All posts by Graeme

How to sign visitors up and keep them coming back

Brilliantly lit digital signs, with well-orchestrated messages, create an exciting atmosphere in a casino and are a vital component of any casino marketing strategy. They are tangible, visible, and stimulating. Digital signs have been around for many years but the ability to get messages on these signs has been difficult.

Changing messages and content on a digital sign should be as easy as sending an email or text and with CHEETEYE’s marketing software, TARGET, it is. Using an innovative wireless device that plugs into any digital display, TARGET is enabling casinos to get the right message onto the right digital sign at the right time. Digital signs can now be dynamic and relevant, which leads to increased customer engagement; brand loyalty and revenue.

Change your casino marketing strategy and sign them up like never before!

To request a demo of TARGET, send an email to info@cheeteye.com with your details and we will make contact with you.

Next month:
My focus will be on the world of performance assessment and relevant case studies that demonstrate the power of “always on” performance evaluation.

The secret of new casino revenues

I had an interesting meeting with a client in Europe recently. They were accustomed to the traditional theory that slots belong to the older generation. To their surprise, through analysis, they discovered that 65% of their slots players were actually between the ages of 18 and 25. Their new game plan is to increase this group of 18-25’s average spend by 10% which will make a huge difference to the casino’s revenue. But my advice to them was, before you sign any marketing checks, get to know this new generation of consumers and there’s no better place to turn than Don Tapscott’s book, “grown up digital”, where he describes the eight norms that guide this new generation of consumers:

8 norms that guide the new generation of consumers

  1. Freedom: Give me choice and the more the better
  2. Customization: Make it my own
  3. Scrutiny: I will check it out before I go to the store
  4. Integrity: Does this company deserve my money?
  5. Collaboration: Let me help you make your product or service better
  6. Entertainment: Make it fun
  7. Speed: Serve me now
  8. Innovation: Give me the latest

My starting advice if you want to grow the average spend of this new generation of slot players:

  1. Engage with them online and mobile. The average age of newspaper readers is 65+
  2. Customize your message to them (See “Adding the slice to your dice”)
  3. Re-look at your games. This generation wants interactive, graphical games!

We invite you to stop by booth #3910 at G2E 2013 in Las Vegas for a live demonstration of CHEETEYE’s casino marketing software and learn the secrets of new casino revenues.

Go get em!

Why some casinos almost always deliver better profits

Casinos that are able to innovate faster than their competitors are likely to deliver better profits over the long term. It’s not always the big groups that are leading this innovation charge either. My recent visit to a small but hugely profitable casino confirmed this. Their willingness to experiment with new ideas quickly was exciting to see!

Digital literacy is beginning to exceed traditional literacy and casinos therefore need to consider a new kind of customer resulting from the computer era. Innovation in mature markets means focusing on risk and compliance as well as on a unique customer experience by using big data to meet customers’ needs. This can be done with intelligent data collection and marketing. High rollers that have not entered your casino for some time need to receive compelling personal messages and those that have been on a losing spree need to be given a handsome reward and chance to recharge and rethink how to grow their coffers again. Then there are the high rollers in the making! Research shows that 20-30 year olds have a high propensity to gamble. Capture their loyalty early. The early bird captures the worm and this worm is not going to be captured like the old worms.

I’m looking forward to G2E next month where we will have an amazing team located at booth 3910. If you would like to arrange a private demo of our innovative marketing technology, send an email to jess@cheeteye.com or call Jess at 720-221-6915

To casinos who want loyal customers

I had my haircut recently at a barber that I’ve been visiting for a long time.  We have become good friends and often chat about life.  He knows that I’m involved in software but his tone changed when he heard that we develop software for casinos.  His personal casino story had not been a winning experience. He talked about how this casino was only interested in sucking every last dime out of his pocket and there was no personal interaction by the casino or its’ staff.


As I listened to his story, I wondered how many guests this casino had lost as a result of lack of personalized service in trying to interact with as many customers as possible and garnering information from them, i.e. birthday, anniversary, mobile phone number, email address.  The key to personalized service is to use that information to create a customer, instead of a dissatisfied visitor.

