Agency to promote Las Vegas in major league ballparks

With Major League Baseball spring training in full bloom and the MLB regular season set to start March 31, the advertising agency for the Las Vegas public tourism bureau plans to spread the message of fun times in Las Vegas by enlisting four big-league ballparks this year.

R&R Partners, the Las Vegas-based company that does media buys for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, is committed to paying for signs at ballparks in four distinct parts of the country, said Rob Dondero, R&R executive vice president. The sponsorship deals will cost just less than
$1 million, Dondero said.

This year, the Las Vegas signs also will include mentions, where applicable, of the authority’s new website (lasvegas.com), which is one-stop shopping for travelers seeking to visit Sin City.

The quartet of baseball stadiums are:

■u2007Dodger Stadium. This one was a no-brainer given the L.A.-to-Las Vegas pipeline. Thirty percent of Las Vegas’ annual visitors come from the Los Angeles area, making it the top feeder market, Dondero said. The Dodgers used to have their Triple-A club in Las Vegas and Sin City is practically East California. Look for Las Vegas signs behind home plate, in the outfield and as a ring banner around the stadium.

■u2007Wrigley Field. The Windy City is the No. 7 feeder market for Las Vegas and the Chicago Cubs have played spring training games in Las Vegas as part of Big League Weekend for the past eight years. Las Vegas signs will be at the player gate near the dugouts.

■u2007Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. The Dallas area is a Top 10 feeder market for Las Vegas and the Rangers are playing the Cubs during Big League Weekend at Cashman Field March 16-17.

■u2007Citi Field, home of the New York Mets. This also is a logical choice given that the Mets’ Triple-A team will start its first season in Las Vegas as the 51s. Citi Field is also host to MLB’s All-Star Game, a big event that attracts a national television audience and baseball fans from across the country, so the signs at the ballpark will be seen by millions across the country.

The big league ballparks are great places to advertise the Las Vegas tourism message because it fits into the summer awareness program of luring visitors to Las Vegas during the hot-weather months, Dondero said.

Sponsors also like using major league stadiums to promote their products and services because fans in that sport show high loyalty rates to the companies paying for signs, Dondero said.

“We can get the summer message out in a quick and efficient way and have fun with it,” Dondero said. “We can get in front of a loyal fan base.”

Sports sponsorship expert Scott Becher of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., said ballparks make sense as a place for Las Vegas to spread its message, but he warned there shouldn’t be a hard sell for gambling with kids in the baseball stadiums.

“Fans are accustomed to sponsor messages of all kinds appearing both on the field as well as in commercials,” Becher said. “People gamble on sports — who are we kidding here? — so I get that fit for Las Vegas and legalized gambling. The sensitivity is the number of kids that watch baseball.

“If the signage and presence is tasteful, it works,” Becher added. “If the promotional messaging is aggressive in converting fans to gambling, that’s too much.”

R&R also buys promotions in the National Hockey League to hype Las Vegas to fans.

In 2011, there were Las Vegas promotions in all NHL team markets in the United States and Canada. The promotions varied by market to promote a trip to Las Vegas for the NHL awards show and are activated in arena, Jumbotron, announcements, digital signs, email to ticket holders, radio promotions, social media and online, Dondero said.

There will be no awards show in Las Vegas in 2013 because of the owners’ lockout, but R&R hopes to see it return to Las Vegas in 2014, Dondero said. The NHL deal allows promotional access to Canadian markets that could feed tourists from America’s northern neighbor to Sin City.

Contact reporter Alan Snel at asnel@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5273.