The Rio is testing an opt-in mobile marketing campaign that sends customers text message alerts for real-time promotions to their cell phone during their stay at the hotel-casino. Here is how it works: Visitors to the Rio text message the word "Rio" to a phone number posted throughout the property. The customer will then receive no more than 12 text messages during the next four days, the average length of a visitor's stay. The customer also can send "stop" to the same number to halt the flow of messages. The messages alert the customer to special deals, usually drink, food or show tickets at a discount.
Nearly 3,100 customers have signed up for the program since it was launched in December. Harrah's Entertainment is testing similar programs with different technology companies in different jurisdictions in which the casino owner operates. The Rio platform is run by interactive marketing firm Acxiom Corp. and Acuity Mobile, a mobile-marketing company based in Washington, D.C.
Others are using similar technology. The Las Vegas Review-Journal offers a service available on its Web site that offers casino discounts, specials at local bars and pubs, and sports promotions. Studio 54 at MGM Grand and the N9NE Group, which runs the Palms nightclubs, have been using mobile marketing in the competitive Las Vegas club scene.
This indicates a changing scene from the regular push messages which are deleted and considered intrusive. The do-not-call registry is filled by members who are irritated by these messages and donot want to be distrubed. Rio seems to opt for a solution benefiting both the consumer and the marketer behind the message. Permission marketing and promotion go hand in hand but here they are controlled by the consumer, who is relavant and willing.
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