There are several components to guest development: identifying, attracting, and retaining.  Each of these components are important and retention has become easier with the marketing tools we have today. Retaining customers for the long run is cheaper than finding new players. When was the last time you sent your customers a birthday email or text, inviting them for a 50% discount on a meal?

A simple auto generated email like the one below has helped many of our clients express their thanks to their customers and in return retain their loyalty. For more case studies and information on marketing education visit us at booth 1045 at OIGA next month.

Adding the slice to your dice


As we continue our casino marketing ideas series, I want to start by asking a question. When last did you send a text to your “millennial generation” (born between 1980-2005) customers at 4pm on a specific day enticing them to 10% off dinner? Age, day of the week, time and discount are crucial in getting action from this age group. According to a report from the research firm Technomic, 42% of these “millennials” say they visit “upscale casual-dining restaurants” at least once a month. Previous studies have shown that “millennials” are more likely to make impulse buys on little splurges for themselves, and going out to eat at a nice restaurant fits into this category. As a group, “millenials” are the most likely group to be drawn to deals, with 43% saying they are influenced by coupons and discounts when choosing where to eat.

The ability to access data and “slice and dice” it, should be as easy as possible for casino marketers coming up with great casino marketing ideas. They need to be able to target the right people at the right time in order to be noticed in today’s crowded casino marketplace. Don’t just throw your dice and expect a slice of the pie. It’s time to grab a share of the market that belongs to those who target with insight.

Watch the video below on how TARGET is being used to implement casino marketing ideas and get people walking across your casino floor. Happy “Targeting with Insight” to all our users!

3 ways to stand out in the crowded casino marketplace

Intelligent casino marketing ideas are crucial in order to be noticed in today’s crowded casino marketplace. Here are 3 casino marketing ideas to empower your marketing department to market intelligently:

  1. Make sure you have a system in place that can query your gaming data to segment customers you want to target
  2. Send the segmented group appropriate content e.g. send last week’s high winners an email with WINNING printed loud and clear and how they can win again!
  3. Make sure you have a system in place to measure each campaign. What you can’t measure, you can’t manage.

See how we’re helping casino marketing departments become expert email campaigners by following the 3 steps above:

Take your casino marketing to new levels of engagement and become the most valuable department in your casino!

3 advantages of trigger based data monitoring

I was shocked recently when I received my latest cell phone bill to see that my data charges were 10 times my normal average. I do a lot of international traveling and find it a hassle to constantly change SIM cards so I rely on my international roaming. Apparently the reason for the sharp increase was as a result of my switch from BlackBerry to the iPhone which is data hungry.

My first question to the cellular company was why their system did not alert me to the significant increase in data usage? We provide trigger based monitoring across the CHEETEYE casino protection software suite and have just made a significant upgrade to the trigger service, so the benefits of trigger based monitoring were still fresh in mind. “Trigger based monitoring” is a term given to a feature in software that provides users with alerts in the form of an email, text or phone call if a risk has been identified. I know what’s available in today’s world of trigger based monitoring so I’m surprised to still be waiting for an answer from this cellular network giant. Maybe trigger based monitoring will reduce their giant profits?

We’re living in a digital age with access to vast amounts of information. Trigger based monitoring is essential in order to benefit from where we are in history. Below are some benefits identified from a poll on trigger based monitoring for casino protection:

  • Administration automation – surveillance often requires feedback on standard operating procedures (SOP) that have been broken. Once the SOP has been identified and the applicable department notified, trigger based monitoring eliminates the need for surveillance to waste time following up if no feedback has been provided. Lack of feedback in casinos results in policies and procedures not being strictly followed, which leaves them unprotected from the damaging effects of negligence and fraud both by external sources and an organization’s own staff.
  • Proactive observation – Gaming triggers such as potential collusion help surveillance be more proactive in their observation e.g. an alert notifying surveillance of the arrival of a guest involved in possible collusion helps surveillance focus on a “hot area” rather than relying on luck.
  • Solved investigations – Incidents are often left in a “pending state” awaiting further investigation. Being able to alert managers of incidents in a “pending state” can help them follow up on investigators that could be dragging their heals.

