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Obviously, new advertising campaign for Resorts World will be a hit

Updated September 7, 2021 - 7:38 am

Captain Obvious, the Hotels.com commercial pitchman, is going to work for a Las Vegas resort property.

The character portrayed by actor Brandon Moynihan is part of a campaign launched last week by Resorts World Las Vegas. It will feature the red-blazered captain dashing through the 3,500-room, $4.3 billion Strip property, which opened its doors in late June.

The new campaign is likely to strike a chord with a national audience that already has embraced the character. Will it translate to a boost for the Strip’s newest megaresort?

Genting Berhad, the parent company of Resorts World Las Vegas, recently issued its second-quarter earnings report. The report indicates the company lost $599 million in the quarter that ended June 30 on revenue of $2.937 billion.

But the report also broke out just how much was contributed by Resorts World Las Vegas in the six days it was open in the second quarter.

How well did it do? Far from adding to losses, it made almost $4 million in less than a week.

“RWLV opened its doors to the public on June 24 to an estimated crowd of 20,000 visitors and 5,000 VIP guests,” the company’s second-quarter report said.

“RWLV experienced a high volume of guests enjoying the resort and all its offerings on opening. Revenue and adjusted (cash flow) over the first six days of operations which amounted to approximately $14.9 million (U.S.) and $3.9 million (U.S.) respectively, were driven by very strong casino and food and beverage operations. Its hotel operations experienced a 71.2 percent occupancy rate based on available rooms with an average daily rate of $239 a night.”

The Captain Obvious campaign is designed to drive even more traffic to the property.

In a video showing a variety of scenes that will be used in the ads, Captain Obvious arrives in a red Rolls-Royce and makes his rounds through the resort, providing a high-speed peek at the resort’s accommodations, 40 food and beverage venues, its luxury dayclub and its 117,000-square-foot casino.

“Working with hotels.com to create this fun campaign starring Captain Obvious has been a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for our resort,” Scott Sibella, president of Resorts World Las Vegas, said in a release.

“The campaign showcases the iconic brand spokesperson as he tries food, room, nightlife and entertainment options at this property, giving an inside look into the resort’s many incredible offerings. We hope this campaign inspires hotels.com customers to visit Las Vegas’s newest resort and experience the excitement for themselves.”

Between Genting’s connections with Asia, the Hilton Honors loyalty club for Hilton customers and an attractive campaign with hotels.com, Resorts World should have the marketing firepower to fill those 3,500 rooms on a regular basis, especially when the theater opens and the residencies of Celine Dion, Katy Perry, Carrie Underwood and Luke Bryan begin in November.

It’s an obvious advantage.

Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on Twitter.

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