Dazed And Confused

There is an article in today’s Wall Street Journal about the number of different toothpastes for sale today.  It’s mind blowing!  According to the article 69 new toothpastes were introduced last year.  This is down from 102 the year before.  The focus of the article was all the confusion this has caused consumers when shopping for toothpaste.  Could the live event and entertainment industry ever have this problem too?

I don’t see us ever putting out that many shows that are so similar at the same time but I do think we need to be careful.  In the concert business we tend to bunch tours all into the same time of the year.  Summer is a perfect example.  Before anyone writes me, I am a big fan of summer shed shows!  I grew up with them!  However, if one venue books too many concerts with the same music format isn’t it possible we could have a toothpaste problem?

Let’s look at the family show business.  In the past I have marketed Ringling Bros. Circus at the same time that two other circuses were on sale in the same town.  Even though my show had the biggest brand name, doesn’t all the circus shows get hurt? 

What about the same brand name with several different themes?  We have this happening all the time.  I live in a TV market that has more than two cities as part of the market.  I have seen TV spots for the same brand name of a show but with a different theme running at the same time.  Is it possible that the consumer could get confused?

If the toothpaste companies can come up with 100 different versions, why can’t they just blend them into one great toothpaste?

Ringling Bros. Promoter Reunion

I spent this past weekend in Sarasota FL at the first ever Ringling / Feld Entertainment promoter reunion.  Over 70 past and current promoters attended.  The best way to describe the experience is a kid over-stimulated on Christmas.

The weekend was one non-stop gab fest.  As David Rosenwasser said “we could have a Guinness Book of Records for the most bull-shit artists in one room”.  The group represented 50 years of promoters.  Most of them I knew and the rest I knew their name because they were of legend.

One of the biggest highlights was learning what everyone has done since leaving The Greatest Show On Earth. Being a promoter gives you so many experiences over your career that you can do almost anything. Everyone was not only eager to share what they were doing, but was also open to networking and helping each other.  The common word used throughout the conference was “family”.  Being a Ringling/Feld promoter is a very unique fraternal club.  I compare it to the Freemasons.  Everyone is a “brother/sister” who will help each other. They also have rituals and love their secrets.

The event kicked off with a dinner on Friday night with Kenneth Feld as our guest speaker.  He truly seemed to enjoy being with all of us.  He made sure he spoke with everyone in the room and was interested with our post Feld life.

Saturday night we went to Circus Sarasota.  I’m sure you are thinking why would ex circus promoters ever want to see another circus.  I thought this myself.  But I have to tell you that it was a really nice show.  I consider myself very jaded when it comes to family shows but I liked this show.  This cute non-profit circus was founded by Dolly Jacobs. My friend Bob Collins is the Chairman of the Board. 

Speaking of Bob, he is now in the tourism business.  He owns Big Top Tours. He bought himself a bus and drives tourists around Sarasota showing its wonderful circus history.

After the show we all went to Showfolks Club.  This is a bar for circus people.  In all the years I worked at Ringling I had never been but knew of it.  The walls are covered with 100 plus years of pictures of circus performers and lots of cigarette smoke.  There were ex circus performers at the club who I had not seen in many years.  Everyone remembered everyone. They are like elephants, they never forget!

The one agenda item I wish we could have added was a meeting of the minds.  The 70 plus reunion members have the collective creative power to address and solve what is ailing our industry.  I truly believe that if this group would have tackled the lack of worldwide ticket sales, they would find the answers.

Once A Year Is Not Enough!

How many times a year do you do it?  Get your head out of the gutter.  I’m talking about meeting with your fellow live event & entertainment marketers?

As an industry, we need to get our heads together more often.  Meeting once a year at a conference is good, but it’s not enough.  I am proposing meeting once a month.  I’m sure you are saying, “no one can afford to get together that much”.  Who said I was suggesting flying off to some location once a month?  How about meeting online?  How about a monthly web chat? You can sit at your desk while eating a sandwich and interact with your fellow event & entertainment marketers (just make sure you use a napkin, we can see you).  Each month we could discuss a new topic.  One month could be advertising ideas.  The next month could be group sales issues.  The shows could offer ideas and hear your concerns.  Perhaps the folks at the Event & Arena Marketing Conference could be the facilitator?

The more we put our brains together, the better chance we have at success!

Speaking of getting brains together, I am off this weekend to the first ever Ringling/Feld promoter reunion in Sarasota FL.  As I mentioned in a previous post, this group does have the brain power to put butts in seats.  Even though this is a reunion, we are actually going to have meetings to discuss the current state of the industry.  I do plan to blog from the reunion. I’ll let you know what I hear.

The Battle Continues And Technology Wins!

I was wondering when I would hear about AEG battling back in the ticket wars.  There was no way they were going to let their competitor Live Nation control their tickets.  In today’s Wall Street Journal there is an article about AEG getting into the biz.

AEG has teamed up with Outbox Technology to sell tickets in all of their venues. This is about 105 venues.  Outbox is being led by Fred Rosen.  For all you young marketers out there, he is the man who made Ticketmaster huge in the 80’s and 90’s.  At the time, he was one of the most powerful guys in the live entertainment business.  Looks like he is on his way back!

AEG teaming up with Outbox is a good thing.  It is good for venues, promoters, and the public.  This is what the Justice Department hoped would happen.  Competition is always good.  While I’m not sure how this will affect ticket fees and service charges, I do believe this will advance ticket technology.  It will improve the way our customers can buy tickets.  This world today is all about the customer experience.  Anything that helps the experience is worth it. 

Ticketing today is so different than the old days.  When I first started in the business, most venues did not have Ticketmaster or Ticketron.  Most used “hard” ticketing.  This was paper tickets that were printed at a ticket printing company.  Each event and performance had to be printed separately with every seat printed.  You then had to count every single ticket to make sure they were all there.  Then you “racked” them and sold them. Think about 10 performances of just one family show. You either sold them in person or on the phone.  If you wanted to use an outlet, you had consignment tickets at the outlet.  You hoped they would account for them correctly.  At the end of every event or performance you had to count all the unsold tickets to make sure the money and the drop count matched. 

Aren’t you glad with have today’s ticket technology?