Smart phones need smart networks. In the meantime we will focus on developing smart software to help casinos protect with insight.

New key system improves casino protection

We’re only into the third month of the year and we have as many integration projects completed. Integrating disparate systems within a casino is what we love doing and that’s one of the things our clients love about us.

I want to make particular mention of our recent key cabinet integration with Key Systems Inc in New York as they are a great team. The level of integration has been phenomenal and it’s exciting to see two companies work together so openly for the benefit of casino protection. Keys will always be an important inventory item within casinos and our goal was to improve the monitoring process when it comes to key usage. An important key in the wrong hands can be disastrous.

My two favorite features from the Key System integration, include:

  • No need for additional access requirements. CHEETEYE already integrates into the HR system so there is no need to maintain a separate staff user profile in the Key System i.e key usage rights are added to the CHEETEYE staff profile.
  • Improved surveillance monitoring. As a result of key usage being added to a CHEETEYE staff profile, discrepancies that often exist between security and surveillance are now eliminated e.g. When an important key is checked out, the key system creates an automatic surveillance log and notifies surveillance.

To see how we’re helping casinos integrate disparate systems to improve casino protection, visit us at booth 314 at NIGA next week.

Protect like James Bond

My daughter and I recently captured some great views of London from the London Eye; one being the important houses of Parliament. This view reminded me of our mission at CHEETEYE. Just as the London Eye “watches over” London, CHEETEYE keeps watch over important casino processes.

I’ve heard of numerous cases at casinos where very important assets or inventory go missing which places the casino at huge risk e.g. keys, cards, chips, slots parts etc. Surveillance and security departments are tasked with the responsibility of protecting the assets of a casino, but when things go missing, it gives them a bad name. This need not be the case if technology providers to the casino industry collaborate to break down the technology walls that exist in casinos. Today at the ICE gaming in show in London we demonstrated how three technology providers can collaborate to make sure that incidents like the ones mentioned above never happen! What are you requiring from your partners that enables you to improve your casino protection strategies? How well are your casino’s processes being “watched over”?

My daughter on the London Eye

3 steps to great biceps

According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, employee dishonesty costs American business in excess of $50 billion annually and rising. Casinos are not immune to this fact and our simple 3 steps are helping casinos go on the offensive against table games collusion:

1. Denial
One of the many things I’ve learned from the book “Management lessons from the Mayo Clinic” is that denial is a coping mechanism that gives you time to adjust to distressing situations — but staying in denial can interfere with your ability to tackle the challenges of casino protection. The first and most important step in tackling collusion is to deal with any denial and acknowledge that collusion is taking place. “Transformational leaders don’t start by denying the world around them. Instead, they describe a future they’d like to create instead.” Seth Godin.

2. Communication
It’s important to create systems that foster communication e.g. We’ve helped casinos implement electronic schedules, break lists and analytical reporting so that managers have access to instantaneous evaluation, allowing them to provide ongoing feedback. Lack of feedback in casinos results in policies and procedures not being strictly followed. Lack of feedback also communicates a lack of interest at the top which sends a message to the troops on the ground. As one surveillance director said, “it’s vital that we communicate, that we are looking out for you and not over you in order to create a culture of trust”. The only way this can be done is by implementing systems and following processes.

3. Measure
If you can’t measure you can’t manage. Whatever systems you have in place, they must empower you to cut through the clutter and get to the important issues that need to be dealt with e.g. We’ve taken the popular Google alerts feature and applied the same feature to casino protection. Instead of wading through standard reports on a daily basis, we’ve built business rules into the report generators that highlight anomalies that need attention. The system then sends alerts in the form of emails that direct you to the evidence. Humans have a limited amount of attention each day and if that attention can be used for the important stuff, we can be more affective in our casino protection. Make sure your measuring tools are cutting through the clutter!

Great biceps require dedication and a disciplined lifestyle. As you focus on these 3 steps this year, I know your dedication will result in a well protected casino and possibly the acknowledgment of the most valuable department in your organization. We look forward to hearing about your great success stories!