7.11.07Your hometown casino? MotorCity emphasizes local connections in marketing
By Brent Snavely
MotorCity Casino officials and Ilitch family members want to position MotorCity as Detroit's “hometown casino,” with $275 million in expanded gambling and new hotel construction that more closely embraces the city's heritage than its two Detroit competitors.
Whether the strategy pays off, and catapults MotorCity to the city's highest-grossing casino over market leader MGM Grand Detroit Casino L.L.C., will become evident as the casinos report their monthly sales figures to the Michigan Gaming Control Board.
For April MGM Grand reported casino revenue of $41 million, MotorCity reported $39.3 million and Greektown Casino L.L.C. reported $30.1 million.
MotorCity's decision to go after the hometown casino image is smart, said Tim Smith, president of Royal Oak-based marketing and branding firm Skidmore Inc. The challenge will be for MotorCity to back up its claims to customers after they walk in the door.
Smith, who had not yet visited the new gambling addition of MotorCity that opened last week, predicts that the marketing message of each of Detroit's new or expanded casinos will be far more distinctive than in the past.
“I'm not a big gambler, but I've walked through all three ... and once you are inside, one could very easily be confused with the other,” Smith said.
MotorCity Casino opened its 60,000-square-foot expansion Thursday. Huntington Beach, Calif.-based auto designer Chip Foose served as design consultant and helped to inject elements from Detroit's automotive and musical past.
Marian Ilitch, co-founder of Little Caesars and vice chairwoman of Ilitch Holdings Inc., purchased MotorCity in April 2005. Detroit-based Ilitch Holdings includes the Detroit Red Wings, Detroit Tigers, Olympia Entertainment, Fox Theatre and the management of Joe Louis Arena and Cobo Arena.
During a VIP grand opening Tuesday, her son Chris Ilitch, president and CEO of Ilitch Holdings Inc., said he is proud that the casino project boosts his family's investment in Detroit since the early 1980s to more than $660 million.
Those comments, along with MotorCity's new design and marketing elements, are part of coordinated effort to link MotorCity Casino to Detroit's automotive and entertainment culture and to brand it as Detroit's “hometown casino.”
“That's kind of a straw man argument,” said Bob Berg, partner with Detroit-based public-relations firm Berg Muirhead & Associates, which represents MGM Grand.
“For one, all of the MGM employees are from here. And over half the employees are residents of Detroit.”
While MGM is owned by Las Vegas-based MGM Mirage, Berg said its $765 million investment for its permanent location at the Lodge Freeway and Michigan Avenue dwarfs MotorCity's investment.
“MGM is the only one that has kept their original commitment to build a brand-new facility,” Berg said.
Greektown Casino, meanwhile, says it provides the greatest support to downtown Detroit.
“If you look at where the three casinos are located, only one is integrated in the downtown business district of Detroit,” said Roger Martin, a principal in Lansing-based Martin Waymire Advocacy Communications.
The Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians owns more than 90 percent of Greektown; several Detroit investors, including former deputy Detroit Fire Commissioner Marvin Beatty, own the remainder.
“In terms of any of the casinos that have really embraced and supported the downtown business community, I think that Greektown is clearly the one that has done that,” Martin said. “From day one ... Greektown has been 100 percent owned by Detroit and Michigan people.”
But MotorCity boasts that where ownership resides is important. “Marian Ilitch and her family have been reinvesting in the city of Detroit since 1959,” said Gregg Solomon, CEO of MotorCity. “The thing we are very, very proud of is the money we make here has continually gone back to the city of Detroit. We are not sending checks back to Las Vegas or to an Indian tribe. ... It stays here in Detroit.”
Solomon said MotorCity has worked with renowned New York City-based Landor Associates since the 1990s as its branding consultant. Landor's goal is to ensure that all MotorCity's plans fit together into a single image.
Located at 2901 Grand River Ave., MotorCity casino is on the site of the former Wonder Bread bakery, built in 1915 by the Wagner Baking Co. A portion of it was restored to original condition.
“When it was time for us to proceed with our permanent facility we decided — rather than do what most casinos in Vegas would do, which is take dynamite and blow it up — we decided to restore part of the building,” Solomon said.
Inside, Solomon said Foose drew inspiration from concept cars designed in the 1940s and 1950s to create a “future retro” look for the casino.
A sweeping neon light that can change colors spans the center of the ceiling and is reminiscent of the giant tail fins and headlights of the cars of the time.
Elsewhere, the casino's wallpaper is made from the distorted image of a front grill of a car from the 1950s and the VIP valet area is lit by lights that are replicas of car lights from the era.
Other MotorCity Casino design elements play heavily on Detroit's musical and sports heritage.
The space that opened Thursday includes a broadcast studio. Still under construction are a recording studio, a theater and a sports bar.
“We have always fully embraced the thought that we are here operating in Detroit,” Solomon said. “We are not trying to be a Las Vegas casino in any way.”
And by designing MotorCity Casino to reflect the city's automotive, music and sports heritage, Solomon said the casino and its hotel can design vacation packages that include more than just gambling.
MotorCity believes it will be able to draw visitors from a 250-mile radius once its hotel opens in September. Until now, most of MotorCity's customers have come from a 50-mile radius.
“We will be building packages that will ask people to come see a Red Wings game, go to the Fox Theatre, go to the museums, the local restaurants,” Solomon said. “The addition of the hotel product will change face of hospitality in Detroit.”
