What We Learn From Super Bowl Ads

On behalf of all marketers, I would like to thank the brands and ad agencies that spent the money to produce and run this year’s Super Bowl ads.  Your money was well spent for the study of our craft. 

Most of us  (who am I kidding)  all of us that buy media or market for live shows and events cannot afford to buy an ad during the Super Bowl.  I wish we could because the attention these ads get is like no other.  If you were at a party last night, did you notice how quiet it got when the commercials came on?  As soon as it was over everyone became a Simon, Randy, Paula, Kara, etc…  Some of the spots were good and some were not.  The big question if you spent the money is: “will it sell product”? Today, everyone is talking about the commercials.  But are they talking about the product? 

One of my favorites was the eTrade spot with the babies.  The babies in their ads have been around for a few years.  The brand awareness is already there.  All they have to do is come up with a new story line for the babies, which they did.  This is one of the few brands that are still top of mind this morning.

The goal of any campaign is to create awareness and sell product. Our creative can accomplish both, but so often does not.  In our industry we seem to have this boring, straight forward approach.  We show footage of the event.  We have the same type voiceovers.  This formula is as old as dirt.  Don’t you think it is time to shake things up?  TV is very expensive.  Our marketing budget gets sucked dry when we spend money on TV.  If we are going to spend budget on TV why not do it right?  Our shows and events are designed to entertain our customers.  Don’t you think the marketing creative should also?

Super Weekend: Do You Have A Show?

This Sunday is the official “un-official” national holiday in the United States.  The Super Bowl is like no other sporting event.  Yes, the Olympics is the biggest sporting event in the world, but here in the U.S. we treat this football game like a national holiday.  The grocery stores will be packed.  Beer and wine consumption is huge!  In fact, I heard this morning that this Sunday is one of the top 10 biggest wine drinking days of the year. This game is so big that some people watch the game just to see the commercials. What happens if you have an event or show on Super Bowl Sunday? 

This problem happened to me once.  I remember being in Toledo one year with an ice show on Super Bowl weekend.  As soon as I saw the dates of the show, I immediately worked on the Sunday show schedule.  This was a family show, so it is normal to have multiple performances on the weekend.  Timing of the performances on that Sunday was crucial.  A Sunday performance too early and you bump into church.  Too late and the game is on.  We decided to only do one performance on the Sunday that year.  We even marketed that performance to let the public know they could see our show and be home in plenty of time for the big game.  Even with one less performance that year, our one Sunday performance did enough business to make it up.

Of course not everyone thinks when they book events on this day.  Both my kids have youth sports games this Sunday right at the beginning of the game.  What’s up with that?

Nothing like “old fashion” PR stunts

My friend Bob Collins let me know about a PR stunt he marketed the other day in Sarasota, FL.  He had Nik Wallenda walk the high-wire across the two largest buildings in Sarasota.  This was done to promote the opening of  Circus Sarasota which is touring the West Coast of Florida.  Even though this area is known as the home of circus’ he was still able to create a big buzz and had tons of media attention.  With all the new ways we have to market our events, it is refreshing to see that some of the “old tricks” still work today.

It’s All About Passion!

I found a book that pairs perfectly with this blog.  The book is called Crush It! Why Now is the Time to Cash In On Your Passion. The book is written by Gary Vaynerchuk. 

Like you, I don’t have time to read a ton of books so I am selective in my reading.  With this book, I actually downloaded the audio book to my iPod.  The book is about living your passion.  It talks about social media and how it has leveled the playing field.  It talks about how Facebook and Twitter are marketing tools not a media strategy. It discusses how we should use this recession to cash in on our passion.  Does all this sound familiar?  We have discussed all of this in the past on this blog.  I have met Gary a few times and I can tell you he lives this book. 

I made a decision last summer to take my passion for culinary and my 25 year career in entertainment marketing and meld the two together.  With this, I have a number of new business ideas and opportunities.  While many of these projects and opportunities are still in concept form, it has given me a new energy and excitement. My brain has not pumped out this many ideas in 10 years.

Even if you have no plans to leave what you are currently doing, you can use your passions to create new opportunities for your business.  If you enjoy what you do, then come up with new ways to make it even more fun.  If you don’t have fun at your career, then you need a new career.  Don’t think of it as a job, think of it as “This is what I do”.

All of us in event & entertainment marketing have passions beyond what we do at our daily business.  What if you could take that passion and apply it to the events, shows, and venues you promote?

Arena Venues – Not Just For Sitting & Watching

Over the weekend I went to the Great Northeast Home Show in Albany NY.  The show was so large that it was housed in two venues; the Empire State Plaza Convention Center and the Times Union Center arena.  As I walked around the show I realized we should be using arenas more often for these types of events.

