Mohegan Sun offers online look at ‘Back of House’
After pitching idea to network execs, casino goes it alone
Mohegan Sun pulled back the curtain Wednesday, launching “Back of House,” an online TV series offering glimpses of the behind-the-scenes intrigue that attends casino employees’ daily lives.
It will not be confused with “Keeping Up with the Kardashians.”
And that, said George Galinsky, Mohegan Sun’s executive vice president of marketing communications, is entirely by design. After pitching the idea to network executives inclined to envision it as a “reality” show, the casino decided to pursue the project on its own.
“We got very close to being picked up,” Galinsky said. “But the best part of doing it ourselves is that we didn’t have to give up any control. A network might have needed it to be more dramatic, or trashy.”
What “Back of House” might lack in drama, it aims to deliver in authenticity.
The series consists of six episodes, each running between 6 and 8½ minutes, and all available on BackofHouse.TV and YouTube. Binging the whole season takes a little more than three-quarters of an hour.
Though they’re identified only by their first names and job titles, 11 Mohegan Sun employees are readily recognizable in the series, among them Jeff Hamilton, the casino’s assistant general manager; Jennifer Ballester, director of corporate communications; Erica Tessier, director of consumer promotions; and pastry chef Lynn Mansel. The episodes cap-
ture them managing celebrity appearances and promotional events, preparing for sold-out concerts and directing traffic for the Barrett-Jackson collector car auction.
In Episode 3, Rachel Lindsay, fresh from an appearance on ABC’s “The Bachelorette,” arrives at the casino for a session with fans. In Episode 6, Mohegan Sun Arena is readied for two Kenny Chesney sellouts, preceded by the country singer’s induction into the Mohegan Sun Walk of Fame.
All of the episodes were filmed within the last several months.
Mohegan Sun partnered with Primal NY, a film-production company, to create “Back of House.” They previewed an episode last weekend at the first-ever Tribeca TV Festival in New York, where it was well received, according to Galinsky.
“They were interested in all forms of branded content, most of which feels like marketing,” he said. “We’re not some big, pretentious, impersonal brand and we think this reinforces that . ... We didn’t want to make an ad. Nobody wants to watch an ad.”
Are more seasons of “Back of House” in store?
“We believe there will be many more seasons,” Galinsky said. “We can track the popularity of it — how many people watch it, how many times they watch an episode, how long they stay with it. There are all sorts of ways to determine the return on our investment.”