Marketing failure continues to haunt Melco Crown Entertainment Chief Executive Officer Lawrence Ho, as his company’s partly-owned property, Studio City disappoints investors since its opening in October.

Ho is not amused by how Studio City’s marketing team has been performing, admitting that they have failed to translate the company’s brand to the public. As a result, Studio City’s first quarter profit in 2016 was well below market expectations at USD195 million.

Studio City – which targeted the gaming mass market and promoted non-gaming activities – did not fare well as analysts had initially predicted. Adding pressure to the beleaguered casino’s growth is the anticipated opening of MGM Cotai, Wynn Palace and The Parisian on the Cotai Strip, each eyeing the mass-gaming segment.

“We just need to do a better job at marketing ourselves and bundling offers – it’s not rocket science,” Ho told Barron’s Asia. “We had a lot of brand awareness and buzz [at our launch], but somehow our marketing team hasn’t really translated that.”