“This! Is! Sparta!” Well, no actually. It just means that our Twitter feed, @stiffsgeorges, has finally eked its way to the 300-follower mark. That may not be much to crow about but it’s a gratifying little increment of progress. Speaking of eking …
Rome wasn’t built in a day and when Isle of Capri Casinos realized that a change of management was (over)due, there was no quick fix to an image problem that could be summarized in the company’s nickname: “Pile of Debris.” In this brand-new mini-informercial, Isle management pounds away a couple of value messages that can always be relied upon to resonate with the bread-and-butter gambler — customer service (and lots of it) and time on device (ditto). What the ad delicately sidesteps is the elephant in the middle of the room … Isle’s reputation for what Stern Agee bond analyst David Hargreaves diplomatically describes as “somewhat dated looking properties.” It pretty much killed Isle’s chances in Pittsburgh that its existing properties were deemed to be a good 10 years behind the times.
Hargreaves also notes that the company’s $1.8 billion casino portfolio cost far less to assemble than it would to replace (and the debt load exceeds $2 billion), so Isle execs like Virginia McDowell are on the level when they describe what they’re doing as a long-term work in progress. It’s more of a question of whether it can be accomplished swiftly enough for Isle to regain pace with the mini-majors (like Ameristar Casinos), as opposed to forever playing catch-up. Kudos, by the way, to whoever worked the Stewie Griffin cameo into the video. That’s one success-assured way of seeking placement in S&G.
