SITUATION
Ameristar Casinos compete in a very cluttered competitive entertainment environment and with a challenging economy, traffic had declined. Traditionally, Ameristar has relied on a promotional schedule of TV and radio, but with budgets being questioned we needed to find a way to stay top-of-mind with current casino visitors, increase interest among A25-64, all while increasing the efficiency of our media schedules.
SOLUTION
We had tested banner advertising in the past through ad networks with limited funds, achieving directional results suggesting that niche sites such as POGO and GSN, though they had limited reach, were delivering the highest engagement rates and driving the overall CTR higher. Our theory was that these learnings could be applied to pre-roll video and interstitial units on Hulu. By extending the effective reach of our television spot, we could more efficiently increase engagement with the campaign across multiple screens. With incremental dollars we recommended adding online video as a core element of the campaign, driving a 27% increase in digital spend, at the expense of TV and radio. With a premium price on Hulu, we needed to maintain efficient reach through incorporating an ad exchange buy with a dynamic CPM, to round out the plan. The high CPM on Hulu was easily justified as the cost per interaction would equal out to those on the broader reaching exchanges.
RESULT
After increasing the online video budget on Hulu and implementing the ad exchange buy, the interaction rates across the campaign increased 100%. The CTR for Hulu delivered a .58%, compared to an industry average of .50%, with a cost per interaction of $.01 which equaled the broad reaching ad exchanges. This increase in digital spend has placed Ameristar in a new light among consumers as a forward thinking marketer. We have seen traffic at the casinos increase YOY. |
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