Casino operator Melco Crown Entertainment (MCE) has shuffled its top executive lineup as CEO Lawrence Ho assumes greater control over the struggling business.
On Friday, MCE announced that it had appointed Frederic Winckler as its new Chief Marketing and Brand Officer. Winckler was most recently CMO for the Louis Vuitton luxury brand, following previous stints as CEO of marketing mainstays J. Walter Thompson Paris.
Winckler will be responsible for marketing and branding all of MCE’s consumer brands. Ho claimed to be “very excited” to welcome Winckler aboard and expressed confidence that Winckler’s experience will “certainly provide invaluable insights as we develop an enhanced strategy to leverage MCE’s luxury and entertainment propositions.”
Winckler has his work cut out for him. MCE’s newest Macau resort Studio City has to date performed well below expectations, and Ho pinned the blame on the property’s marketing team. Studio City’s underwhelming start led to an executive shakeup last November that saw Ho assume day-to-day operational leadership of MCE.
In addition to Winckler, MCE has welcomed Galaxy Entertainment Group and MGM China veteran Gabriel Hunterton as the new property president of the company’s other main Macau resort, City of Dreams. Ho also installed Andy Choy, former gaming director at Ho’s Melco International Development, as the new property president of MCE’s Altira Macau and Mocha Clubs operations.
Finally, Ho has tapped Jarlath Lynch to fill the newly created role of senior VP of Hotels and Food & Beverage. Lynch comes over from MCE’s City of Dreams Manila property in the Philippines and will be responsible for boosting the profile of MCE’s non-gaming amenities.
Ho thanked his management team for “fully supporting the recent changes at the company,” which he said are part of the process of making MCE “stronger and more efficient” and better prepared to “fully exploit future growth opportunities.”
Ho is set to assume majority control of MCE by March 1 following his joint venture partner Crown Resorts’ December decision to sell a serious chunk of its MCE stake. On Friday, Ho said he “cannot think of a more compelling evidence of my positive outlook on Macau’s long-term prospects” and should “further emphasize MCE remains my highest priority.”
Following December’s share deal, MCE announced that it planned to establish “a new corporate entity” that reflected Crown’s reduced role in the joint venture. In addition to imminent changes to MCE’s corporate letterhead, the Crown brand will likely disappear from its position on MCE’s hotel properties.
