Dive Brief:
- MGM Resorts International is streamlining its marketing operations to just two agencies — PHD for media and McCann for creative — as well as taking programmatic in-house, according to a new AdExchanger interview with the hotel brand's SVP of brand marketing Kate Wik.
- Previously, MGM had marketed its various hotel properties, including several staples on the Las Vegas strip like The Bellagio, MGM Grand and The Mirage, as individual brands that potentially competed against each other and served to drive up media rates.
- "In terms of performance, it’s been fantastic," Wik told AdExchanger of the simplified strategy. "We compared revenue growth and spend to revenue to the same time periods in prior years, and we’re improving. Production from our website channels versus other channels is up, which is a very healthy mix."
Dive Insight:
MGM's strategy pivot is emblematic of two major trends shaking up the marketing space at the moment: the simplification of agency relationships and the moving of more operations — especially in the digital space — in-house.
Many in the industry have bemoaned the current complexity of modern advertising agencies, which can prove unduly costly and also break down communications across the marketing pipeline. Procter & Gamble's Chief Brand Officer Marc Pritchard, speaking at the 4A's Transformation conference at the beginning of the month, pined for the days of more one-stop specialty shops, and put out a call to action for agencies: "We need you to get simpler."
MGM limiting all media and creative operations to just two firms plays into this trend, with the brand seeing tangible results.
Taking programmatic in-house wasn't too much of stretch, Wik told AdExchanger, since MGM has always handled some digital marketing on its own, including paid search and display, albeit with input from agency partners. MGM now has 10 people at the corporate level who handle direct response and programmatic for all of its brands, Wik told the publication, adding that leveraging first-party data made it "easier and faster" to handle programmatic in-house.
In-house teams are valued for their ability to know a brand's history and mission but have recently come under fire for lacking outside perspective, so it's smart that MGM still consults with agency partners for a more comprehensive picture.