Campaign Imminent Update: Las Vegas Convention retains AOR
Update: The Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority (LVCVA) reportedly concluded a review by retaining R&R Partners as its advertising and marketing AOR. R&R picked up the account decades ago and will share part of it with the LVCVA's social brand agency, Grey Group. Select Resources International led the bid process, and the contract is expected to be five years with potential extensions.
This confirms that R&R will continue working with the LVCVA after the organization selected Intersection Media to assist its underground transportation system's marketing efforts.
Right now, the LVCVA is targeting millennial men with increasing TV and digital spend, along with print, OOH and local broadcast.
Agency & martech readers - The organization's work seems all tied up now; seek more immediate opportunities elsewhere.
The article below was originally published on June 14:
The Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority (LVCVA) is supporting the Las Vegas Monorail and Boring Co.'s underground transportation system with a new $3m contract. As of now, Intersection Media will assist these efforts' advertising and marketing. Due to this 5-year partnership, this agency must generate at least $1m in revenue for the LVCVA, beginning in 2023. From then on, the revenue guarantee will grow 3% each year. If Intersection doesn't meet this guarantee, the LVCVA can end the deal. Intersection has reportedly made impressive work in the past with other transportation-related groups such as the Chicago Transit Authority, the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority and United Airlines.
I assume this shift replaces R&R Partners, which had picked up the LVCVA's media and creative remits in 1980; of course, I will update you if and when we confirm this.
The monorail, an almost 4-mile, elevated electric system, ranges from near the Sahara to the MGM Grand. Seven of its stations are at various resorts and the convention center. The LVCVA bought it out of bankruptcy in December 2020 for $24.3m; this deal eliminated a non-compete contract, allowing Boring to eventually bore the Vegas Loop.
Boring's Conventer Center Loop is an 0.8-mile, dual tunnel system; it shuttles convention visitors between three stations, which are all close to various convention halls.
According to iSpot, the LVCVA's national TV spend of 2021 picked up steam in May; since the beginning of 2021, the organization has spent approximately $4.5m on this channel, less than half of the approximately $10.7m it spent within the same 2020 timeframe. The organization ended up spending approximately $15m on this channel last year, up 14% from the approximately $13.2m it spent in 2019. The LVCVA's 2021 commercials have targeted an audience skewed toward male sports enthusiasts through targeted shows such as then 2021 NFL Draft, Jimmy Kimmel Live, Good Morning America and NBA Basketball.
Pathmatics reports that the organization has allocated roughly $1.4m toward digital ads YTD, up 40% from the roughly $1m it had spent by this point last year. The LVCVA's estimated full-year spend dropped by 15% in 2020 to $3.3m compared to that of $3.9m in 2019. So far this year, the organization has earned around 85.5m digital impressions thanks to investments in digital display (63%), desktop video (18%), mobile display (9%), Instagram (7%) and Facebook (2%) ads. 99% of this year's desktop display ads have been placed site direct, primarily onto expedia.com (85%) and travelocity.com (8%). Most (48%) of this year's desktop video ads have been YouTube videos.
The LVCVA primarily targets millennial men, and I expect its digital spend to continue climbing upward as it begins advertising the monorail more, especially now that 100% of its venues have reopened post-pandemic. The monorail will likely be rather popular since it will allow visitors access to more attractions. Per Kantar data, the LVCVA also utilizes print, OOH and local broadcast.
Agency & martech readers - This move likely concludes the search that the organization began in February; since reviews so often follow one another, get in touch soon to see if media, PR and/or digital analytics partnerships are possible. R&R Partners may have retained the LVCVA's media business, but if not, that's probably up for grabs.
