MGM’s ‘Welcome to the Show’ campaign impresses marketing experts

The first ad in MGM Resorts International’s massive new “Welcome to the Show” campaign featured cinema-like video of the company’s properties and attractions interspersed with written text such as “Mankind was not born to be bored” and “We invented MGM to entertain the human race.”

What it didn’t include was a single sales pitch. But that was no accident.

The campaign is built on an abstract approach that, according to advertising experts, is at the forefront of marketing in general and hospitality marketing in particular. Instead of a hard sell, “Welcome to the Show” is designed to spark curiosity about the company among consumers and encourage them to

explore its properties.

“The idea is if they show you bits of a story, sometimes you’re left with a question and that question itself is enough trigger for you to go on the web and Google it,” said Anjala Krishen, associate professor of marketing and international business at UNLV. “People don’t like being beat over the head. I don’t know that we ever liked it, but especially not in 2017. We want to feel like we’re making a choice.”

Krishen said businesses in general have come to realize that telling stories about their brands can be more effective than always pushing consumers to buy. It’s a methodology that dates to at least 1989, when automaker Infiniti ran commercials featuring images of birds and storms but not of its actual cars.

After reviewing the MGM ad, which was first aired last week during the Emmy Awards broadcast, one national advertising industry leader said the company had struck a good balance between both approaches.

“It’s an interesting thought that humans aren’t meant to be bored and MGM exists to enter-