LED zeppelin

Operators of new Las Vegas casinos have used such methods as regional and national print advertising campaigns and Internet banner messages to let prospective job applicants know they are hiring.

When the $1 billion M Resort begins its push to bring on more than 2,000 workers, prospective employees will just have to look skyward.

M Resort has contracted with The Lightship Group of Orlando, Fla., to create a specially designed blimp that will soar high above the Las Vegas Valley, touting the 390-room hotel-casino. M Resort is expected to open next spring at the southeast corner of St. Rose Parkway and Las Vegas Boulevard.

The first messages to be flashed along the blimp's 70-by-30-foot aerial television screen will advertise job openings at the resort.

M Resort CEO Anthony Marnell III said the property has quietly started accepting job applications on the resort's Web site. The employment center will officially open in the middle of the month.

The company signed a deal for the blimp about nine months ago because he thought it would grab people's attention.

"It's a completely different tone," Marnell said. "It's much better than a stagnant billboard."

The twin-engine A-170LS video airship is essentially an electronic sign on a blimp. The television screen uses LEDs -- light emitting diodes -- to broadcast a variety of full-color messages, including live television, streaming video, Web sites and static images.

The blimp is expected to be in the air this month and will have the logo for M Resort on one side and the 2,100-square-foot advertising screen on the opposite side.

M Resort will be seeking workers at a time when Las Vegas's unemployment rate is 6.8 percent, according to figures released for July by the state Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation. Layoffs and job attrition at some hotel-casinos have cut jobs in the gaming industry by 3 percent year to year for June.

Meanwhile, other new casinos are also attempting to gather up employees.

Eastside Cannery, which opened last week, hired 1,100 workers for the $250 million hotel-casino. Station Casinos is in the process of filling 1,200 positions for the $675 million Aliante Station, which opens Nov. 11. Wynn Resorts is hiring 5,300 workers for the $2.2 billion Encore at Wynn Las Vegas, which is expected to open in December.

M Resort will also be competing for employees with the $2.9 billion Fontainebleau, which is scheduled to begin hiring early next year for the nearly 6,000 workers needed for when the property opens in late 2009. Also, the $9.2 billion CityCenter is also scheduled to be unveiled in late 2009 and MGM Mirage plans to hire 12,000 workers for the massive project.

Marnell doesn't believe the M Resort will have trouble finding workers. His family built and operated the Rio before selling the resort to Harrah's Entertainment in 1999. He expects to be contacted by current and former Rio workers.

"There is definitely a market out there for people who want to work in a family environment," Marnell said. "We've hired a lot of our senior staff but we will have a lot of positions available."

Marnell said the M Resort airship will help market the resort throughout Las Vegas for at least a year.

"The plan is to fly it all over Las Vegas," Marnell said. "It will be cool to look up at night and see what is happening at the M. It's something different."

M Resort recently topped off its hotel tower. The casino is expected to be 92,000 square feet, and the property, situated on 90 acres, is expected to include several restaurants, a spa, 60,000 square feet of meeting space and 1 million square feet of retail to be built by Taubman Centers Inc.

Contact reporter Howard Stutz at hstutz@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3871.