Agency: Coyne PR (Parsippany, NJ)
Campaign: SkyJump Las Vegas launch
Duration: March - April 2010
Budget: $100,000
John Moran, VP of marketing at American Casino & Entertainment Properties, says the April 20 launch of Stratosphere Hotel & Casino's SkyJump attraction kicked off a $20 million remodel of the property. Coyne PR devised a national campaign to promote the launch of the thrill ride, which is a controlled free fall in which jumpers descend 900 feet.
“We wanted national exposure on the launch because [SkyJump] is the North American exclusive and the highest in the world,” Moran says.
Strategy:
John Gogarty, SVP at Coyne, explains it was a key strategy to get reporters to jump, so they could capture the height and intensity of SkyJump on video and in photos. Today got an exclusive first jump, and AP got the print exclusive. Stratosphere hosted a media event for local outlets on April 20.
Skyjumplasvegas.com, blogger relations, and social media outreach drove awareness online.
Tactics
The team targeted consumer, travel, and adventure media and bloggers, while using Twitter and Facebook to challenge audiences to try SkyJump, issue celebrity and media invites, and post photos and videos.
Today correspondent Jenna Wolfe taped a five-minute segment with her jump on April 15, which aired on April 20.
Local reporters jumped live on air at the April 20 event. Head-mounted cameras captured jumpers' reactions, while broadcast stations sent traffic helicopters to film jump footage, and platform and ground cameras also got shots.
Las Vegas mayor Oscar B. Goodman attended the launch and declared April 20 “SkyJump Day.”
Coyne and Stratosphere posted b-roll featuring celebrity jumpers, such as NASCAR's Kurt Busch, on YouTube.
Results
Moran considers the campaign “extremely successful.” He reports SkyJump is averaging 114 jumps per day, with 15,166 total jumpers by early October. Since its April 20 launch, the website has attracted 190,652 unique visitors and 823,409 page views.
The event earned more than 443 million impressions in outlets such as CNN and Fox and Friends, including more than 700 TV segments and 511 online stories.
Future:
Moran's in-house team is currently promoting the remodel, which is scheduled to wrap up in late December. He was very pleased with Coyne, and says he would hire the agency for another project.