As arena marketers and bookers we are always looking at traditional touring shows and events that we can book into our venues.  What about other events?  There are 365 days in a year.  Most venues are not booked 365 days so this means there is capacity to fill.  Convention halls seem to have the lock on consumer trade shows.  The show I was at proves that arenas can do a fine job of hosting consumer trade shows too.  I am looking to produce a food show in the next year or so.  I will now look at an arena venue to possibly host it.

As I was walking around the arena concourse and looked at all the trade show booths it reminded me of when we offered our sponsors at the IHL Atlanta Knights, sponsor tables.  What if you took that idea to the next level?  What if you sold concourse booth space to create a trade show?  If you are an arena sports team you know your demographics.  Why not produce a consumer trade show on your concourse during a game or two?  This may work better for a minor league team but why would it not work? This could be new found revenue.  Find exhibitors that believe your fans are their customers.  If the match is right you will have a win-win for all.

As I have discussed in the past, our business is changing and we need to change with it.  We need to find new sources of revenue and offer our customers new and exciting opportunities.

Don’t Let Your Best Asset Sit

As marketers our best asset is our brain.  The creative ideas, problem solving, and quick thinking is what makes us unique (we also like to spend other people’s money, but that is for another blog post).  Like anything else if you don’t use it, you lose it.

Ask any athlete what happens when they take too much of a break from training, practice, or competition.  Like anything you have to keep your brain in top marketing shape.  If you are sitting around and doing nothing, your best asset will feel it too.  Of course you need to rest it, but too much rest can make your best asset well…flabby.

If you are currently unemployed, what are you doing with your best asset?  Yes, you need to use it for seeking out your next “big thing”.  But what else are you doing with it?  If you are employed, do you use the creative part of your brain for just work?  Do you use it outside of work?

Keep your best asset in shape on a regular basis.  Create an exercise program for it.  This might include getting involved in a charity or non-profit.  How about an activity you enjoy that uses your creativity, problem solving, and quick thinking.  Even though I am an event & entertainment marketer I am also going to culinary school to become a professional chef.  You would be surprised how it has helped my marketing creativity?

So get off your other asset and exercise your best asset.

So…What Does This Mean?

Since the news broke on Monday that the merger between Live Nation and Ticketmaster was approved by the Government, the number one question I am asked is “what does this mean?”  The quick answer is: I don’t know yet.

Depending on where/what you are in the industry could determine if you see changes now or later.  For the customer I don’t see any real changes at least in the short term.  Christine Varney from the Department of Justice Anti-Trust division was quoted as saying “we expect that we will see ticket prices coming down”.  Why does she think this?  Live Nation alone does not control the price of tickets.  If Live Nation, AEG or anyone else is still willing to pay “out of whack” dollars for talent then prices are not going to drop. Greed is not with one company alone. Ticket prices will drop when effort is made from artists, managers, agents, promoters, and venues to work together. 

DOJ is also making the new company license its ticketing software to AEG.  For Live Nation Entertainment, this is no big deal.  The ticketing software is not a major piece of the company.  For AEG, this is a good deal because they can now sell their own tickets “ready made”.

For peeps working at Ticketmaster and Live Nation, there is a lot of uneasiness.  What will the consolidation look like?  Are there jobs that could be considered duplicates?  Yesterday, Liberty Media offered to buy more stock in the new Live Nation Entertainment.  If this happens it would give them a 35% share of the new company.  How will they play into this? They are known for taking over companies.

I do know this.  The industry as a whole is not in the best shape.  This past year was a killer for all of us.  We need to see improvement and growth in 2010.  We need to move lots of tickets.  It’s in Live Nation Entertainment’s best interest to help facilitate this.  I ask that they don’t just look at their bottom line but the bottom line of the whole industry.  As the line in the movie Spiderman said “With great power comes great responsibility”.

If They Want It, They Will Buy It

Over the weekend I attended the Boston Wine Expo.  This annual event is always a big draw for wine lovers.  But the most interesting facts from this years event were that both days were sold out, the price/type of the wines being sampled, and the average age attending.

Yes, this event was sold out.  I am not sure how many tickets were sold each day but tickets cost $85 each.  The event was from 1:00 PM until 5:00 PM each day.  With the economic climate we are in, I think this is impressive.  As with last years event the demo of the ticket holder was younger.  I would guess the late 20’s / early 30 something crowd.  Why were they willing to drop $85 bucks for a few hours of wine tasting?  The answer is in the title of today’s post.  If they want it, they will buy it. If they see a value, they will buy it.

While I was there I hooked up with wine and social media guru Gary Vaynerchuk.  He was all decked out in his Jets football jersey.  He is a huge Jets fan so I feel bad for him today.  I understand his pain!

