Last week at the Event & Arena Marketing Conference a panel of family shows and Ticketmaster discussed several areas from ticket sales patterns to marketing the shows. During the marketing portion, my ears perked up from what I heard about brand awareness.
Unless you are creating a new brand name show or concept, most potential customers know who you are. The Harlem Globetrotters are a perfect example. Their brand name goes back 84 years. So when they marketed the show as “All New Show” no one got it. When Michael Kenny, Senior VP of Live Event Marketing at the Globetrotters said this, I realized this might be the most important statement of that day.
Using the term “all new show” for any of the shows represented on that panel really didn’t make sense. The panel represented the brands Ringling Bros., Disney on Ice, Stars on Ice, Ticketmaster, and Harlem Globetrotters. If you have an established brand then the customer or fan knows who you are. The question is, what is going to make them come see you? Saying ”all new show” means what? If you are the Globetrotters, the customer knows you are the most fun and famous basketball team in the world. If you are Ringling Bros. you are the biggest and most famous circus in the world. If they skip a year, will they really miss something that is “all new”?
Michael Kenny explained that this was their challenge. So instead of telling the customers they had a new show (which they did), they decided to market to the parents. They told mom to remember when they went as kids. Continue the family tradition and take their kids. This could be termed “brand awareness reminder”.
If you are an established music act and you tour, why does the fan buy a ticket to see you? You usually tour to promote a new album. But do you think the fan really cares about that? No, they want to see you and hear the hits. If the new album has a big hit while you are touring (i.e. Coldplay Viva La Vida Tour) then great! Saying come see me because I have a new album is not the right marketing tactic.
Market your message to what your customers want to hear, not what you want to hear.
Tags: brand awareness, Coldplay, concert tours, Disney On Ice, event & arena marketing conference, Harlem Globetrotters, Michael Kenny, Ringling Bros. Circus, Stars On Ice, Ticketmaster, Viva La Vida Tour
