our marketing to the players based on their interests." Santa Ana has always geared its marketing efforts to capturing a hometown audience and this is a natural offshoot of that, Burdick said.

Full story at: http://www.bizjournals.com/albuquerque/stories/2009/01/12/story5.htmlb=1231736400%5E1758743