Casino City Press Business Profile: Imagine This

Imagine This has been servicing the casino industry with robust and unique programs and gifts since 1999.

As gaming operators have evolved from a “build it they will come” mentality to a sophisticated, data-driven philosophy, so too has Imagine This. Moving beyond simply being a “gift vendor,” Imagine This created and perfected the powerful Continuity Program, incorporating data and predictive analytics to help casinos generate more trips, more revenue, more net profit and greater loyalty from their best players.

To date, the company services over 350 casinos throughout the U.S. and Canada and that number continues to grow each year.

Casino City Press sat down with CEO Patrick Papaccio to discuss how Imagine This has managed to survive, adapt and prosper for over two decades in the ever-evolving casino/gaming industry.

What makes Imagine This a good partner?

Great question. There is a simple answer, and that answer is supported by a whole bunch of key reasons.

The simple answer is we don’t let our clients down. We are there every step of the way and bring them a sense of security and peace.

What makes you different than other vendors in your space?

It starts with our whole company philosophy, dedication to being the best in the casino industry, and providing unmatched services and support.

If you interview any of our clients, you will get a variety of answers as we offer many benefits and depending upon that client’s particular needs, some benefits are important than others.

We are a safe, reliable, and accountable solution for casino operators.

For operators just looking for a strong product vendor that don’t want to bother with the time and effort and risk associated with gift picking, they like to rely on our experience and take the guess work out of the equation. We know what works because we track results in all types of demographics all over the North America. Twenty-one years of tracking what works best. Our clients appreciate seeing the data results on the success levels of the sets as it gives them confidence when ordering that they will produce strong results.

Imagine This rotates through more than $100 million in product annually and carries an average of $50 million in stock in our warehouses, to help new clients get off to a fast start and existing clients continue to grow their results month-over-month and year-over-year. We have clients who have had steady year-over-year growth for more than a decade.

Our products are fully vetted prior to us taking on millions in inventory positions. This is a must for a company like ours, otherwise, we would be out of business real fast. We carry about 36 different active 4–5-week gift sets at any one time.

We create an average of 12 new sets each year, allowing our longest running clients to always have new and innovative product options to motivate their players to keep coming, this is a big part of maintaining the program integrity and results.

How does a marketing person and buyer benefit from working with you?

Our entire approach is to make working with Imagine This the easiest and most flexible solution for casino operators.

Since we are a factory-direct producer, coupled with our buying power, we produce outstanding products that players become accustomed to receiving, which increases player loyalty. Our clients say our quality and packaging make the property look like they really are rewarding their players with high-perceived value gifts.

We have a 90-day right to cancel on all orders, so our clients can plan out their whole year confidently and without a long-term obligation, so they have more flexibility if they need to make marketing changes.

We don’t require contracts or agreements. We work off simple purchase orders.

All our services are free. Why? We like to share with clients the best practices amongst all the casinos we work with to help achieve optimal results. Moreover, we care about the whole experience in working with us. From product quality to logistics to communication, you won’t find a company who walks the walk like we do at Imagine This. We have wonderful people at our company who put their hearts into our clients.

We take back 100% of unneeded product on ALL our products all the time.

Growing revenue and profit is always a top priority for casino operators. Our robust inventory position allows operators to immediately grow and scale their gifting program so they can deliver 100% customer satisfaction and not have to resort to free play or turning players away. This makes Imagine This unique and is the No. 1 factor in maximizing revenue and profit for operators who harness the power of gifting.
If players feel they are not going to get what they came in for, they stop participating and negative words travel fast amongst players. Conversely, when you have 100% player satisfaction, your gifting program can experience phenomenal growth.

Best of all, we do this risk free for all our clients. They only pay for what they use. As many of our clients have said, the great thing about our approach is every gift redeemed makes the casino money, so the more gifts the better.

We control our own manufacturing to ensure highest quality control over production and packaging. We were the first company to offer retail packaging with easy to carry handles for player redemption. Redemption teams like our quality packaging as it minimizes breakage and damage.

How have you been able to avoid all the logistical challenges due to the global supply chain disruption?

Our in-house product design and import team are very experienced. We dealt with issues over the years arising from port strikes to material shortages, cost increases, etc. We have our ear to the ground. We saw what was coming and in coordination with our executive management and investment team, made what many would consider a somewhat risky bet. We added months to our typical production schedule as we believed it was the most controllable variable and it has paid off for us and our clients. We have not missed a single promotion for a client.

We used to order four to five months in advance to play it safe and make sure our goods for our clients were in our warehouses well ahead of their promotion schedule. Today, we are ordering 10 months in advance and without any required obligation from our clients. While it is a bit more expensive on our end, it doesn’t compare to the loss of revenue and profit a client would endure if we were unable to deliver on time for their promotion.

As I mentioned previously, this is part of our overall philosophy. Put the client first and everything else will fall in place. It has also paid dividends, because over the last year, we have been contacted by many operators wanting our help as their other vendors have been unable to perform.

We have also taken significant cost mitigation steps in factory sourcing, freight forwarding, warehouse and other logistics to protect the quality of the products we produce and minimize increases. We understand the importance of casino operators needing to maintain reasonable player reinvestment.

What would you like to say to buyers and marketers that don’t use you yet?

I would like to say on behalf of all of us at Imagine This, we would love the opportunity to work with you so you can experience first-hand what makes us unique and a fun partner. We will have your back every step of the way. Our support team is made up of experienced casino people, so they know the importance of making your job less stressful. We know there are many responsibilities you have, and our job is to do our part to make your job easier by giving you the best support possible.