MGM Mirage partners with companies to improve customer database

By Steve Green

Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2010 | 7:29 a.m.

MGM Mirage today said it hired two companies to improve its customer database mining capabilities and boost its guest loyalty programs.

The Las Vegas-based casino-resort operator said it partnered with ESS Analysis, a Boston-based advanced analytics-focused consulting firm, and A.T. Kearney, a global management consulting firm, "to take customer database 'mining' capabilities to a new level and further enhance guest loyalty programs.''

MGM Mirage said the two firms will align the "vast technological resources of MGM Mirage -- including a database of more than 60 million customers -- with current business strategies to create innovative marketing solutions.''

"We are very pleased to announce the latest evolution of our marketing program, which adds the strength of business analytics to our strategic plan," Bill Hornbuckle, MGM Mirage chief marketing officer, said in a statement. "This initiative increases our ability to cater to our guests' personalized needs with a one-to-one marketing outreach."

The move may improve MGM Mirage's competitive position against industry leader Harrah's Entertainment Inc., which is known for mining its own databases with scientific formulas to produced personalized offers to customers through its Total Rewards Program, which launched in 2000 and now has some 40 million members.

MGM Mirage executives told investors in 2008 they hadn’t fully capitalized on technology-based marketing and the company’s loyalty program, which includes the MGM Mirage Players Club Card offering benefits at 12 resorts and casinos around the country.

Advanced analytics uses software to produce a single, cohesive view of information collected from multiple sources within an enterprise, MGM Mirage said. Advanced analytics is fast emerging as a popular method to make more efficient business decisions by combining customer insights with factors such as company culture, operational objectives and performance standards, MGM Mirage added.

"This effort is focused on enhancing our cost-effectiveness behind the scenes, but more importantly streamlining our customer rewards program to deliver more value to our guests and to expose them fully to the depth of the offerings at the extensive portfolio of MGM Mirage properties," Hornbuckle said.

"This new initiative positions MGM Mirage to lead the industry in the design and development of innovative products and services to respond to the changing needs of its customers," Ranjan Mishra, president and founder of ESS Analysis, said in a statement. "MGM Mirage has tremendous assets -- both physical and intangible -- to build upon its customer loyalty program. We are very excited to be a part of this transformation."

"Advanced analytics is used by transformative industry leaders to drive step-change continuous innovation and improvement in customer retention and loyalty," Khalid Khan, analytics director at A.T. Kearney, said in a statement, which has offices around the world including 11 in the United States, Canada, Mexico and Brazil. "Sophisticated analytic techniques transform reams of data stored in disparate databases into a vivid 360-degree view of how a customer responds to the onslaught of products and services before them. These detailed profiles provide predictive insights on customer preferences that can be leveraged to improve the overall customer experience through more targeted, cost-effective offers resulting in a true win-win."