Completely redesigned brochures made the resort seem youthful and fresh. In other words, not cheesy.
It started out as their poorly attended "Saturday Night Steak Night." But after we renamed it "Strip Night," it was the must-attend meal of the week. (Complete with the must-take-home menu.)
Building buzz for strip night was fun.
You don't put just any steak sauce out on the tables at Strip Night. You use your saucy house brand: Black Lace Steak Sauce.
There's nothing playful, passionate or uninhibited about Coke and Pepsi. But our own brand? Now that's a different story.
Beds are for sleeping. But a Caesars Pocono Resorts Blush Bed? That's for more, ahem, vigorous pursuits.
Every experience, every space at the resort presented another opportunity for playful, passionate fun. After all, who wants to hang out at the "Pool Bar" when you can canoodle poolside at "Tan Lines?"
Even the "Do Not Disturb" tags for the suites were given a makeover. They quickly became every guest's favorite souvenir.
These mailers helped reinforce the idea that the resorts were a playground for couples. (What you played there was up to you.)
CAESARS POCONO RESORTS
The Pocono Mountains have long been known as "The Land of Love." Probably because it sounds more appealing than "The Land of Cheesy Heart Shaped Tubs and Giant Champagne Glass Jacuzzis."
That's what Caesars Pocono Resorts was up against when they started working with us. Home to honeymoons and romantic getaways for decades, these couples-only resorts had started to experience a significant decline in bookings. It was time to freshen up their properties -- and with them, their entire brand experience as well.
We started by defining the three critical tenets of the new Caesars Pocono Resorts brand: Playful, Passionate, and Uninhibited. With those words in mind, we set about reinventing every possible brand touchpoint.
First came the promotional mailers and emails. Gone was the soft-porn photography that had characterized them for years. In its place was youthful, fun, energetic imagery.
Then we looked at the on-property experiences. Dining theme nights were renamed and given back stories. Bars and lounges were redesigned. Every bit of signage -- including the "Do Not Disturb" door hangers -- was reinvented. Even employee titles were rethought. After all, why should a guest have to talk to an ordinary concierge when they could talk to the resort's CEO (Chief Excitement Officer)?
The end result was a turnaround that saw increased bookings and increased guest satisfaction. (In every sense of the word, no doubt.)
All kidding aside, working with Caesars (known today as Cove Haven Entertainment Resorts) was fast-paced, fun, and exhilerating -- a crash course in how to create a total brand experience.