A very interesting fact worth discussing is the average price point of the wines being sampled.  The average bottle being offered was in the $10 – $15 range.  This has dropped since last year.  Wine producers have come to the realization they are now main stream.  They need to offer their products to the “masses not the classes”.  I remember this was a favorite line of Allen Bloom when describing the demo of Ringling Bros.  He also finished that line with “we are Chevy not Lincoln’s.  More people drive Chevy’s then Lincoln’s”.

As you produce and sell your events you should keep in mind these five important items when it comes to pricing:

1. Who is my demo?
2. Is this a product they want?
3. What will they really pay?
4. Will my customer see a value?
5. Will they buy again next time?

It Was All About The Marketing!

This blog is about event & entertainment marketing, not politics.  However, when I believe we can learn something about marketing from a political campaign then I write about it.  I am not writing this as a Democrat or Republican but as a marketer.  What happened here Massachusetts last night was all about the marketing.  One side did a great job and the other side did not.

Did we not all learn from last year’s Obama marketing campaign?  Everyone agreed that President Obama did an amazing marketing job.  That is why he won.  So why did Martha Coakley go back to “old school” thinking? 

The Democrats used the number one rule you never use, they ASSuME’ed. This is a blue state.  All branches of the state government are controlled by Democrats.  The voters would never elect a Republican.  Early in the marketing campaign they had a big lead so they pulled back on the marketing campaign. Why did they do this?

Scott Brown had a marketing plan and he stuck with it.  His message never changed.  He studied and used the Obama playbook.  He had a fabulous grass roots marketing campaign. He did his market research.  He knew his market.  He played  offense.  He created excitement. He got voters to like him as a person.  He even marketed his truck.  From what I hear he did all this without national Republican help for most of the campaign.  They didn’t jump on the bandwagon until he started moving up in the polls. 

The Democrats got caught with their pants down. Martha Coakley did not work the media.  She did very little grass roots. She did not create excitement.  A candidate is a brand.  You have to create brand excitement. Negative marketing does not work in the 21^st century.  When are they going to learn this?  When she fell behind she started spending marketing dollars  again for defense and negative. 

What can we learn from all this? A lot, but start with this:  Market every show or event with the same intensity.  Never stop or slow down until it’s over.  If you have tickets to sell, keep marketing until they are gone.

Sponorship Is About Being Win-Win

We have discussed this in the past, but I get excited when I see a good example of sponsors and venues working together.  The goal of a good partnership is to accomplish a win-win for both partners.

Last week I received an e-mail press release from my friends at the Roanoke Civic Center.  They have started a ticketing sponsor/partner deal with HomeTown Bank in the Roanoke market.  The goal of the venue is to move tickets for their events.  According to the press release the bank’s goal is “It is our goal to continuously provide our community with support and determine new and exciting ways to market our bank. HomeTown Bank is known for outstanding customer service and this is another way we are expanding our brand.”  Wow, they said it in such exciting bank language.

The bottom line is the arena wanted more customer opportunities and exposure to buy tickets.  The bank wanted to enhance the customer experience.

The venue is using the Paciolan ticketing system which is part of Ticketmaster. Tickets are sold on the HomeTown Bank website, by a HTB ticket toll-free phone number, and the Roanoke Civic Center box office.  They are not selling tickets at the bank branches.  That is a good idea.  You don’t want bank tellers selling tickets.   Check out the HomeTown Bank Tix website: www.HomeTownBankTIX.com

This deal is not just about signage and brand exposure.  This is a deal where the customer is “hands on”.  If they want to buy a ticket they think HomeTown Bank.

This is what partnership is all about! If you want more sponsors give them steak with the sizzle.

Marketing Is Like Cooking

Maybe this is why I am working to merge my two passions of entertainment marketing with the culinary world.  There are so many similarities. 

With cooking you follow a recipe.  With marketing you follow a marketing plan.  Before you execute the marketing plan you have to write the marketing plan.  With cooking, there are all types of recipes out there but they don’t all fit your needs.  Sometimes you even have to re-write a recipe to fit the right situation. The best cooks know the food and can create new and exciting dishes.

There are many times when you find out the recipe has mistakes.  This is more common in cook books then you think!  With marketing plans, you could use previous plans written for that market.  Are these plans correct?  Only you can decide this.  You know your market.

Sometimes when marketing an event things go wrong and you have to fix it.  The same happens with cooking.  Do you know how many times the “F” word or the “S’ word is said in a kitchen?  Almost as much as the entertainment business.  Actually, this may be the real reason I feel so comfortable in the kitchen.

Weather can affect both marketing and cooking.  If you have a show during a blizzard you are screwed!  If you try making meringues on a very hot, humid day you are screwed!

For the next event you work on think of yourself as the Chef.  Think of your marketing plan as the recipes.  Your marketing budget as the money to buy the ingredients.  The implementation of the plan as cooking.  Then watch your results.  Yes, sometimes there may be issues but if you work behind the scenes to fix it you could have great results.

Happy Cooking!