Trends & Inception

Over the holidays I began to think about taste-making and trends. With the end of 2015 tons of ink (real and virtual) and airtime have been dedicated to list-making: “best of”, “worst of”, “top trends”… and more.

How does public opinion shift, seemingly en masse? How does “group think” work? In some cases, we are led by taste-makers and thought leaders. As regular readers of this blog will know, I think that polls are often used to shape and influence public opinion – insidiously planting and validating ideas that are deemed to be desirable beliefs for the public to hold. Inception! (Please see the amazing film by Christopher Nolan – 2010 – if you haven’t). Sometimes trends seemingly appear over night. They bubble up from the streets when we aren’t really paying attention.

Trends are observed in public policy and priorities (physician-assisted dying, Syrian refugees), home design (jewel tones are in for 2016 – get your paintbrushes), clothing (get ready for tie-dye), technology (self-driving cars) and other trends (hoverboards).

What do trends mean to the gaming businesses?

Casinos are still working to figure out what might grab the attention of the Millennial generation, as we have discussed before in this blog. Operators are seeking a trend that will resonate with this group. Bricks and mortar casinos are trying to understand how best to use online gaming channels to support their businesses – either by creating new, strictly online revenue streams, or as a tool to drive visitation to their properties. Again the winning formula has not emerged nor has a trend emerged. Even electronic gaming specialists haven’t figured out the magic bullet that makes money, appeals to customers and does not make regulators nervous. Fantasy sports have caught the public imagination but are presenting challenges on the regulatory end of things. So we can expect to be seeing more on all of these topics as 2016 unfolds.

The vast majority of casinos, particularly regional casinos, are following trends, not leading them, though there is risk in that. For example, the model that has been developing in the casino world in this century – to an amenities-based business model with less reliance on gaming – is challenging in high tax markets, like Canada, serving primarily local customers. Following the big movements doesn’t necessarily make sense in every context. Local casinos need to meet customer expectations of what a casino experience is all about. Customers get their sense of casinos through television and film portrayals or maybe from visits to destination casinos in Las Vegas, the Caribbean or Atlantic City. How can businesses balance this expectation against the realities of operating a local’s business?

Watch and listen to your customers. They will give you hints about what you offer that’s working for them. Through careful observation and analysis of a variety of data points you can understand what you could be doing better or differently to win more of their disposable income. When reviewing data from my clients’ properties I see themes emerging all the time. Are they trends? Perhaps. They are certainly opportunities. Often businesses do not need to make huge changes to shift their results. This is especially true for businesses that have a clear sense of who their customers are and not spreading themselves too thin, trying to be all things to all people..

Businesses can practice inception. You can message your customers strategically and positively. Too often businesses talk at their clients but don’t think about how their customers need to receive messages really to internalize those messages. Better communication can help you get your customers to come around to your point of view, buy into your latest offering and enthusiastically recommend you.

We could benefit by focusing more – professionally and personally. Before jumping on any bandwagons it is a good idea to take a step back and consider whether the trend we’re following aligns with our business strategy or what we know about our customers. We can also work on improving how we listen and communicate. Better success is around the corner for those that follow these simple guidelines.

#SocialLicence #Insights