New Success Story: Talking Stick Resort
CYPRESS BAYOU
Cypress Bayou Resort & Casino
Located in the heart of Cajun Country, Cypress Bayou Casino Hotel is a Chitimacha Tribe of Louisiana enterprise and the region’s premier casino destination.
"The only control we had was that we could delete a specific song or genre. There was no scheduling or variety, and I started to hear about it, not just from our customers, but our dealers and servers, as well. They just couldn’t stand the repetitiveness."
THE CHALLENGE
Customer Complaints
Cypress Bayou Casino Hotel has a loyal and passionate customer base, so when they started to complain about the music selection being played across the casino floor, Richard Picard, the property’s Director of Public Relations & Advertising, knew something had to be done.
“We were using Pandora Business, which meant we would just punch in a few different genres like pop, country, 90s hits, and let it go,” said Picard, who has been with the casino for eight years. “The only control we had over it was that we could delete a specific song or genre. There was no scheduling or variety, and I started to hear about it, not just from our customers, but our dealers and servers, as well. They just couldn’t stand the repetitiveness.”
And as far as messaging was concerned, Picard knew the property was missing the mark. “The only messaging we had was when I would write a script for a big drawing or giveaway and then someone from my department would make an announcement here and there, and that’s just not effective,” he said. “I would be out on the floor and would see people coming through the door that I knew would be interested in a certain promotion, but once they walked by the signage and sat down at a slot machine or a table, there was no way to reach them and provide details.”
“One thing I noticed was that when we set up speakers in the promotional area and people came over for the big drawing, we would play some up-tempo music and when the winner was drawn and they came up to receive their prize, everybody was dancing and clapping and having a good time. That’s when I thought, ‘We need to create this kind of atmosphere across the entire casino floor.’ But I knew we couldn’t really do that with something like Pandora.”
“It helped create an upbeat and fun program that keeps guest engaged and having fun. The promos have provided a vital piece for Cypress Bayou to create an ROI on their program."
THE SOLUTION
Match the Music to the Demographic
Picard was introduced to New Level Radio and Vice President/Co-Founder Nathan Green
at the Casino Marketing & Technology Conference in Las Vegas in 2019. As soon as he heard all about New Level Radio’s services and experience in helping casino properties just like Cypress Bayou, he knew it was just what the doctor ordered.
“We provided information about our promotional schedule to Nathan and his team. They did a database analysis of what demographic of people were coming into the casino and on what day. They were immediately able to create playlists and messaging that matched the specific demographic.
“For instance, if we had an older clientele during the day and a younger demographic taking over at night, the music would match the preference of those guests. And if we had a specific entertainment act playing at the casino that night, the day and early evening would be filled with that genre of music, because we knew those people with that certain taste of music would be coming in all day and into the evening hours.”
“As we entered Mardi Gras season, they started to put a lot of local music into the rotation with artists like Wayne Toups, who, ironically also sings our jingle. That kind of stuff resonates because it’s local and people are passionate about it. Again, it goes back to creating a festive atmosphere.”
Nathan Green said that his team was able to quickly “curate music lists that spoke to the unique specificity of the Cypress Bayou customer.”
“It helped create an upbeat and fun program that keeps guest engaged and having fun. The promos have provided a vital piece for Cypress Bayou to create an ROI on their program," he added.
“Being able to write a script and then have it professionally produced and deployed on the casino floor on specific dates and time frames makes my job a lot easier,” Picard said. “One of the things I'm most pleased with is the communication between my team and New Level Radio, especially during the pandemic when communication is super important.”
“The atmosphere immediately changed dramatically for the better. And year-over-year we have seen a large uptick in the number of people who take part in our promotions and drawings on the casino floor.”
THE RESULT
Uptick in Promotional Partcipation
Cypress Bayou started using New Level Radio’s music and messaging program in early 2020 and almost immediately Picard started hearing compliments from the same guests who were initially complaining about the music.
“The atmosphere immediately changed dramatically for the better,” Picard said. “And year-over-year we have seen a large uptick in the number of people who take part in our promotions and drawings on the casino floor.
“As soon as we were able to open back up following the pandemic shutdown, New Level Radio helped us with COVID-19 messaging and that was a huge benefit. You don’t want to be overbearing, but you still need to give people a slight nudge every now and then about washing your hands, wearing a mask and making them aware we have sanitization stations all over the property.
“You want the guests to know that we want them to be safe and have fun and that we are doing everything we can to help stop the spread. The messaging New Level Radio created around the COVID-19 protocols accomplished that.”
