Are You A Team Player?

This week I saw a great example of what happens when someone you work with is not a team player.  This person not only didn’t help his fellow teammates, he didn’t do his own job.  The rest of the employees were pissed off and he really ruined the whole day for everyone.  It reminded me of the Bud commercial where the reporter tells the football player Leon “there is no I in team”. Leon responds with “ain’t no We either”.

In the event & entertainment marketing business you are only as good as the people who work with you.  This goes for co-workers, employees, vendors, clients, etc…  When one of them fail, it will affect the business.  It will also reflect on you! 

Whenever I work on a new project or job, I always try to assemble a team that not only works well with me but they also work well together as a team.  If your team is not getting along, it will show in your marketing results.  Hire the best people and let them do their thing!

Always listen to your team members.  They are with you for a reason.   I may not always agree with them but I usually will compromise at the very least.  Don’t disregard any of their ideas. I believe there is no such thing as bad ideas.  If it won’t work for that particular project, it may work for another one.  Write the ideas down and put them in an idea folder.

If a team member is not pulling his/her weight, try to get them back on track.  If this doesn’t work then jettison them from the team and find someone who can.  You cannot allow one person to pull the whole team down.

I know there are people who don’t believe in teams but I have never seen any successful show or event run with individuals.

This Is Why You Run Ideas By Others

The Boston Blazers of the National Lacrosse League found themselves with lots of local and national media attention the other night.  I think it’s the most press they have ever received.  Here is what happened:

For the half time entertainment they decided to give their mascot a birthday present.  Instead of just giving him a huge birthday cake, they gave him a few lovely ladies who gave him a lap dance.  I’m not kidding!  Right there on the field in front of lots of families and kids.  They even had sound effects (think about it).  Of course fans in the audience taped this on their cell phone cameras and the media had it in time for the 11:00 PM news.  Parents emailed and called in complaints.  The Blazers found themselves writing a written apology. The Blazers market themselves as “family friendly”.  If you are going to use that marketing term, then you have to live by it. 

When I was with the Atlanta Knights of the International Hockey League, I was responsible for the on-ice promotions and entertainment.  Events like this were always a fear.  We had a team of people that we called the “Fun & Games Department.”  We got together every week and planned upcoming promotions and entertainment.  There were many ideas that never saw the arena floor.  While they may be funny and entertaining to some, the goal was to make it fun and exciting for all in the audience.  Our committee was designed to play devils advocate with every idea.   

I understand that when you do something in front of a live audience anything can happen.  In this case, they planned the event. They knew what was going to happen on the field. The Blazers GM said in a statement that he didn’t know this promotion was going to happen this way.  He may have not known but other people in his organization did.  I wonder if they channeled PT Barnum that day.  He once said there is no such thing as bad PR.

I’ve Seen The Future

Last night I went to my local high school for curriculum night. This was for my daughter who will be entering high school in the fall.  What really amazed me was how the curriculum changed just since my son started there 3 years ago.  While I was sitting and listening to all the department heads, I realized that all of us in the live entertainment biz should be engaged in the schools.  All these kids in high school are our current or future customers. 

In past blog posts, I have discussed major & minor league sports teams supporting their respective youth teams.  We should be doing the same in the schools.  For example, our high school is offering a course called Live Stage Music.  In this class they are teaching kids how to take their talent live.  Teaching them stage presence and performing in front of a crowd.  As the department head said “how to be a rock star”.

The technology department and the English department discussed the use of new media.  They are teaching the kids not to just play on Facebook and Twitter but how to use it as a business communications tool.  These kids are the future of the internet.  Soon, they are going to get 99% of their info from the net.  As marketers, we should be helping them with this.  By helping them we are helping ourselves.  We need to stay current on what reaches our customers.  This will do it. 

Schools want to teach our kids the future but they don’t have all the money to do it.  This is a good investment for all of us in the live event and entertainment business. I know you would love to market into the schools.  How about helping them with our future?

How About Easy Way Out?

Let’s face it; all of us like to do things that are easy.  But is it always the right thing to do?

One of the many amazing things I learned in culinary school is that a recipe can change big time with the slightest alteration. Or how about when a restaurant cook suggests ”Oh, I’ll just skip making fresh Hollandaise and use a mix.  No one will notice”.  I’m sure many of you enjoy good food. Would you want the real Hollandaise or the fake powered stuff? These same thought processes are used every day in every business. The event & entertainment marketing biz is no exception.

Today’s event marketers are multi-taskers.  We juggle several projects at the same time and can’t wait to get one off our plate.  Because of this, we tend to skip steps.  These missing steps could mean nothing or could cost you lots of tickets.  Here is an example that happened to me 25 years ago:

I was a very young, new promoter with The Greatest Show On Earth working on the circus in Hershey PA.  In that market, we had a long track record of success with direct marketing. In other words, we sold a shit load of tickets in advance through direct mail.  We also mailed out a group sales flier.  I was given the idea of combining the two fliers to save time and money.  Mistake number one was not asking someone (my boss) if this was a good idea.  So the direct mail piece was produced and it was screwed up.  The combined mailer gave everyone the group discount and didn’t read like an advance mailer.

The venue marketing department suggested I just use the mailer for the groups and they would feature our show in their own direct mail piece going out.  We would be the lead event in a booklet of all their venue events.  I went with that idea. This was mistake number two. 

Mistake number three was still not mentioning this to my boss.  I thought I had solved the problem.  I’m sure you know where this is going.  Our advance business was so bad that everyone in the company noticed.  After I got my ass chewed  for an entire day (not exaggerating), and put on “double secret probation” I was able to market my way out of the crisis and save the engagement. 

Think about it for a second the next time you want to take the easy way out too.