When is casino signage about more than just signs?
When it’s part of a comprehensive messaging solution that changes dynamically in response to operator demands.
This approach, when done correctly, considers everything from time of day to clientele, building specific messages around specific trends in visitation and delivering marketing messages that inspire customers to act.
Few casino signage solutions are as dynamic as those offered by JCM Global.
The company is spreading the word about some of its latest and greatest offerings at this week’s Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas. These success stories span the gamut from standalone digital signs in individual casinos to entire banks of screens across a series of properties that deliver custom messages simultaneously upon request.
“Our goal [with digital signage] is to create unique environments for operators that bring people in, give them a place to feel comfortable and relaxed, and make them want to stay and enjoy their experience,” says Dave Kubajak, JCM’s senior vice president of sales, marketing and operations. “If we can help operators communicate things (that) customers need to know, and other messages that bring value, everybody wins.”
In recent years, JCM has put particular emphasis on architectural solutions: three-dimensional designs and solutions that incorporate curves, circles, and cubes.
Kubajak said his company can build these designs on the gaming floor or on a wall, or suspend them from the ceiling.
“The designs are unique to get customers’ attention and awareness,” he said. “Most of what we do is custom-designed to fit an environment and space and conceived with the intention of drawing someone’s attention to it.”
JCM touted two of its most recent implementations as examples of the benefits of custom design. One solution, at Prairie’s Edge Casino Resort in Granite Falls, Minnesota, is a 15-foot by 8-foot LED wall of screens for sports fans to watch their favorite teams. JCM has installed two iterations of a similar screen at Clearwater River Casino & Lodge in Lewiston, Idaho.
The vendor also has drawn plaudits for its innovative solutions at the new Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Sacramento at Fire Mountain in Wheatland, California.
There, the digital signage deployment hangs in the hotel lobby, and the operator programs it to communicate a variety of branding messages to customers about where to find different hotel amenities.
Generally speaking, Kubajak said the Hard Rock implementation is closest to how he envisions the future of digital signage—a solution operators can use to push value-oriented messaging to customers on demand. This approach is most powerful when operators invest in multiple signs to extend and amplify the same messages throughout the entire casino, or at least a section of the gaming floor.
“Being able to change the message on the fly is huge,” said Kubajak. “Whether you just want customers to head toward the buffet or you’re a Native-American operator who wants to inform customers about cultural traditions or artifacts, digital signs are a great way to get your points across.”
