Caesars Brand Strong Enough to Win

Implications: Since the merger in 2005 and Harrahs going private probably the smartest and most significant change to come in the organization is the branding of Harrah's to Caesars Entertainment. Although Harrah's itself is a strong brand as was Horseshoe which is also owned by Harrah's, the names have never commanded the high roller and old Vegas style that the Caesars brand has carried for years. There has always been a significant corporate cultural difference in the Caesars brand that has been successful in very diverse jurisdictions that continues to appeal to the regular gaming customer. Caesars Windsor can attract the needed incremental play and beyond in this economy on the brand if there is some investment into the service experience expectations of their guests and the property staff from executive to front line consistently buy into the Caesars culture. If Harrah's adopts Caesars culture into it's brand I believe you could see significant performance gains throughout the organization.

Analysis: MY first gaming job was Caesars AC in the early 1980's where the culture of the company was very different from what it became over the many ownership changes. One that has remained is the type of player that has always been attracted to the brand. Caesars has always been in the forefront of offering top name entertainment to pull their highest tier players in on a regularly. Some of that identity may have been lost through the ITT Sheraton era as a corporate culture but not to many of the front line that still remain with the organization. It is companies like Caesars and even Stations that have consistently had high retention rates that best serve their customer base. Although they may target differently destination high end vs. local, some of the overall internal corporate culture keeps their customers loyal to the brand. Gaming organizations that fail to invest in this fact and face higher turn over rates, in my opinion will struggle to command the loyalty of Caesars, Stations and even Harrah's.