This week while helping a friend plan a baby shower, we were discussing different venues for our Big Belly event. But when she mentioned Caylix Jazz Supper club here in Las Vegas, I quickly pointed out that they may not be around by the date for our party. It made me wonder how many other businesses won’t be around in 6 months if they continue on with business as usual. Caylix Jazz Supper Club is a gorgeous venue with killer ambience, décor and a great location. But their service is some of the worst I’ve experienced in Las Vegas, with over-price low-value-slow-to-arrive food, run by aloof and clueless management. While sad, but true, without immediate marketing 'adjustments' they won’t be open much longer.
A new economy has arrived people! And if your business is directly involved with any component of entertainment, special events or F&B service, now more than ever, you will need to change how you provide the business of entertainment. No longer will ho-hum event(s) or mediocre service be acceptable. Elements that are entertaining, wildly exciting and vastly different from anything consumers have done or seen before will set the bar – this is especially true for any type of soirée hosted here in Las Vegas – the mecca of ‘experience marketing’.
Case in point, why on earth in the middle of the fiercest battle ground for the consumer’s dollar and attention would Jay-Z’s 40/40 club Las Vegas give us coffee – plain, no cream, no sugar and definitely no added foam and sometimes not even hot. It broke my heart to see the posh VIP sports venue close their doors last month so soon after opening, when many of their marketing faux pas might have been easily avoided [the official statement is they sold--okay...]. Today businesses like 40/40 need brand managers who not only understand the nuances of the brand and hot marketing trends, but more importantly have their ear to the heart beat of the customer. [Shameless Self-promotion: if your club, restaurant or venue hasn’t hired a mystery shopper who can also provide you with feedback and marketing solutions, please stop reading and call me immediately so we can get you started -- geez]. Unfortunately, the 40/40 Club Las Vegas never gave us the swagger its namesake is known for – management never took us past a boring-ass happy hour with inexperienced, inattentive wait-staff to a world where grown-ups got to play hard (centered around sports). Celebrity name or endorsement alone isn’t enough – especially now that our hard-earned play money is harder to come by. Our down-turned economy will cause consumers to demand more than "corporate speak" over the chicken dinner and jazz trio!
And can I digress for just a moment? What marketer worth their weight in salt doesn’t at least collect basic demog info on party goers in order to stay in touch and market their product? Take the Ceren Vodka Launch several months ago, hosted by Cedric The Entertainer (whom I LOVE btw) at the doomed 40/40 hot spot. And while Cedric’s Grand Prix race car might have been on display in Denver, it wasn’t in Las Vegas! Not only was the event lack luster at best with absolutely nothing “special” about it (can we at least smell exhaust fumes?), we were never even asked our opinion about the vodka after we FINALLY got to taste it. A total waste of marketing dollars. I felt like if the 40/40 Club had NID (No Imagination Disease), Ceren Vodka also tested positive (it is known to be highly contagious). Pity, I guess the importer, Rio Blano Spirits didn’t feel collecting consumer information was important. In Las Vegas? Where the average audience yields regional, national as well as international consumers. I could go on; there are others. For example, the MB shoe store, in the Wynn Las Vegas who just this month hosted an in-store promotion for a we-are-all-so-very-over-it Sex And The City DVD release. But I won’t. But pahleeze, don’t make me come over there VY and hit you in the head with my creativity spoon!!
The trend is this. Consumers are opting out of traditional marketing channels like never before (i.e. spam filters, pop-up blockers, Sirius radio, TiVo, DNC registry). That means that a special event has the potential to be the perfect medium for making a memorable and lasting imprint on your target audience. But in order to truly connect with your customers in an almost cognitive way your event has to be knock-your-socks-off-when’s-the-next-shindig experience. Lackluster products or service won’t survive in the new economy. To survive the tough times ahead, businesses must wake up and figure out how to give customers entertainment vastly different from anything they’ve done before or they might as well hit the snooze button and sleep-in for the next 5 years. Meanwhile, I wonder if we can we take a bunch of pregnant women to the Blue Martini – talk about the exceptional standard? Question. Why in the hell doesn’t Hank Serrano (the GM) hold classes on ‘how to give excellent service’?
