Inside Asian Gaming

15 14 ll Chinese look the same.” Many Caucasians – often apparently un- prejudiced ones – are guilty of having uttered that statement on arriving in the Orient. The reverse is also true. A Chinese traveller land- ing in a predominantly Caucasian country for the first time can also have trouble dis- tinguishing between individuals. Why is that so? The answer lies in our respective back- grounds and the resultant filter we use to view the world. If one grows up in a multi-hued society where the colour of the eyes and hair differ, as well as the colour of the skin, one would naturally select those as distinguishing fea- tures. If, on the other hand, one grows up in a society where the common physical traits are Chinese Are Not All the Same In sending marketing messages to mainland Chinese, Macau casinos generally make the mistake of assuming all Chinese have similar cultural attitudes and preferences. Casino marketing guru Octo Chang teams up with Ben Lee, VP-Casino Projects with the Diamond Casinos Group, and Macau tourism academic Glenn McCartney to point out the need to differentiate marketing messages in different parts of China dark hair and brown eyes, one ends up look- ing for other facial features like shape of the eyebrows, shape of the eyelids or the face, skin tone, etc, to tell individuals apart, and ig- noring what would seem to the Caucasian to be the most obvious distinguishing features. Just as Caucasians may experience dif- ficulty in distinguishing physical differences between individual Chinese, they may also fail to distinguish cultural differences. The various Chinese communities in this part of Asia have had divergent cultural evolu- tions, and the savvy international marketer understands they need to be approached differently. For example, the marketer may tailor different messages for the Chinese communities of Malaysia, Singapore, Indone- sia, Vietnam, Philippines, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and last, but certainly not least, mainland China. The marketer may congratulate him- self on his sensitivity in making the above distinction, but would still be making a huge mistake – namely, thinking that all mainland Chinese are alike and can be considered a homogenous entity. Chinese themselves are guilty of such ignorance, and you will find examples of it in everyday life in Macau and neighbouring Hong Kong. An overseas-born Chinese friend who happened to speak a different dialect to the dominant Cantonese in Macau was told he couldn’t be Chinese if he didn’t speak Can- tonese. That’s perhaps not surprising given that local schoolchildren in Macau and Hong Kong refer to the Cantonese dialect as “The Chinese Language.” If it Works for Me… This cultural arrogance has made its way into the marketing media, and Hong Kong-style promotions and slogans pervade the mar- keting efforts of all of Macau’s casinos, from US-based giants Sands and Wynn to smaller players like Rio and President. The mentality of “it works for me, then it must work for all the other Chinese,” neglects the myriad cul- tural differences among the different regions of China. Some basic facts to consider – the popu- lation of Beijing is 12.8 million, Shanghai 20 million, Guangdong 84 million , Fujian 34 mil- lion, and so forth. These cities and provinces are bigger than most countries, and each have their own unique and continuously evolving dialect and cultural roots. Disre- garding the written language, most of these dialects are considered unique languages by language professors. In a recent survey conducted in the de- parture areas of various regional airports, re- search found that the messages that would influence the travellers to choose a destina- tion differed consistently depending on the origin of the travellers. In particular, the sur- vey found that the perception of Macau as a destination varied quite markedly among travellers from Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing and Taiwan. 1 Macau gaming operators send out a bar- rage of messages across a multitude of me- dia, yet according to the survey findings, a message that may be suited to one market segment may actually alienate another seg- ment. For instance, Taiwanese travellers in- dicated that safety is an important criterion, but to emphasize it in a marketing commu- nication to travellers from another market may instead raise questions as to why safety should even be an issue at all. The following two graphs are examples of the leading image components of Macau in the mind of travellers from Hong Kong versus those from Shanghai. “Common” im- ages are positive attributes also possessed by other destinations, while the “unique” im- ages refer to attributes offered by Macau in particular, and generally absent in compet- ing destinations The two graphs show that both sets of travellers perceive Macau’s sole unique draw as – surprise, surprise – gaming, as seen in the bottom right-hand quadrant. Both also unsurprisingly associate the image of the historical Ruins of St Paul’s with Macau. Shifting Perceptions Now the challenge ahead for Macau op- erators is to alter travellers’ perceptions and align them with their product offerings: sig- nature restaurants (Lisboa’s Joel Robuchon), glitzy nightlife (Wynn’s Tryst) and one-stop adult entertainment (Grand Waldo’s 5-storey “Entertainment Block”). That is, the operators have to create the perception that Macau is more than just a gambling haven in order to maximize the draw-cards they have put or are putting in place. Apart fromtheperceptions,however,how can operators actually motivate travellers to come to Macau? It takes a two-pronged ap- proach. The first, as explained, is to change the current perception to match what you have in terms of attractions. The second strategy should actually precede the first, and that is, to provide those attractions which the travellers actually want to experience. Is the glitzy thousand-dollar-entry and girl- “A Restful and relaxing Friendly local people Clean and litter free Common Relaxing Happy and fun Holistic imagery Gaming activities – casinos, racing Access to China Gambling opportunities Ruins of St. Paul’s Macau Tower Image attributes Unique Hong Kong Travellers’ Perceptions of Macau Good nightlife / adult oriented Restful and relaxing Political stability Friendly local people Common Relaxing Stable and safe Holistic imagery Gaming activities – casinos, racing Gambling opportunities Unique architecture Ruins of St. Paul’s Image attributes Unique Shanghai Travellers’ Perceptions of Macau