Tulalips think regional resort would add to "fun, fun, fun"

If you hear that classic Beach Boys' tune "Fun, Fun, Fun" on the radio and you're not listening to an oldies station, it may be the Tulalip Casino's catchy new jingle.

The state's biggest gambling venue launched a marketing campaign last month designed to renew excitement about the casino and build anticipation for the planned 2008 opening of the Tribes' $125 million luxury hotel.

Not that business is bad. Ken Kettler, casino president, said revenues have risen steadily since the casino's splashy opening back in 2002. The intervening years have seen a stream of tour buses and enough recreational gamblers to put the Tulalips' net profit in 2005 at more than $100 million.

But most of the growth over the past year has come from the Tribes' original casino, Quil Ceda Creek, Kettler said. The Tribes own three gambling venues in Tulalip, a bingo hall at 2911 Quil Ceda Way, the original casino at 6410 33rd Ave. N.E. and the new casino at 10200 Quil Ceda Blvd.

And with gambling available at just about every other exit up and down Interstate 5, tribal and casino leaders said they need a distinctive identity.

Ads for the Muckleshoot Casino feature a deep-voiced Caribbean man who injects a mood of calypso in every 30-second commercial. Radio spots for the Emerald Queen Casino promise a steady lineup of aging rock bands.

But the last jingle for the Tulalip Casino seems to have been from about 1993, when the Tribes' first casino was built. The numerous billboards and bus signs that accompanied the new $78 million casino opening hadn't been updated in four years. Recent TV ads featured airplane trips and cash prizes, not the experience of being in the casino.

"The ads had gotten kind of stale. We said, 'Let's jazz this thing up,' " said John McCoy, a tribal member and manager of Quil Ceda Village, the Tribes' retail operation, who can still sing the 1993 jingle.

Working with a Seattle advertising firm, Victory Creative Group, Kettler's marketing plan targets blue-collar baby boomers so burdened by work and family responsibilities that they've forgotten how to have fun.

Initial ads airing this month show a harried mom struggling to get her children into jackets and out the door. In the next shot, she's looking glamorous — "all dolled up," in Kettler's words — and having a great time at the casino.

In another, a ferry worker directs traffic in a steady rain. The next shot shows him suave and smiling at a gaming table.

Kettler wouldn't say how much the casino is spending on the new advertising campaign.

And the current ads are prototypes for an evolving campaign that will shift its focus over the coming year to the planned five-star hotel. It was originally budgeted at $75 million, but the Tulalips must still approve an estimated $50 million more to meet rising construction costs.

Plans for the 12-story hotel call for 30,000 square feet of meeting space, several restaurants and bars, a spa, an indoor garden terrace and an "oasis" pool.

The Tribes' goal is to turn the casino and hotel into a resort destination that will draw conventions and vacationers for multiple-day stays. A marketing survey done by McCoy's staff found that Washingtonians' favorite resort destinations were Lake Coeur d'Alene in Idaho and Sunriver in Oregon.

"We can be that destination resort between Seattle and Vancouver," Kettler said.

The survey also found that people who expressed interest in visiting the Tulalip hotel and casino said they'd like to know more about tribal history and culture.

The new hotel will feature $1 million in tribal art — from totem carvings in the lobby to masks, paddles and historic photos decorating restaurants and meeting rooms.

The beds in each of the rooms will be draped with throws woven with the Tulalips' signature orca emblem. The throws will also be on sale in the resort gift shop.

The Tulalips are discussing whether members want to produce potlatches for tourists that could feature alder-smoked salmon and native drumming and dancing and attract the same crowds that in Hawaii line up for $60 luaus.

While the Vancouver Olympics in 2010 is an immediate object of all these preparations, Kettler and the Tulalips are looking long term at capturing the international trade and tourism markets.

Advertising is just one strategy, he said, to create the desired "wow effect."

Lynn Thompson: 425-745-7807 or lthompson@seattletimes.com