LVCVA Sin City Ad Campaign Celebrates Adult Freedom and ‘Only Vegas Moments’

Posted on: May 23, 2018, 01:55h. 

Last updated on: May 23, 2018, 01:59h.

Devin O'Connor @CasinoorgDevinO Read More

Expertise: Asia Pacific Gaming, Commercial Gaming, Legislation, Politics.

A new Las Vegas ad campaign released this week by the LVCVA — the city’s convention and visitors authority — attempts to highlight the unique persona that is Sin City, showcasing four unique and modern scenarios that are designed to grab a viewer’s attention.

You could call it “What Happens in Vegas 2.0,” as it moves to embracing — rather than hiding — what brings visitors to the Nevada gaming hub.

Come Be Yourself

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) unveiled four short online videos and  cut-down versions as TV spots, which began airing nationwide on the four major broadcast networks and select cable channels on Tuesday.

The “Only Vegas Moments” series features cultural storylines that seek to reinforce Las Vegas as a city where adults can seek their true — if sometimes hidden — selves, whatever that may be.

“When you’re free to be yourself, anything can happen,” the campaign expounds.

R&R Partners, LVCVA’s longtime ad agency that also created the “What Happens Here” campaign back in 2003, is producing the “Only Vegas Moments” series as well.

Identity Crisis

Since the October 1 mass shooting that killed 58 people on the Las Vegas Strip, the LVCVA has seemingly struggled to remarket itself.

Just hours after the deadly attack, all “What Happens Here” spots were pulled and the authority tasked with promoting Las Vegas went into crisis mode.

Along with R&R, the LVCVA settled on the hashtag #VegasStrong, and two lines of copy that read, “We’ve been there for you during the good times. Thank you for being there for us now.” Both resonated well, but getting back to business has proven more difficult for the convention and visitors authority.

In November, the LVCVA rolled out a television spot called “We Love Our Fans,” featuring montages of social media posts highlighting the resiliency of the Las Vegas community and its visitors. But the production quality was criticized as being amateur at best, bearing too close a resemblance to the Facebook automatically generated “Friendversary” and “year in review” videos clips.

The LVCVA next tried to go back in time, quite literally, with a time-travelling spot where 19th-century scientists successfully transport a man to present-day Vegas. The spot returned to the tried-and-true “What Happens Here” slogan.

“The essence of ‘What happens here, stays here’ is adult freedom and empowerment,” R&R Partners CEO Billy Vassiliadis told the Las Vegas Review-Journal this week of the new spots. “It always has been about adult freedom and that is expressed through choice, self-determination, defining one’s own experience …  and that’s been the campaign.”

Visitation Remains Down

Through March, visitor volume in Las Vegas remains down 1.6 percent, which translates to 169,000 people.

The year-to-date drop is largely due to a 7.5 percent decrease in convention attendance. The LVCVA reports that Strip occupancy is also down 1.1 percent through the first three months of 2018.

But despite fewer people staying overnight, gross gaming win on the Strip was up 3.3 percent in Q1 2018.

With sophisticated shots, sometimes amusing situations that we can all identify with, and the promise that has always been Las Vegas — to let your hair down, one way or another — the new campaign seems to have finally hit its mark. And not a moment too soon.