Back from Las Vegas: A lesson in unnecessary superlatives

When everything is "the best," nothing is.

Don't get me wrong.  My wife and I spent the better part of one week in Las Vegas this month, and it was highly entertaining.  At first, it was hard not to be taken in by all the action.  We were seeing the best shows.  Eating at the best restaurants.  Hitting the best clubs.  For humble folks from the Midwest, the city packs quite a punch.

But after a few days, that pesky Midwestern skepticism began to creep in.

Were we really taking in "the best" of Las Vegas?  Why did every place we go claim to be the "top spot" on the strip?  How could every venue boast "the number one show" in town?

To illustrate, let me fill you in on just a few stops on our itinerary:

We saw "Monty Python's Spamalot" at the Wynn Hotel, voted the "#1 Show in Las Vegas" by the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

That seemed funny, because the same publication also rated "Phantom" the "#1 Show in Las Vegas."  Hmmm.

The "KA" show (the martial arts-inspired Cirque du Soleil show) also received "Top" honors.

Perhaps we only saw "the best" shows?  Hardly.  Every show advertised was "the Best" or "the Number One" show in Las Vegas.

That said, I guess I can understand touting entertainment.  Entertainment is the Las Vegas claim to fame.  Perhaps dining, lodging, and shopping would be immune from the race to the imaginary top.

It wasn't.

We ate dinner one night at MGM Grand's "Pearl," a fine-dining Asian restaurant rated "Four Diamonds" by AAA.  (Their "Top Honor," I was told, when I made reservations.)

Speaking of the MGM Grand, we stayed there. Apparently, we received "Maximum Vegas." Whatever that is.

At night, we rode the elevator to the top of the Eiffel Tower at the Paris Las Vegas hotel - a "Signature" of the Las Vegas skyline with "the Best View" of the strip. (The Stratosphere Hotel also claims that honor.  I guess "the Best View" is relative.)

Shopping at the Fashion Show Mall was nothing less than "the Best Shopping Experience in Las Vegas."  Las Vegas Premium Outlets also were "the Best."  But maybe they meant the best "Outlet Mall."  Curious.

Sometimes, "creative" marketers would dispense with "top" and "best" in favor of the similarly unhelpful "hottest," "sexiest," and "most stylish."  The bombardment was relentless, from elevator placards to mobile billboards to giant flashing neon signs to the infamous "card thwappers" lining the strip at night.

I could go on, but I think you get the idea.

Here's the rub: None of the places we visited needed the extra push. As we made our decisions on where to go, what to see, and what to eat, it quickly became useless to rely on "impartial reviews" and grandiose statements.  Everyone used them.  We had to look for the uniqueness hidden behind the useless language.

And we found it, of course, but that seems beside the point.  Isn't it marketing's job to make sure you understand the one thing a product or service can provide that nothing else can?  I thought it was.

Perhaps marketers in Las Vegas have come to the conclusion that most people will be so taken in by the whole aura of the place, that the first ad to cross their eyes claiming to be "the best" will sink itself into the subconscious.  And perhaps they are right.  Las Vegas is pretty successful, isn't it?

Yes, Las Vegas is successful, but most individual establishments are not.

Outside of a few "institutions," the vast majority of entertainment options stay in circulation no more than 60 to 90 days.  The facts seem to speak for themselves.  Even Vegas could market better.

[Let's not be too comfortable and smug in Minnesota. I know plenty of auto dealerships boasting the "biggest volume dealer" in the Midwest, plenty of real estate agents who claim "number one" honors, and plenty of downtown restaurants touting "the best (fill in the blank cuisine) in the city."  Overused superlatives are a national marketing crisis, and by no means an isolated phenomenon.]

By this point, you might (in somewhat justifiable frustration) ask: Did you see any example of good marketing on your entire trip?

Yes in fact, I did.  There are plenty of examples, if you care to look closely.  But this one for Hoover Dam is the best.

"Don't miss the Biggest Dam Attraction in Southern Nevada".

Funny. Catchy. Unique.  Enough said.