In the video clip, cocktail server Kami Deike playfully struts her stuff with a hypnotizing graphics background and a Zouk Nightclub tag line at the bottom of the screen.
Deike, a recent UNLV graduate, is clearly comfortable in front of a camera, one reason why she was asked to be among the employees featured in a multipronged social media marketing campaign for the nightclub inside Resorts World on the Strip.
Another part of the campaign, rolled out this spring, featured members of Zouk’s VIP host team.
In that video, employees were captured around Resorts World in what Ronn Nicolli described as “Ocean’s Eleven-type” clips where the workers are sitting at a table game or a bar, or smoking a cigar.
Nicolli, chief marketing officer for Resorts World and vice president for Zouk Group’s Las Vegas operations, said marketing campaigns that use actual venue or resort employees instead of actors or celebrities have become more popular over the years.
Zouk Group, which also runs the Ayu Dayclub at Resorts World, is part of Genting Group, the company behind the massive Resorts World development, which opened last year.
“Different nightlife groups have done things like this for years, but I don’t think to the scale that we’re doing it this year,” Nicolli said. “We look at it as content-building that meets team-building. If done the right way, you have some beautiful collateral of team members that they can also use for their own social channels.”
Employee-focused videos and other pieces of marketing material have been visible around the Strip this year, including on the massive LED video board on Resorts World’s west tower, and on mobile billboards that travel up and down Las Vegas Boulevard.
“I think it’s something that’s truly unique to our venue and a great way to get the team involved,” Deike said. “This is where a lot of us call home, so to be able to see ourselves and our co-workers plastered across the casino and around the city, that’s really exciting. People come into Zouk Nightclub or Ayu Dayclub and say ‘I just saw you on the screen outside and now you’re our server.’”
While the idea of using employees as models in an advertising campaign might be easier for a Las Vegas nightclub or dayclub—venues that famously employ lots of attractive people—it’s also part of a more broad change in marketing tactics during the social media era.
Marla Royne Stafford, a marketing professor at UNLV who has spent time over the years researching marketing in the hospitality industry, said the goal is always to employ the “best type of spokesperson” to help get a particular business recognized.
“Years ago, you’d have more celebrities as spokespeople,” Royne Stafford said. “With the growth of platforms like TikTok and consumer-to-consumer marketing, you have more instances where real people have become more important in the spokesperson space. Those real people can be customers or they can be employees. You’re trying to build relationships, and sometimes celebrities can have issues with authenticity.”
Zachary McCabe, a VIP host for Zouk Group Las Vegas, said he had fun doing the VIP team’s Ocean’s Eleven video shoot and would like to do more.
“At first, I was hesitant because this was something I’d never done before,” McCabe said. “But I also was excited about the opportunity to create something that no one else is doing. ... These campaigns show that we are appreciated and that Zouk Group truly wants every employee to be involved.”
In the nightclub/dayclub business, the generation of leads is paramount, Nicolli said.
He said this year’s campaigns have helped in that area, partly because the ads can live on all the different employee social channels. The short video Deike put on her Instagram in February had about 700 likes.
“In the absence of being a brand that’s been around for a decade or more, sometimes we can be a little lead deficient,” Nicolli said. “Creating these moments, there’s a certain amount of pride there for our employees. What we wanted to do is kind of treat our team members like we treat our resident DJs. In my mind, something like this is one of the best competitive features we have for our team members.”
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