Las Vegas’ Iconic Tourism Slogan ‘What Happens Here, Stays Here’ Turns 10
Photo Credit: The slogan ends every video associated with Las Vegas' branding campaign. Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority / LVCVA
Skift Take
What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, except the secrets of one of the world's most successful marketing campaigns. Expectations for a Vegas vacation have become a cultural phenomenon and the realization that it's all a ploy to tap into tourists' frustrations and set them off on a spending spree is unlikely to quench the thirst for freedom felt by any arriving visitor.
Las Vegas' "What Happens Here, Stays Here" slogan is one of the more famous tag lines in modern tourism marketing, and one of the most quoted, talked about, and recognized ad campaigns in any industry. The phrase has not only been a spark that's helped drive millions of visitors to Sin City, it's inspired an Usher song and the trilogy of Hangover movies, been quoted by Laura Bush, closed an Oscar ceremony, and been banned from Super Bowl time slots.
The campaign, which turns ten this fall, was first cooked up in 2003 at a brainstorming meeting in the Las Vegas tourism department of ad agency R&R Partners. The meeting was sparked by a need to brand Vegas for something other than gambling. A year of research resulted in the following conclusions, as explained in R&R's case study of the campaign:
The emotional bond between Las Vegas and its customers was freedom. Freedom on two levels. Freedom to do things, see things, eat things, wear things, feel things. In short, the f
