As part of a $125-million renovation, the Tropicana Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas is undergoing a complete rebranding campaign, starting with a logo change announced on August 6. The company is working to build buzz about the brand and spread the message of the rebrand to influencers, tourists, and feeder markets in Southern California, Arizona, Texas, and New York.
Tropicana Las Vegas is led by chairman and CEO Alex Yemenidjian, who acquired the property with Onex Corp. after it emerged from bankruptcy July 1.
“We have new ownership now and a new management team,” said Trish Gilbert, VP of marketing for Tropicana Las Vegas. “It’s not just bringing [the property] up to today’s standards, but really adding the flare of a new brand to it,” Gilbert added. She described the new brand theme as “a Havana, old-Cuban theme, [with] Latin flare.”
Tropicana is using traditional media relations—reaching out to travel and tourism publications, bloggers, and regional business news outlets—and social media, focusing on a soon-to-launch Tropicana Las Vegas blog, Facebook, and Twitter.
The company is not currently working with a PR firm, Gilbert said, but it is “talking to several agencies of how they could come on board and help us during the actual launch,” which is currently scheduled for the third quarter of 2010.
Vegas Backstage Access (VBA) 