Brent Snavely: (313) 446-0405, bsnavely@crain.com
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By Brent Snavely
MotorCity Casino officials and Ilitch family members want to position MotorCity as Detroit's “hometown casino,” with $275 million in expanded gambling and new hotel construction that more closely embraces the city's heritage than its two Detroit competitors.
Whether the strategy pays off, and catapults MotorCity to the city's highest-grossing casino over market leader MGM Grand Detroit Casino L.L.C., will become evident as the casinos report their monthly sales figures to the Michigan Gaming Control Board.
For April MGM Grand reported casino revenue of $41 million, MotorCity reported $39.3 million and Greektown Casino L.L.C. reported $30.1 million.
MotorCity's decision to go after the hometown casino image is smart, said Tim Smith, president of Royal Oak-based marketing and branding firm Skidmore Inc. The challenge will be for MotorCity to back up its claims to customers after they walk in the door.
Smith, who had not yet visited the new gambling addition of MotorCity that opened last week, predicts that the marketing message of each of Detroit's new or expanded casinos will be far more distinctive than in the past.
“I'm not a big gambler, but I've walked through all three ... and once you are inside, one could very easily be confused with the other,” Smith said.
MotorCity Casino opened its 60,000-square-foot expansion Thursday. Huntington Beach, Calif.-based auto designer Chip Foose served as design consultant and helped to inject elements from Detroit's automotive and musical past.
Marian Ilitch, co-founder of Little Caesars and vice chairwoman of Ilitch Holdings Inc., purchased MotorCity in April 2005. Detroit-based Ilitch Holdings includes the Detroit Red Wings, Detroit Tigers, Olympia Entertainment, Fox Theatre and the management of Joe Louis Arena and Cobo Arena.
During a VIP grand opening Tuesday, her son Chris Ilitch, president and CEO of Ilitch Holdings Inc., said he is proud that the casino project boosts his family's investment in Detroit since the early 1980s to more than $660 million.
Those comments, along with MotorCity's new design and marketing elements, are part of coordinated effort to link MotorCity Casino to Detroit's automotive and entertainment culture and to brand it as Detroit's “hometown casino.”
“That's kind of a straw man argument,” said Bob Berg, partner with Detroit-based public-relations firm Berg Muirhead & Associates, which represents MGM Grand.
“For one, all of the MGM employees are from here. And over half the employees are residents of Detroit.”
While MGM is owned by Las Vegas-based MGM Mirage, Berg said its $765 million investment for its permanent location at the Lodge Freeway and Michigan Avenue dwarfs MotorCity's investment.
“MGM is the only one that has kept their original commitment to build a brand-new facility,” Berg said.
Greektown Casino, meanwhile, says it provides the greatest support to downtown Detroit.
“If you look at where the three casinos are located, only one is integrated in the downtown business district of Detroit,” said Roger Martin, a principal in Lansing-based Martin Waymire Advocacy Communications.
The Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians owns more than 90 percent of Greektown; several Detroit investors, including former deputy Detroit Fire Commissioner Marvin Beatty, own the remainder.
“In terms of any of the casinos that have really embraced and supported the downtown business community, I think that Greektown is clearly the one that has done that,” Martin said. “From day one ... Greektown has been 100 percent owned by Detroit and Michigan people.”
But MotorCity boasts that where ownership resides is important. “Marian Ilitch and her family have been reinvesting in the city of Detroit since 1959,” said Gregg Solomon, CEO of MotorCity. “The thing we are very, very proud of is the money we make here has continually gone back to the city of Detroit. We are not sending checks back to Las Vegas or to an Indian tribe. ... It stays here in Detroit.”
Solomon said MotorCity has worked with renowned New York City-based Landor Associates since the 1990s as its branding consultant. Landor's goal is to ensure that all MotorCity's plans fit together into a single image.
Located at 2901 Grand River Ave., MotorCity casino is on the site of the former Wonder Bread bakery, built in 1915 by the Wagner Baking Co. A portion of it was restored to original condition.
“When it was time for us to proceed with our permanent facility we decided — rather than do what most casinos in Vegas would do, which is take dynamite and blow it up — we decided to restore part of the building,” Solomon said.
Inside, Solomon said Foose drew inspiration from concept cars designed in the 1940s and 1950s to create a “future retro” look for the casino.
A sweeping neon light that can change colors spans the center of the ceiling and is reminiscent of the giant tail fins and headlights of the cars of the time.
Elsewhere, the casino's wallpaper is made from the distorted image of a front grill of a car from the 1950s and the VIP valet area is lit by lights that are replicas of car lights from the era.
Other MotorCity Casino design elements play heavily on Detroit's musical and sports heritage.
The space that opened Thursday includes a broadcast studio. Still under construction are a recording studio, a theater and a sports bar.
“We have always fully embraced the thought that we are here operating in Detroit,” Solomon said. “We are not trying to be a Las Vegas casino in any way.”
And by designing MotorCity Casino to reflect the city's automotive, music and sports heritage, Solomon said the casino and its hotel can design vacation packages that include more than just gambling.
MotorCity believes it will be able to draw visitors from a 250-mile radius once its hotel opens in September. Until now, most of MotorCity's customers have come from a 50-mile radius.
“We will be building packages that will ask people to come see a Red Wings game, go to the Fox Theatre, go to the museums, the local restaurants,” Solomon said. “The addition of the hotel product will change face of hospitality in Detroit.”
Brent Snavely: (313) 446-0405, bsnavely@crain.com
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