Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Nextel names chief to drive its monorail sales platform

From: [email-masked]
Date: Sat, 10 Apr 2004 16:09:05 -0400

Nextel names chief to drive its monorail sales platform
By Steven Mihailovich

[email-masked]

With the 12-year deal to sponsor the Las Vegas Convention Center Station
and a four-car monorail train on the new Las Vegas Monorail announced
last November, wireless carrier Nextel Communications recently tapped
Miguel Lecuona as general manager of its Las Vegas Monorail operation.

As senior director of marketing for Nextel's west region prior to the
new position, Lecuona was intricately involved in developing Nextel's
program for the monorail and the appointment maintains continuity for
the company's project.

The new general manager believes the project will give Las Vegas
residents and visitors alike the chance to have access to the latest
innovations as they come to market while providing Nextel with an
exceptional opportunity to brand its product to a targeted audience on a
massive scale in the most ultramodern setting.

"You can have a lot of years in marketing and not have an opportunity
like this," he says. "It is the difference between selling phones and
extending brand presence into the market."

Completed last month, the first phase of the $650 monorail runs from the
MGM Grand Casino to the Sahara hotel-casino. There are plans to extend
the line to downtown and to McCarran Airport.

To recoup some of the cost, the Las Vegas Monorail has been hawking
long-term advertising for its monorail cars and stations along the route
to companies producing consumer goods.

Although not releasing details, the deal will cost Nextel as much as $4
million annually for the station and $1 million annually for the
yellow-branded train. The campaign could cost as much as $96 million
over the next 12 years. Because of its high visibility, the Convention
Center station was priced twice as much as any other stations.

"That's the power of Las Vegas," Lecuona says, commenting on the
station's strategic position. "We'll have millions of walk-ins and be
able to schedule appointments with key executives."

To reach passing auto and pedestrian traffic below, Nextel will hang two
video screens measuring 60 feet each from the station above Desert Inn
Road.

Nextel will have 15,000 square feet of space at the station. According
to Lecuona, the company will use up to 1,800 square feet for a retail
center and up to 5,000 square feet to showcase the company's latest
products. It will be called the Nextel Center of Excellence West and
modeled after the only other one located at company headquarters in
Reston, Virginia.

The new general manager says that as both the monorail and wireless
technology develop, the monorail could eventually become a tool for
visitors. For instance, a convention visitor could check for updates
about his or her show, check in wirelessly to their hotel, take the
monorail and pick up new software.

"It becomes a very personalized experience for the end-user," he says.
"The word for the project is immersion. It will not saturate a person
with blinking lights and Nextel messages but help them to do whatever
they came here to do ... Twelve years is a long time to evolve a
promotion. As the route expands and our relation solidifies, as creative
as we've been now, we will keep it up."

The same might not be said for the Las Vegas Monorail. After its
successful sale to Nextel, the marketing project has found few other
takers. While the monorail is reportedly considering bringing aboard
second- and third-tier clients, Lecuona would not comment directly
except to reaffirm the relationships that his company has made.

"We're very active with Prometheus Partners," he says. "I am confident
they will represent the monorail and Nextel [appropriately] to get the
right people."

For the new general manager, it is the station that offers the most
potential. With convention shows drawing millions, he says the company
will be able to sell products and buy loyalty with large exposure in the
branding effort.
"We can preserve loyalty, which is most profitable, but also present
Nextel to new prospects," Lecuona says.  "The monorail deal gives us a
national and international opportunity in a single market like we have
never seen."

http://www.lvbusinesspress.com/articles/2004/04/09/news/news13nextel.txt

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