Monday, March 10, 2025 | 3 a.m.
Dana Reynolds is only a few months into her new job leading the Fremont Street Experience’s marketing team. Her office overlooks the unique location, filled with remnants of old Las Vegas canopied by one of the largest video screens in the world.
“I do take a minute every day, if not five, to look out there and just watch people,” Reynolds said. “The best thing about marketing, in general, is watching. I think you get your best insights when you watch what people are experiencing.”
The Sun sat down with Reynolds to talk about the street’s “full story,” its audience and how the location can take advantage of its niche in an increasingly expensive destination city.
How do you see the typical Fremont Street visitor and how do you want to cater to that demographic?
Fremont Street is fun, right? And I think people want to have a good time. They want to feel welcome, that guest or that consumer. We like to say it’s like their mini house party.
Some research that we’ve seen from a generational perspective, we know that the millennials and the Gen Zs are on the rise on Fremont Street. And so we also know they like experiences and they like authentic experiences. So how do we cater to that?
It’s authentic, it’s affordable, it’s a menagerie of things. So I think that when we target, it is about targeting those experiences. It’s about the collective, not just one thing.
Las Vegas is continuing to get more expensive for families. You talked about Fremont Street being more affordable; how do you capitalize on that?
A lot of what we do at Fremont Street is free. Everything we do when we have an event or an activation, (like the) National Rugby League (fan event), you don’t have to pay. We have nightly entertainment every night. I mean, there’s hours and hours of free entertainment that people come to and we’re drawing foot traffic to Fremont Street, and that won’t change.
If anything, it will continue to be more. I can’t give you an exact number of the events in 2024, but I know 2025 will have more and they will be free. The only event we charge for is New Year’s Eve, but we’re working on new promotions for Slotzilla, for the zip line, for 2025 and we’ll have a new Viva Vision for 2025 as well.
What I really like about working here is when I go down the street, everybody’s got their phones out. Everybody’s just taking it in and having a good time. And I think that’s why people like to come to Fremont. Obviously, the Strip is great too. They’re two different experiences.
The city’s had an explosion of sporting events over the past couple years in venues like Allegiant Stadium or T-Mobile Arena. Is the goal to have Fremont be the premier secondary site for those sorts of events?
That’s a great goal. Aspirationally, I love that.
I’ll be at my first (fan fest) on (Feb. 27), and I’m looking forward to seeing what that looks like. But from what I can understand, even for the Las Vegas Bowl, we have a team fan fest here for that as well. That’s been every year for years, and that goes off amazingly.
I think Fremont Street is the perfect place for any type of fan gathering.
There are locals-oriented properties and there are others designed largely for tourists in Las Vegas. Where do you think Fremont is on that divide?
I haven’t been here that long. I’m still going through the data, but from a local and then a tourist perspective, I love Fremont Street because I think we cater to both. Fifty-four percent of people that go to the Strip come downtown, right? That’s great.
From a local perspective, the events that we hold — the free events, the downtown rock series that’s coming in May, St. Patrick’s Day — locals like that. They love it. There’s a lot of locals here that come to Fremont Street for these events. So, again, I think it goes back to affordability.
Before you were at Fremont, you worked at the Cosmo. What’s one thing you learned there, or any other previous job, that you want to bring to Fremont?
It’s really all about the brand, and telling the story of the brand and being consistent on all relevant marketing channels. When I think of Fremont Street, it’s the master brand. And what we want to do moving forward is that that master brand will always be the through line through marketing efforts.
A major lesson I learned is that the brand comes first, right? So how you treat the brand, what that brand architecture looks like, how you’re telling the story of that brand.
We want to connect those engaging content posts and then make (people) aware of everything we have to offer if they come visit. It’s like, if you come to Las Vegas, you must come to Fremont Street, like you’ve missed something if you haven’t been to Fremont Street. And that’s what storytelling will help us with, finding those stories and experiences.
What goals do you have for the rest of the year?
It’s about telling those stories, ensuring that within our messaging, we’re talking about (food and beverage) offerings, attractions — we’re talking about free entertainment, casinos with a hint of old Vegas charm. It’s the knack of storytelling which I think will drive the message home about Fremont Street.
(We’re also) strengthening the relationships with the City of Las Vegas, the (Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority), the downtown Vegas Alliance. We have strong relationships there, and we want to continue that.
We just want to continue that community effort as well for Fremont Street because there is a lot of sense of community here.