Innovation in the casino industry is rare these days. Our industry has been labeled a copy-cat industry since we tend to copy more than we create. There is nothing wrong with that as long as it is legal and everyone benefits. However, there is still plenty of room for creativity and innovation in casinos.

This month’s kudos for casino innovation goes to Mike Barlow, Vice President of Food and Beverage at Twin River Casino and the Twin River Casino management team. Mike and the executive team at Twin River Casino are the first casino management team to make an innovative decision to private label an energy drink for their casino.

So, why a private label Twin River Casino energy drink? According to Mike Barlow, their casino currently gives away or sells a huge number of cans of energy drink every month to either customers playing on the casino floor or in their various restaurants or lounges. His investigation revealed that the energy drinks were being consumed by their younger casino customers and also by their Asian customers. Both of these market segments are very high on Twin River’s list of priority markets in its strategic marketing plan. The casino wants to increase the percentage of younger players, and to that end, has started to vary its entertainment offering.

Cost effective
Mike remembered that five years ago, if you walked into a casino and asked for a bottle of water, you only had two choices. Those two choices were either Perrier or Evian bottled water. Today, if you go to just about any casino and ask for a bottle of water you will receive a bottle of private labeled water with the casinos name on the label. The attraction of having a private label is that it is not only prestigious to be able to have your own brand on the bottle, but from a business viewpoint it is also extremely cost effective. Private label bottled water is considerably less expensive than Perrier or Evian.

This stimulated the thought process and the Twin River Casino management team concluded that if they wanted to increase casino business from both younger players and from Asian players, then they had to give them what they wanted to drink, which was energy drinks. The dilemma that they faced was that the current range of commercial energy drinks is very expensive. Mike did some research and found the leading company specializing in private label energy drinks. The company does everything from custom developing the formula to designing the can label and artwork to incorporate the casino or company name and logo.

The really interesting part that they learned was that the cost of private labeling your own top quality energy drink is substantially less than purchasing commercial brands including the current market leading brand.

Therefore, the net cost savings to the casino from going private label will enable them to give away their own casino energy drink to anyone playing on their casino floor. They are very excited about this and have arranged several large promotions and special events to launch this new marketing effort targeting both younger and Asian players.

Many of the younger players also like to mix their energy drink with Vodka. Twin River Casino has partnered with popular vodka brand Absolut on its new promotion. The casinos’ “energy drink” promotion will also incorporate many fun activities designed for a younger audience of casino customers including food, music and various free giveaways to add to the excitement. This is also a perfect example of how a casino can involve outside sponsorships to help reduce its internal expenses and maximize the promotion.

Asians seek a playing boost
Asian players are different, and are not big drinkers. They will occasionally drink top name brandy or possibly a little wine, but they are much more serious about their gaming. Therefore, Asian players tend to consume energy drinks for a different reason—to stay alert while gambling, and to gamble longer. Top quality energy drinks such as the one developed for Twin River Casino contain healthy vitamins C, B-6, B-12, and Pantothenic Acid, Niacin as well as caffeine, Taurine, Guarana extract and Ginseng extract. In addition, the formula that Twin River Casino chose also uses crystalline fructose along with natural and artificial flavors. Doctors recommend Crystalline Fructose over all others because it is the slowest burning sugar available. Rather than producing a sugar high followed by a sugar low, Crystalline Fructose produces more of a steady consistent boost in energy.

One concern that was initially surfaced by the casino was related to its Master Contract with its soft drink distributor, who pays the casino annual marketing support money for an exclusive on all soft drinks sold or given away in the casino. Twin River learned that the contract did not pertain to any private labeled products developed by the casino such as their own private labeled bottled water. Therefore, after a detailed legal review, they elected to develop their own private labeled casino energy drink through a large independent producer.

Mike Barlow also commented that the entire energy drink phenomenon is very interesting and financially attractive to the casino. Casino management also felt that they would rather give their players a free Twin River Casino Energy Drink in order to keep them alert and hopefully playing longer, than a free alcoholic beverage, which could make players drowsy and lethargic and want to go home.

The real test will be to see whether anyone can figure out and calculate how much extra play time on the slots or tables will result from serving complimentary energy drinks in the casino. The incremental play may even pay for the cost of the beverage. Casinos can have a lot of fun developing creative and innovative labels and names for their own private label casino energy drinks.

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