Groupon

A little over a year ago I mentioned Groupon in one of my blog posts.  Over the past year has the digital super group for anyone grown?  Oh you bet it has!

Last week on their Twitter page Groupon claimed that someone got the 10 millionth North American Groupon.  For a company that is only two years old that is mind blowing awesome. 

Groupon shows all of us in the event & entertainment marketing industry that we should be doing more with selling tickets in bulk.  The family shows have been using traditional group sales forever.  Concert promoters, not so much. Amusement parks would be out of business without groups.

It wasn’t that long ago that shows frowned on super groups.  They didn’t like the idea of “piecing together” a group.  They thought it was “cheating”.  I was never part of that thinking.  My attitude was always “sell a block of my tickets and I will reward”.

Ten years ago I was part of a dotcom called Grouptickets.  This was a B2B play for 1000+ employee based companies.  We were a one stop shop for individual employees to buy tickets at the group discount without actually going as a group.  It was one of the first “super group” concepts.  The gamble was that a large company would meet the minimum requirement for a group.  It was Groupon for business. The downfall of Grouptickets was timing.  We were ahead of our time.  We also needed more money when the dotcom bubble burst in 2001. I always joke that I was a dotcom millionaire for a day.

Today, Groupon is offering the same concept to anyone. Timing is everything.  Customers want a deal.  All part of the new economic world we live in.

Fighting For Tickets

With ticket sales down again this year, all of us in the event & entertainment business are looking for what does sell.  How about Ultimate Fighting?

To my surprise, today’s Boston Globe has not one but two articles on the Ultimate Fighting Championships.  One is front page center and the other is front page top of the sports section. That is extraordinary to get that much ink in a major newspaper. The sport has gone from underground to prime time and real money. 

The UFC is coming to the TD Garden here in Boston this Saturday.  According to the article ticket prices range from $75 to $600, with an average ticket price of $244.  That is really impressive with the state of our economy when we can’t sell $100 concert tickets. Not only are they doing this big event at the Garden but they are also hosting a fan expo with prices running from $30 to $50.  All of this is really big money.

The fans and organizers of mixed martial arts are very passionate about the sport.  I have several Twitter followers that are part of that world.  I do read their tweets.  There passion also gives them the gift of being really good marketers.

The success of this sport is a perfect example of ticket buyers looking for new and exciting things.  Our job is to continue looking ahead of the curve and find these ticket selling events before they happen.  Do you want to be a trendsetter or someone that jumps on the wagon when it’s already reached its destination?

Way Too Corporate

Whenever I think back to when I started in the live event & entertainment business, I remember the little things that made the difference.  A time when you didn’t over think things.  A time when you used your gut.  What happened to those days?  Is this part of today’s problem?

The live event and entertainment business today is way too corporate.  We have tons of rules, regulations, policies and procedures that I believe stifle creativity.  Today, the marketing of our events is all based on a system.  A one size fits all approach.  Kind of like the baseball caps we all want to buy.  Don’t they realize that some heads are bigger than others?

We need today’s marketers to be marketers.  Hire the best and let them do what they do best.  They live in the market.  They know all the media peeps by their first name.  Deals are made because of relationships not just how much money you are going to spend.  The relationships take care of the money. 

Many of the venues in this country are managed by a few huge corporations.  I don’t have an issue with this except when they want all the venues to run exactly the same.  They want the same websites.  They want the same look & feel with everything at the venue.  They come up with media plans, charts, and graphs but as the saying goes “does it work in Peoria”?  

Several years ago I was managing an extreme sports park for one of the really big venue management companies.  They had never run an extreme sports park before so they went with the default method.  They tried to run it like an arena. 

We can’t change who manages our venues, shows, and events but we can change how we market.  Let’s think less corporate and more “real world”.

Some Of This Weeks Tidbits

 Crush It!

Finally got time to finish reading Gary Vaynerchuk’s book Crush It! I love this book.  It is all about following your passion. He has so many great ideas in his book for my new business.  If you are a live event marketer, please find time to read the book. 

Pop Tart World

Yesterday I took the family to New York City for the day.  One of the highlights (at least for the kids) was Pop Tart World.  They just opened a few weeks ago.  It fits nicely in Times Square along with the M&M store and the Hershey store.   Pop Tart World is small but cool.  It has a “sundae” type bar where you can get all kinds of pop tart desserts including Pop Tart sushi.  All of these theme stores are great for brand awareness.  It is just like my example of beer companies giving brewery tours.  It makes you want to buy the product.   Brands should bring this type of exposure on the road more often with mobile versions.  This creates brand awareness, excitement, and want.  They are great for giving the customer a hands-on experience.  I still have a small toy trailer truck for a brand I pitched this idea to years ago. 

Big Shout Out!

