Direct marketing firm SmartDM said Friday that it signed an agreement with Harrah's Entertainment Inc. to act as Harrah's primary e-mail marketing partner.
The 7-year-old direct marketing agency is to create, deliver and track e-mail for all Harrah's properties, including Harrah's, Harvey's and Rio. SmartDM handles direct mail work for Harrah's, especially on its Total Rewards program.
“Most of Harrah's focus is on current customers and their most loyal customers,” said Rich Maradik, CEO of SmartDM. “This is a huge strategy shift for them, to collect the e-mail addresses of their current customers and then execute a direct marketing campaign strategy with e-mail that ties with the overall strategy of what they're trying to do offline, too.”
Harrah's Total Rewards members will be served with a monthly online newsletter, promotional messages, event announcements, company information and hotel discounts and packages.
More than 60 years old, Harrah's operates 25 casinos in the United States under the Harrah's name.
SmartDM will use its proprietary DirectTR@K campaign management system for casino property-level marketing executives to choose database segments, custom copy, creative templates and transmission. This can be done all online.
“Plus, there's centralized control over all of this so they can maintain the integrity of their contact strategy,” Maradik said.
The DirectTR@K system was launched in January 2001 and has since been used for e-mail campaigns by SmartDM clients including Novell, Tractor Supply Co., the NHL's Nashville Predators, Oracle Small Business, Household Bank and Benefitmall.
