Atlantic City

Wes Friesen, manager of Revenue Collections and Community Offices for Portland General Electric (PGE), was presented with the prestigious Franklin Award at the recent MAILCOM 2010 Annual Convention in Atlantic City.

First, the question: Which of these in-plants closed its doors just as IPG’s cover story about it was going to press? _ Sands Hotel & Casino _ Rohm & Haas _ Rocketdyne _ The University of Chicago • Though all four of those in-plants were sadly shuttered in the 1990s, only one of them managed to do it right under our vigilant noses. In late 1997 I drove to Atlantic City to tour the in-plant at Sands Hotel & Casino. Manager Sam Green was a great host and even arranged to let us take photos in the casino, which is almost unheard of.

The Sands Hotel and Casino in-plant plays a huge part in the organization's direct marketing efforts. A casino is a living, glittering dream world—a fantasy of flashing lights and free drinks; a place where mounds of money chips and jangling jackpots of coins seem within easy reach. Naturally, every casino wants you to pull its levers and toss money on its tables. So how do the successful ones get you in their doors? Direct marketing. At least that's the case at the Sands Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, N.J. By mailing personalized statements out to frequent players, combined with coupons for free