Congrats to sports business guru Jeff Cogen on his new gig as CEO of the Nashville Predators.  Jeff had been President of the Dallas Stars for the past three years.  I have known Jeff for 25 years.  He is an also a fellow Feld/Ringling Bros. alumni. Jeff is a master at putting butts in seats.  While with the Texas Rangers he was credited with creating different ticket prices for MLB tickets depending on who the Rangers were playing.

Ticket Fee Free Weekend?

This weekend is a sales tax free holiday here in Massachusetts.  All items under $2,500 are tax free.  This is a big weekend for retailers.  It’s like a weekend stimulus plan for them.  What if we applied a fee free weekend for tickets? 

A weekend where you can buy tickets to any event anywhere fee free.  The face value of the ticket is the only cost.  We could go even better and offer a weekend sale on advance tickets.  How about 10% off and fee free.  Do you think our customers and fans would buy?  Would it stimulate them enough?

It would take an agreed effort from the venues and ticket companies.  I don’t think it would be that hard to accomplish. For Live Nation it would be easy.  They control the ticketing with Ticketmaster and the run some venues.  But for it to be successful it needs all of us in the industry to be on board. It would take a combined marketing effort.  

I am sure the ticketing companies who are reading are saying “hey you are asking us to give up our main revenue source for a weekend”.  Because ticket sales are down in general they are losing revenue every day. I am asking them to eat some revenue for a weekend to defibrillate the sale of tickets. 

If everyone jumped on board it would create a big buzz and I bet we would move some tickets.  Think about it. 

Have a great weekend!

Less Flash More Cash?

So we find ourselves still hurting in the live entertainment business.  Our customers and fans are still not buying tickets the way we want or need them to.  What can we do about it?  I still think it’s the price point.

Even though the recession is supposedly over, we still have almost 10% of the population out of work.  80% live everyday with the fear they are next.  Our entertainment is supposed to be their stress reliever.  But the cost to go out and see us is part of the stress. 

What if someone had the balls to put out an affordable tour?  A tour that is based on volume? A tour where everyone involved cut their prices?  This would mean the artists, the production, the promoter, the staffing, the venues, the concessions, everything. 

Running a business based on volume and low frills is not new to the world.  McDonalds & Burger King are making a killing based on $1.00 double cheeseburgers.  McDonalds is also selling luxury items without the luxury. I just read today that Mickey D’s had a huge quarter because of low priced “fancy” coffee drinks and smoothies.  

When I first went to concerts, you went to hear the music.  You just wanted to see and hear your favorite band live.  You didn’t care about special effects. The one luxury you did request was decent sound.  Do all artists and shows today need expensive sets and mind blowing special effects to sell tickets? 

You don’t have to market the tour as the “no frills tour”.  Just put together a good show that customers will be interested in.  Charge no more than $20 for any seat.  Market the show in a way where the customer knows the show is fun and affordable but not a “cheap” production.  

If you want to spend some money, put it into the marketing!

Waiting On Someone Else

Wouldn’t it be great if business moved at the speed you wanted it to move at? 

As we have discussed in previous posts I am currently re-tooling my entertainment marketing business to meld with the world of culinary.  This means a new logo and website.  The logo is finished but I am still waiting on the website.  It is taking a very long time to get it done.  I don’t want to start marketing the new business until I have a working website. Today, you cannot market your product without a website.  When someone first hears about your business, they almost always check out your website.  If you don’t have a website, that sends a negative message.  So I sit and wait for my web people to get it done.

As event & entertainment marketers we use lots of outside companies to get our projects done.  We use creative agencies, PR agencies, printers, etc…  While I understand we are not their only client, does that mean that we have to work at their pace and not ours? 

If you run any type of business, then you have customers.  Without your customers you have no business.  Someone has to pay you.  A working relationship with your customers or clients needs to be as close as possible.  Both parties need to understand each other’s business.  If you cannot turn something around in 24 hours, you need to let your customer know upfront.  If you can, then make sure you do it. As a business you need to understand your client’s deadlines.  You need to understand their business depends on it.

I have said this before; just think how much business would get done in this world if everyone stayed on deadline.

Business Is Too Good: You’re Fired!

 This is what the ticket sales staff at the Miami Heat heard over the weekend.  I’m sorry but that is just wrong! I am not the only one thinking this.  The web is buzzing this morning.

I first heard about this yesterday while reading some LinkedIn updates.  This morning I checked the Miami Herald website  and it was confirmed.  The article  states that ever since the Heat signed Lebron James, there has been a run on season tickets.  Since there are no more season tickets to sell, they don’t need a sales staff.  What message does this send to your ticket staff?  Don’t do your job too well?  Don’t let the owners sign a top notch star?  

Now that the Heat have an arena full of season ticket holders, who is going to service them?  When the customer has a problem, who will they call?  Why don’t they turn all the ticket sales staff people into customer service staff?  Selling tickets was the easy part.  Now you have to take care of the customers. 

How many of you in this business worry about being let go because of the economy and the lack of business?  How many of you have heard management say, “We will take care of you when business turns around”?  Not sure the Miami Heat ticket sales people consider that being “taken care of”.