Dick Geary had a solid career creating billboards for casino resort properties in Las Vegas, after working in California with such clients such as Gallo Winery, Levi’s, and Leslie Salt.
Then came a chance meeting 52 years ago that changed Geary’s life, and the fortunes of his company.
One of Geary’s customers was the International Hotel (now the Las Vegas Hilton). When Colonel Tom Parker booked Elvis Presley into the International for the performer’s landmark comeback in 1969, he struck a relationship with Geary, and offered a deal:
Sell the outdoor company and open an advertising agency, and Presley would be the first client.
“The Colonel was very convincing,” says Geary CEO Jim McKusick, Geary’s stepson. “He was the kind of person it was hard to say no to.”
The Geary Company has since become one of the premier ad agencies in Vegas. In addition to creating ad campaigns for an auto dealership and legal services, Geary has worked with casinos and gaming operators across the United States.
And it all started with Presley and his manager Parker, which began work with stars including Ann-Margret, Tom Jones, and Tony Bennett, who all had the same question: Who’s doing Elvis’ campaigns?
“All of these classic Las Vegas veterans who were appearing in showrooms up and down the Strip, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., Frank Sinatra, all of them, they were all like who do we talk to get this kind of coverage in the city,” McKusick says. “They were told talk to Dick Geary at the Geary Company.”
McKusick began working at Geary when he was just a kid. One of his first tasks was coloring the black-and-white comps of billboard designs.
“I don’t know if any of them got used, but that’s how it all started,” McKusick says.
John Dalrymple COO Geary Company
Dick Geary fell ill after McKusick got out of college. At the time he was working part-time, but never intended to stay in the family business. Instead, McKusick fell in love with the business. When his stepfather passed away in 1990 at the age of 55, McKusick, who had been working at Geary for nine years, took over the business with his younger brother, Mike Geary. Mike Geary died in 2009, and McKusick enlisted his friend and neighbor, John Dalrymple, to come on board as chief operating officer.
Working for gaming operators may not seem to have the same appeal as creating star-driven campaigns, but McKusick and Dalrymple embrace the challenge of helping casinos succeed. They first assess an operator’s strengths and weaknesses. For new operators, that often means helping to establish a brand. For more established casinos, Geary can assist in reinforcing a company’s strong points to determine what areas need to be improved.
Those factors came into play when Geary worked with two gaming operators in Western Pennsylvania. When the Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh opened in 2009, McKusick’s team named all the venues and handled the pre-opening promotions that feature Rare Earth’s cover of Smokey Robinson’s song, Get Ready.
McKusick says that opening campaign helped the Rivers exceed its opening night projection of 8 million coin-in by 4 million. But casinos often generate a buzz when they open. It can be harder to go into an established property and figure out what’s wrong, or in some cases, what’s going right.
“Sometimes properties lose their way,” McKusick says. “They get the blinders on and don’t realize the great things about their property. We go independently, stay there a little bit, and ask customers about places, what they love about it,”
That’s what happened at the Meadows Casino just outside of Washington, Pennsylvania, about a half-hour from Downtown Pittsburgh. When McKusick and his team queried Meadows patrons, they learned that one of the casino’s strengths wasn’t being promoted.
“We found that all the people there, they said the thing they loved about the place, that it may not be as shiny and pretty as the Rivers, that it may not have as many options, but the people here really know me and treat me well,” McKusick says. “A campaign came out of that because the players and employees really related to each other, and its impact was really relevant.”
“There are so many great people in the casino/gaming industry,” Dalrymple says. “They’re smart, talented and driven. Most carry heavy and multiple responsibilities. It’s a privilege to help them drive results–and in that process–take a little weight off of their shoulders.”
