[1] Source: "My Vegas Story: Affiliate Marketing and Personal Branding in Sin City." E! Network. June 23, 2002.
[2] Submitted by: Abjab Car Sales. Found on a hotel USB stick.
[3] Uploaded to the archive: March 6, 2025. NotstalgiaArchive.org
Background
The corporate rebranding of Las Vegas began, as many things in the city do, with a bet. One night in 1998, a group of senior executives from competing firms found themselves deep in conversation at a high-roller blackjack table.
Fuelled by overpriced cocktails and the heady fumes of late-stage capitalism, they wagered on an idea: which of them could leave the most indelible mark on Vegas by making it synonymous not with vice, but with corporate synergy?
The results of this intoxicated handshake deal unfolded over the next decade.
LinkedIn took the first bold step, deploying brand ambassadors into hotel bars to recruit professionals during moments of lowered inhibition. The initiative was framed as “networking in its purest form”.
Not to be outdone, Microsoft launched the ‘Microdose Initiative,’ a limited-time venture that combined productivity-enhancing psychedelics with PowerPoint training seminars in select suites at The Venetian. The program’s slogan, “Expand Your Mind, Optimize Your Workflow,” was quietly retired after a series of PowerPoint decks containing nothing but fractal patterns began circulating at shareholder meetings
Amazon made its play with the ‘Prime Companion’ program, where visitors could subscribe to an AI-generated Vegas tour guide that provided automated reassurance after particularly bad poker hands.
Even IBM’s Watson got involved, launching a concierge service that used predictive analytics to determine when a guest was most likely to regret their life choices and recommend an inspirational TED Talk accordingly.
Though most of these ventures failed in the traditional sense, their legacy remains woven into the city’s fabric.
Vegas, once defined by its grit, its excess, its human fallibility, now finds itself in a new era - a carefully managed playground where risk is calculated, indulgence is focus-tested, and even the wildest nights have a measurable ROI.
Further Resources
https://archive.org/details/DOPE477
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