In a city constantly reinventing itself, the stakes were never higher for community leaders, an unlikely mix of hotel executives, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, and thousands of local football fans. The future of two major construction projects was on the line, which would forever change Las Vegas’ skyline for the better. But this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to move Southern Nevada to the next level faced heavy opposition. So they turned to R&R Partners for help.
Branded the Win-Win Nevada Coalition by R&R’s team, we would head up one of the toughest challenges in recent Nevada history in convincing 63 state legislators of the need to support a change in legislation that would benefit our city: passing new room taxes to help fund the renovation and expansion of the Las Vegas Convention Center to keep our convention business competitive, and to help fund a new professional 65,000-seat, domed sport stadium.
The first challenge for the coalition was to secure support from two-thirds of 63 legislators to enable the governor to call a special session. The next hurdle would be securing passage of two intertwined bills that would change how room tax revenues would fund the Las Vegas Convention Center expansion, and help in the construction of a new NFL-ready stadium to lure a professional football team to relocate to Las Vegas. This was no either/or proposition – we all got what we wanted, or we all went down in flames.
We started with only 22 votes out of the 63 legislators. We needed 42.
So how did we do it?
With the collaboration of every single discipline at R&R, we launched a targeted campaign that flipped the negative sentiment on its head. Our message was powerful: a vote for the stadium was a vote for 40,000 construction jobs, an injection of $1.5 billion into the local economy, and an additional $32 million in education dollars annually. And a vote for expanding and remodeling our convention center was a vote for keeping our lead as the No. 1 convention destination in the business.
In three very short weeks, we created a tagline, a logo to match, a website, out-of-home media, collateral and a social media campaign. We arranged for speeches, testimonials, a video … the list goes on. And it turned the tide. We created enough momentum for the governor to call a special session. We secured the votes needed, and we won. We even capped it off with a press conference to detail the negotiated workforce benefits for minority communities in Las Vegas, and a bill-signing ceremony with the governor. Our social, online and earned media numbers were off the charts, too – $69 million in PR value and 4.7 million online impressions, to name just a couple.
The bottom line: Our campaign wasn’t just about impressive metrics on a page. It was about winning triumphantly or losing completely. And with one of the most integrated, wide-ranging, kick-ass teams ever assembled at R&R, we declared victory.
