Bally’s Baton Rouge
Grand Opening
Industry
Services
Challenge
Before Bally’s began revitalizing the area, the Belle of Baton Rouge casino was well known but closely associated with an old-school gaming experience and years of visible decline. The broader property included the former Catfish Town complex, a downtown eyesore marked by disrepair and a history of dead-end redevelopment efforts.
So when Bally’s announced plans to invest $141 million in a comprehensive transformation – decommissioning the riverboat casino, renovating the old Belle Hotel down to the studs, and reimagining the area as a contemporary gaming and entertainment destination – the response was skeptical at best.
Years of unmet expectations had left the local community jaded, underscoring the need for a true brand reputation turnaround. Zehnder’s challenge was not only to introduce this new vision, but to rebuild trust using an ironclad community relations strategy.
Strategy
First, we needed a local media engagement strategy. We began by inviting reporters and partners to tour the client’s sister property, The Queen casino in Baton Rouge. There, we showcased the results of the client’s fulfilled promise to bring the old Casino Rouge/Hollywood Casino landside, offering local media a peek behind the curtain. By offering F&B kitchen tours, casino floor access, and zero restrictions on what they could film or report on, we built trust by showing reporters exactly what it takes to operate a high-class casino.
Next, we turned our attention to downtown revitalization public relations. We met with local partners and learned how we could help them best promote the benefits of downtown Baton Rouge. We included Downtown Development District and Visit Baton Rouge in our media outreach, sharing content and assets they could use in their own newsletters, e-blasts, and social media posts.
We then scheduled behind-the-scenes tours of the new entertainment complex and hotel, inviting the media to see for themselves that the work was continuing and assure them the client was not abandoning this project. With every key milestone – the riverboat sendoff, the opening of the temporary landside casino, the opening of the hotel, the installation of Bally’s Baton Rouge signage – Zehnder brought the media in with full transparency and access. Because ultimately, seeing is believing.
The week of the casino grand opening, we coordinated media sneak peeks, giving key media members early access to the new entertainment complex. Finally, we held the VIP Grand Opening party for local and statewide media as well as key partners, welcoming them to celebrate this milestone as a community.
Results
After months of hard work, the results were astounding. Before Zehnder’s involvement, casino media relations were strained. TV stations, local radio and lifestyle publications rarely helped promote casino news, and relationships between local business reporters and company representatives were tense.
But today, Bally’s enjoys strong media relationships with WBRZ-TV, The Advocate, and 225 Magazine participating in our media sneak peek tour, providing pre-grand opening coverage, and attending the VIP Grand Opening party along with WAFB-TV and Louisiana First News.
Zehnder also helped the client develop a relationship with Baton Rouge’s tourism agency and downtown development agency. Now, agency representatives consistently participate in casino event publicity, sharing information about Bally’s events and milestones in their marketing materials, social media posts, and community newsletters.
Pre- and post-opening coverage was overwhelmingly positive, with a national trade industry pub even noting that this success positively moved the needle for Bally’s global brand.
Within the First Month of Opening:
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