& C A S I N OA R I A   R E S O R T

Storytelling Technique

Challange:

Everything in Las Vegas is competing for attention. Standing out can bedifficult, especially for a new casino.

The Aria Resort & Casino opened in 2009 and Derek Schoen, Director ofInteractive Marketing, helped kick off the first marketing campaign.

The campaign "The Center of Vegas. Shifted." emphasized that the Aria wasnew and that people should visit.

"We noticed that the campaign created a question in the minds of guests:'why?'" Schoen said.

Many marketers would start wringing their hands at this point, but the Aria'steam saw an opportunity.

Campaign:

The Aria's team answered with a technique Schoen called "storytelling." Insteadof saying that people should come to the Aria, the team showed why theyshould come and hoped the reasons were interesting enough to share.

Step #1. Find something unique

The marketing team listed more than a dozen parts of the Aria that helpedmake it unique. The list included:barMASA — A top quality Japanese restaurant.

Gold Lounge — A lounge devoted to Elvis Presley (the theme has sincechanged).

Blossom — A Chinese restaurant with quiet, intimate booths.

Campaign:Step #2. Describe why it is unique

The team went a level deeper, listing why these parts of the Aria were unique. For example,the team identified the following four details that made barMASA stand out:Chef — Head Chef Masa Takayama owns the first-ever Japanese restaurant in the U.S. toreceive a three-star Michelin rating.

"If you were to eat at his restaurant in New York, you'd be on a two-month waiting list,"Schoen said.

Super fresh — "Our fish is not out of the water more than 24 hours before it is on your plate."

Cocktails — High-end Japanese liquors, as well as whiskeys, scotches and sakes are sold.They are offered in minimalist settings that emphasize the spirits "as they are," Schoen said.

Plating — The restaurant follows a Japanese custom of plating and serves patrons "what canonly be described as works of art."

Campaign:Step #3. Create imagery (images and video)

The team felt that these details, or "mini stories," would make great content for theiraudiences on Facebook and Twitter.

Wanting to "show" instead of merely "tell," the marketing team grabbed a digital camera fromthe office and shot what Schoen called "cool, fun, quick photos."

The photos were illustrations for the mini stories. They included photos of: Several types of fresh sushi

Slot machines with monitors that resembled curved 40-inch televisions (the only ones inVegas)

Private, quiet booths at Blossom, a Chinese restaurant at the resort

The team even made several video clips of: Lumina — "The only fountain in the world lit by colors that you can even see in directsunlight."

Campaign:Step #4. Share the story

The Aria's team began sharing the mini stories with their audiences on Facebook (678,000followers at the time of this writing) and Twitter (134,000 followers).

The team's initial campaign stated "The Center of Vegas has Shifted." Now, each mini storyhad a new twist on the tagline, such as:

barMASA — "#TheCenter of Cuisine. Shifted"

Blossom — "#TheCenter of Intimacy has Shifted"

Crystals at CityCenter — "#TheCenter of Fascination has Shifted"

The team included these taglines in the updates, and also included the initial campaign'shashtag, #TheCenter.

Results:

The Aria's team expected the images, videos and mini stories would attract interest from theiraudience and spark sharing.

"Our share rate on this content was four times higher than our average … The most-sharedcontent we ever created was around 'The Center' campaign," Schoen said.

Posts created for the campaign increased several metrics above the Aria's average:

310% increase in share rate on posts with "#TheCenter"

200% increase in interaction rate

320% increase in impressions