Rank as “The Best Club in Town”
Why Rank needs NEW brand positioning strategy? To grow.
Because it’s simple. Also because it’s your brand’s face.
Rank is the biggest. That’s an authentic fact. That’s why it can position itself as “Gold Standard” by default. Authenticity is big part of a strong brand. And as i said — biggest is very close to the best. Or worse. So big, slow and vague, that you can’t be bothered to find out where it begins and or ends.
In many large organizations, the challenge is often diagnosed as internal. That is, the organization’s competitive problems may be much lighter than the obstacles imposed by it’s own outdated routines, bureaucracy, pools of entrenched interests, lack of cooperation across units, and plain-old bad management. Richard Rumelt “Good strategy, bad strategy”
“To be the UK’s leading multichannel gaming operator, creating value for our shareholders, having strong brands…” Sounds like phrases written to fill brochures no one reads.
I wonder how many of your average employees could recall that, let alone customers asked “How do you think, what is Ranks ambition?” Multi means to much to absorb and engage with. Too many pointless paper forms to fill. Too much stuff for the sake of doing. Too complex. Try to read ‘Our strategy’ part. Or 200 words each description of company values — Service and Teamwork, which i think, are not values but description and nature of your business. Just like rubbish truck at 5.30 am on your street is in service business based on teamwork.
Brand, which wants to lead the industry, seems lost in fluff communicating galaxies instead of one common goal. Get down. Get local.
That’s why “Best Club in Town” brand positioning strategy is clear as a summer day
Employees want to work in the best club in town. Shareholders want to trade the company with network of the best clubs in town. Customers want to play in the best club in town.
So how to execute it?
By exploiting physical location as much as possible.
The best means many things for many people. The usual mambo jumbo gambling material and f&b promotions do not work if customer base is shrinking and visit numbers fall. If high rollers cause you problems, then go and find many more other consumer segments. Look for non-consumers. You want to own as many categories as you can being perceived as ‘the best’. And then to come with the most relevant message creating most value.
The message must be short. If consumer remembers just one best thing about your brand and makes him spread that further — that’s all you want
A venue leads the differentiation in the market. Not bought advertising within digital noise. That’s where the chance is to get loads of free exposure as “Best Club in Town”:
0. Have one bottle of the oldest/rarest/most expensive whiskey in every casino. You might be known “Best whiskey in town”.
- Have 20 bottles of best designed gin bottles in the bar and maybe you will be the place with biggest selection outside London. Be a must visit place for a gin lovers on a travel blog.
- Or be a French casino. French lifestyle is well known brand in the UK and one to align with. Be the only place in town to serve snails. Be the place with 36 bottles rose wines to chose from with snails. No more calling “Call bets”. French bets only.
- Invest more and hire two Michellin star chefs for a year to work for a week in every casino, announcing that “for a week Grosvenor casino will be Michellin stars restaurant in town”. That’s exclusive by any means in many towns. How much exposure that will create on social media from overbooked evenings on FB?
Create a Superteams. Call them superheroes. Dress them as superheroes! Create the best team of dealers and bartenders and get them tour nationwide. Elevate “Best Club in Town” to stratosphere. Let them overtake a casino for a weekend and show the best casino experience possible. Show customers the class and local employees example of dealing with the best brand in town.
Look to serve niche segments. Be somebody’s “Open before McDonalds opens up” place, or “Kebab after nigh out” place. Or chicken place — winner winner chicken dinner.
Make well designed, #Instagram inspired tea/coffee mugs! Let people steal them. Invent conspiracy theory about students stealing them as a souvenirs and you will have your brand in their shared homes.
Use every asset
- Finally start using radio to position the brand. Create an audio logo. Many employees and customers agree on how bad chosen and sometimes simply annoying and irritating background music is my casino at least. Make 24/7 radio stream. You can subtle promote offers depending of day of the week and time of the day. Tell jokes, bits from stand-up comedies, tell casino folklore related stories around the world. Just fill the place with ambiance and laughter. People are very willing to consume “Casino magic” related stories from dealers during live games, so why not to give them more of that?
- Employees badges? Why not use chosen nicknames like Picasso, Mr. Lucky, Agent 008 or Robot? Give a new story line for the customer and his/her crew! Because they already know it’s not his/her real name. Just like anywhere else.
- Have card magicians to tour your casinos on weekends. Stream the best of them on social media. Make their day!
Designate member of staff to make photos of customers and their loved ones using instant Polaroid camera and give pictures away to stay in their wallets. How often people experience that?
Still no photos? Really?!
Out of 1.35 million Grosvenor customers only 1 or 2 engage with brand’s posts on social media? Are you happy with that? You are basically posting for yourselves.
Make a state of art installation as background for Instagram picture. Not boring black walls with your logo. Put your hashtag #bestclubintown and let customers making free ads to their friends.
Install one card game table for customers to make silly jokes out of themselves by trying to spread cards, cut down chips, count 1.5 Blackjack of 777 or 888. Give them a branded toy if they are fast enough.
Fill reception area with toy unicorns. Use them for guests selfies. All photos and videos will go on social media.
Give chocolate chips with wrap depicting £1000 value with every cash out. There would be many happy people just to hold this chip even in chocolate form. Also to make photo and show to friends.
Use every opportunity to give something branded to give away. And i did not mean pens.
For as little as £1000 you can have 10 men marching band playing your new anthem/audio logo. Possibly every Thursday/Friday at 22h crossing through the town to casino with branded flags announcing beginning of the weekend. You would wave yourself into perception of a brand - flagman ship of the nightlife in town. And how much of an exposure on social media it would every march would generate?
All in:
Be bold. Do new things. That’s what leaders do. Be elephant in the room everyone’s taking about. Be elephant in the industry everyone’s watching and be “The Best Club in Town”
Look for creative ways to claim “Gold Standard” at any possible moment. Show and tell that to clients and staff
Once you claimed it, leave as much as you can digital footprint created, shared and engaged by customers for freee
P.S. I got sacked for this story. Have been doing sausage rolls in the bakery lately. But betchapp rhymes with Cali ketchapp in 2020
