Caesars seeks lasting impact in its quest to become the industry’s global wellness leader.
OBJECTIVE
As the operator of more than 50 gaming resorts and properties in Nevada, New Jersey and other markets around the United States, Caesars Entertainment is the largest casino-entertainment company in the nation. With a major focus on meetings, conferences and events as part of its diversified multibrand portfolio, Caesars Entertainment is also an industry leader in corporate social responsibility. The company is renowned for comprehensive, longstanding commitments to such issues as gender and racial equity in hiring, leadership and management; social and environmental impact; and responsible gaming.
Another CSR priority, the wellbeing of all employees, customers and communities in which Caesars operates, has inspired a bold new marketing campaign aimed at creating greater awareness of the critical importance of wellness throughout the meetings industry and society at large.
The idea is that by sharing our commitment to wellness, prospective meetings customers relate to our goals and ultimately want to partner with us on the programs and events they are planning.
Kelly Gleeson Smith, vice president of sales, Caesars Entertainment
“Planning meetings and organizing events are high-stress occupations, and most professionals find it challenging to make time for themselves given the work and travel demands,” says Kelly Gleeson Smith, vice president of sales for Caesars Entertainment. “More than just physical health, addressing true wellness solutions also encompasses mental, emotional, spiritual, social and environmental aspects.”
With the dual goal of communicating this message to the entire meetings industry, and positioning Caesars as the go-to thought leader for wellness, the company sought to create a highly innovative and interactive audience engagement plan.
STRATEGY
Launched in Turkey in 2012 by Turkish wellness pioneer Belgin Aksoy with the slogan “One day can change your whole life,” Global Wellness Day is a social project dedicated to living well that is celebrated internationally on the second Saturday of June each year. To make the most of this event, Caesars Entertainment, in partnership with California-based mobile-wellbeing platform Heka Health, organized the inaugural Caesars Entertainment Global Wellness Challenge.
The 2023 Challenge ran from midnight June 9 to midnight June 10, to coincide with Global Wellness Day. An app allowed participants to engage in various goal-driven wellness activities, to donate money to the Meeting Professionals International Foundation, and to win prizes. To get the word out ahead of time, Caesars mounted a 30-day informational and awareness-building campaign ahead of the Challenge itself.
“The game plan leading up to the challenge followed a multipronged digital- and print-content strategy with multichannel distribution,” explains Reina Herschdorfer, director of marketing for Caesars Entertainment. “These included social broadcasts of original video content featuring presentations by select wellness experts and Caesars Entertainment executives, wellness-driven social media posts, e-blasts to our customer database, and the placement of thought-leadership and earned-media pieces with leading industry publications.”
EXECUTION
Key elements of the 30-day-advance campaign included partnering with leading industry-content creators Sarah Soliman and Courtney Stanley to film three wellness-themed videos for broadcast on their new Caesars-sponsored, YouTube-based “No Agenda” platform in collaboration with Meetings Today.
“These videos engaged wellness experts selected by Caesars Entertainment, who promoted the Challenge and our efforts in the area of wellness, along with general wellness information and tips,” says Herschdorfer. “Featured voices included keynote speaker and workplace culture and mindfulness expert Pandit Dasa, who conducted a meditation session as part of his discussion; and Heather Rapp, our vice president of corporate social responsibility, who talked about the importance of wellness to corporations and what services to make available to teams.”
Other components of the program included “Wellness Wednesday,” a mini-campaign of wellness-related posts distributed on Caesars Entertainment’s social media channels each Wednesday throughout the month prior to the challenge. Utilizing both its own database and industry publications with a reach of more than 250,000 subscribers, including Northstar, Meetings Today, Smart Meetings, MPI and MPI’s New Jersey chapter, Caesars Entertainment sent a series of up to 10 e-blasts to meetings customers, discussing wellness and the challenge. Plus, an ad-retargeting campaign was created with the American Society of Association Executives.
Some 412 participants in the physical part of the challenge walked more than 2,887 miles, roughly the distance from Los Angeles to New York City.
The company also sponsored a monthly wellness column for MPI and trade publication Smart Meetings, developed thought leadership pieces with Skift, and engaged publications for both paid content and earned-media opportunities.
Open to anyone with a smartphone, the app-enabled 24-hour challenge offered wellness and other activities. These included walking, with step counts recorded by pairing with tracker apps including Google Fit, Fitbit, Garmin and Apple Watch. Bonus activities were available, such as the in-app chat module, which allowed participants to interact and share how they are living well, and a gratitude journal, where participants recorded three things they are grateful for or about positive events in their day. There was also an in-app yoga video session and in-app link to donate to the MPI Foundation.
All activities accrued points that fed into a Leaderboard with four prize categories. The top 10 winners were entered into a drawing for a hosted Wellness Stay at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Next-level awards, in order, were hosted getaways to Lake Tahoe and Atlantic City, as well as Caesars swag bags.
PERFORMANCE
Caesars Entertainment realized the key program goal of gaining exposure from the outset of the campaign.
“Our organization was highly visible for the four weeks leading up to the challenge across multiple channels, both paid and unpaid,” says Herschdorfer. “This visibility included social media, the sponsored and editorial content on various meetings and events industry platforms and publications, digital communication to the Caesars Entertainment Meetings and Events database, and distribution through meetings and events industry associations.”
Key measures included 25,800 impressions across Caesars Entertainment Meetings and Events’ LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram channels alone, with more impact via sharing on the channels of partners including the MPI Foundation, MPI New Jersey, ASAE and several industry publications. E-mail communications to Caesars Entertainment’s customers reached 73,200 meeting planners.
Some 412 participants in the physical part of the challenge walked more than 2,887 miles, roughly the distance from Los Angeles to New York City. Measured by environmental impact, their steps represented a CO2 emissions reduction of 1,866 pounds, which is equivalent to the charging of 102,971 smartphones and production of 10,223 16-ounce plastic water bottles.
Additionally, 1,077 participants engaged in the challenge’s in-app bonus activities, including the chat module and donating to the MPI Foundation.
According to Smith, Caesars Entertainment anticipates that this exciting campaign will translate into stronger partnerships and will position Caesars Entertainment as a global wellness leader for the meetings industry and beyond.
“The idea is that by sharing our commitment to wellness, prospective meetings customers relate to our goals and ultimately want to partner with us on the programs and events they are planning,” she says.
Of parallel importance, she continues, is seeing a greater interest and commitment to wellness throughout the industry with Caesars Entertainment at the helm. “We would like our company to become synonymous with health, self-care and wellness throughout the meetings and events industry. We are already planning for next year and will be adding more to the experience.”
