Marketers, brush up your resumes
Lawrence Ho, head of international gaming operator Melco Crown International, says effective marketing could have made a difference in the sluggish early performance of Studio City, the firm’s new resort on Macau’s Cotai Strip. The Hollywood-themed property opened last October.
“We have these great non-gaming attractions but we also have a casino and some great restaurants,” Ho told Barron’s Asia. “We just need to do a better job at marketing ourselves and bundling offers—it’s not rocket science.”
Studio City distinguished itself in Macau on several fronts: it was among the first in the city to focus on the mass market by opening without a VIP room. And it also hewed to the Mainland Chinese government’s call for more mainstream attractions, with its Golden Reel Ferris wheel, Batman Dark Flight virtual-reality amusement ride, and 40,000-square-foot children’s playground, called the Warner Brothers Fun Zone.
Despite those attractions, according to the Macau Daily Times, Studio City did not fare as well as analysts predicted, and posted revenues of just US$195 million in the first quarter, well below market expectations.
“We had a lot of brand awareness and buzz at our launch, but somehow our marketing team hasn’t really translated that,” said Ho. Despite the slow start, he said Melco will “keep delivering our products and services better” and strengthen the property’s emphasis on entertainment and other non-gaming elements.
But only 30 percent of analysts polled by Barron’s Asia rated Melco as a “Buy,” compared to an average 51 percent for Melco’s rivals in the jurisdiction, excluding SJM Holdings.
