Jones Case

Las Vegas was first hit with a negative environmental variable with the September 11 attacks. Through this tragic event, nearly 15,000 jobs were lost in the Las Vegas tourism industry. Soon, Las Vegas responded with a change in strategy, the idea that Las Vegas was a place of luxury and indulgence and essentially an adult playground. Shortly after, the catchphrase was coined, "Only Vegas: What happens here, stays here". This strategy improved to be incredibly successful as Las Vegas experienced the greatest boom in growth in its history. However, yet another environmental factor proved to be deadly for the city. Las Vegas was hit hard with the economic recession that began to fully develop in 2008. With the recession, Las Vega suffered greatly. Compounding to the already falling economy, President Obama cited the Las Vegas mayor, Oscar Goodman, for being a location of luxury for Wall Street executives. While this is not conclusive to the downturn of the Las Vegas industry, it certainly did not help. In 2008 and 2009 visitation dropped dramatically, down to 36.4 million, compared to the 2007 peak of 39.1 million visitors. A new approach began to take form with the failing economy, in turn affecting the marketing mix variables. The two primary marketing mix variables that were greatly affected were price and promotion. To combat the recession, Las Vegas reduced prices drastically. Hotels were reduced in some areas for as little as $25 dollars a night and meals could be found at half of the usual price. With these price changes, came a change in promotion as well. Las Vegas began to change their well-known catch phrase to "Vegas Bound". Promotions were now aimed at advertising Las Vegas as a place for well-deserved escape, but an affordable one. However, this did not prove to be effective in the long run, consumers even with the price and promotional changes still did not see Las Vegas as anything less than an adult playground. In just a short five months, Las Vegas returned to its core catchphrase of "What happens here, stays here"