Somewhere in America, a marketing department is approving a Halloween campaign that looks remarkably similar to the one it approved last year. Pumpkins are involved, probably a clever name for a giveaway, and at least one person who has become emotionally invested in the font.
I have tremendous respect for our annual commitment to putting a seasonal theme on absolutely everything. I participate enthusiastically, often with my own money. October is a particularly impressive month for marketing departments, which have somehow convinced us that ordinary products become more desirable when they’re orange and available for six weeks.
Several operators have taken different approaches to the same holiday, with campaigns that offer some interesting comparisons.
A very productive month for pumpkins
BetMGM launched LegendSCARY, a Halloween campaign running through November 1 with more than 50 themed games, exclusive content, leaderboards, sweepstakes, and rotating promotions.
The month-long format is worth examining. Rather than putting everything into Halloween weekend, BetMGM has built multiple opportunities for players to participate. From a lifecycle marketing perspective, that gives the operator several occasions to engage existing customers and potentially bring occasional players back into the product.
At SAHARA Las Vegas, October’s promotional calendar includes slot tournaments, point multipliers, drawings, and Halloween giveaways. The offers are tied to specific days and activities, giving the property opportunities to influence when customers visit.
Mohegan Sun went in another direction, bringing back its Halloween-themed Spookeasy cocktail bar for a second year. It’s a seasonal hospitality experience that gives guests another reason to spend time at the resort.
I appreciate that we’ve reached a point in hospitality where a temporary bar can have its own annual comeback tour.
Same holiday, three different assignments
BetMGM’s approach is built around sustained digital engagement. SAHARA’s calendar provides incentives around specific visitation opportunities. Mohegan Sun is using an experience that can compete for a customer’s evening out. None of these strategies is inherently better than another. They serve different audiences and their effectiveness depends on what the operators intend to accomplish.
Take Mohegan Sun. Someone visiting the Spookeasy may have already planned to go out for Halloween. If the experience convinces them to spend that evening at the resort instead of somewhere else, that’s a potentially valuable outcome. The campaign doesn’t need to invent the occasion to benefit from it.
BetMGM faces a different question. A month-long promotion may encourage repeat engagement, but participation alone doesn’t establish whether customers played more frequently than they otherwise would have.
SAHARA’s promotions present another consideration. An offer might generate an additional visit, encourage a customer to visit on a different day, or reward someone who was already planning to come.
All reasonable objectives. All requiring different measurements.
Congratulations on the turnout
Seasonal campaigns are particularly good at generating activity that looks terrific in a recap presentation.
People show up, offers get redeemed, and someone gets to report that participation exceeded expectations. Wonderful news for everyone involved, particularly the person who fought for the larger pumpkin budget. But attendance and redemption figures don’t necessarily tell us whether a campaign changed customer behavior.
There’s a difference between attracting someone new, convincing an existing customer to visit more frequently, and giving a loyal customer something enjoyable during their usual visit.
The last one has value, too. Customer appreciation doesn’t need to masquerade as acquisition to justify its existence.
The useful evaluation comes from understanding which outcome occurred and what it cost. A seasonal promotion might generate incremental revenue, capture spending from competitors, strengthen an existing relationship, or accomplish several of those things at once.
Without campaign-specific performance data, we can’t determine which of these October efforts delivered the strongest return. We can, however, see three distinct approaches to using an occasion customers already recognize.
See you next October
By the time Halloween wraps up, marketing departments will already be preparing for Christmas. Somewhere, a perfectly capable adult is being asked to make a snowflake feel more premium. I hope they’re being compensated appropriately.
I love seasonal marketing and I appreciate the effort that goes into making the same holidays feel new every year. BetMGM, SAHARA, and Mohegan Sun have each found different ways to participate in October and I’m curious to see what those approaches accomplish beyond the immediate excitement.
There’s value in giving loyal customers something to enjoy, just as there’s value in attracting someone who wouldn’t have otherwise participated. Knowing which one happened makes next year’s decisions a lot more interesting.
As for the pumpkins, I hope they perform beautifully. They’ve been given an enormous amount of responsibility for a vegetable that can’t even stand up without assistance.
