By Chuck Darrow
The capturing and maintenance of premium customers—commonly known as “high rollers”—is among most casino’s top priorities. It is these loyal, well-heeled gamblers that generally are the ones who keep the lights on in gaming halls outside of Las Vegas (whose adult playpens are dependent primarily on tourism and trade shows/conventions rather than year-round repeat business.) And even the desert entertainment mecca boasts multiple “locals casinos” that cultivate and nurture this customer base.
To keep these valued customers coming back on a regular basis, any manner of special enticements are employed. The basic casino playbook includes perks like free meals and show tickets, giveaways (small appliances are an industry favorite) and meet-and-greets with celebrities from all corners of the popular culture. But Ocean Casino Resort has a less-common arrow in its casino-marketing quiver.
Last night, the Boardwalk’s eastern-most casino held a film screening for its most coveted patrons. Hundreds of invited guests were at Ovation Hall to see “Joker: Folie a Deux,” the latest chapter in the ongoing series of “Batman”-spawned pictures. It stars Joaquin Phoenix as the title arch-criminal and Lady Gaga as his love interest, Harley Quinn. The $200-million fantasy extravaganza has its public debut tomorrow.
The “Joker” screening marks the third time Ocean has staged this kind of event. The first—“Barbie”—took place in July 2023. Last January, invited guests got a sneak peak at “Mean Girls” (Ocean’s Ovation Hall seats up to 5,200, but attendance is limited to a fraction of that to emphasize the event’s exclusivity).
According to Rebecca Thiry, Ocean’s executive director of marketing, the key to the concept was getting the cooperation of Allied Global Marketing, the Los Angeles-based firm that for decades has provided promotional support to the major movie studios.
“We had a relationship with Allied, and we saw ‘Barbie’ was coming out,” she recalled. “And, we knew that a screening on that scale had never taken place at Ocean before. So we approached them and pitched them a really awesome experience for ‘VVIP’ customers to experience ‘Barbie.’ And the folks at Allied loved it and we got Warner Brothers on board through them and [got permission] to create this really cool moment for our invited guests.”
While the focus is on top-tier players, Thiry noted that each of the screenings have what she described as a “public element” that provides non-high-rollers access to auxiliary events.
“So for Barbie, we had a ‘Malibu Barbie’ pool party for VVIPs prior to the screening. Then there was a ‘Barbie Pink’ afterparty at Nola’s, which was open to the public,” said Thiry.
Film previews are not unheard of in the casino universe. But, offered Thiry, as the ‘Barbie’ bash illustrated, Ocean goes well beyond simply showing a motion picture. Her property’s movie nights, she said, are “really different than [similar events at other casinos] because we love to really amplify the experience. So it’s not just guests coming to watch a movie and going home.
“We have really cool parties beforehand or afterwards that really lead into the full theme of the movie. We have all sorts of different activations that get people excited for the film and to really show off that they got to be a part of these cool experiences on their social media channels.”
Thiry divulged no details, but she made it clear movie screenings as a part of her casino’s marketing blueprint are here to stay.
“I definitely expect to see more of these in the future,” she said. “It’s extremely rewarding to see guests enjoy themselves. Everyone just has a great time. The thought is, if it’s a pop culture-relevant screening, we’re going to at least float it to Allied and say, ‘How can we activate this?’
“So anything that’s in the zeitgeist of pop culture, we want to at least be in those conversations.”
Hard Rock gets Giggly
One of the most significant developments of the past decade on the local casino-entertainment scene has been the emergence of podcasters as headliners.
Such popular hosts as right-wing agent provocateur Joe Rogan, Andrew Santino and Bobby Lee of the “Bad Friends” podcast and Joe Santagato and Frank Alverez of “The Basement Yard Experiece” are among those who have earned paychecks from Our Town’s gambling parlors. Up next are Hannah Berner and Paige DeSorbo, two thirtysomethings who are collectively known in the Podiverse as The Giggly Squad. The duo checks into Hard Rock Oct. 11.
The podcasts are framed as two friends shooting the breeze and commenting on pop-culture happenings and the individuals to whom those happenings happen. Or, as DeSorbo put it to the show biz trade paper Variety, “So it truly is us, like, taking an hour of the week and forgetting about everything else. Just, like, talking to your friend about what’s going on. But we just happen to record it.”
For tickets, go to ticketmaster.com.
Chuck Darrow has spent more than 40 years writing about Atlantic City casinos.
