If I Was There…

This week is the annual Event & Arena Marketing Conference in Indianapolis.  For the first time since this blog started I am not going to the conference.   Since last year’s conference I have become a chef and melding the world of live entertainment with the world of culinary (I have never worked so hard for so little money!  But I love it!).   Anyway, it’s just not going to work this year.  Plus, I blew the conference budget on the Ringling Bros. promoter reunion.

If I did go to this year’s conference, this is what I would ask:

1. What is the industry doing to get butts back in seats?
2. Are you using social networking to market and is it really selling tickets?
3. What do you think of the Live Nation / Groupon deal? 
4. Are you thinking of offering your non LN shows on sites such as Groupon, Goldstar, and LivingSocial?
5. What is new in marketing our shows?  What really does work to move tickets?
6. If you work in the venue marketing department are you getting what you need? If not, what do you need?
7. What are the latest trends in group sales? What are your group leaders telling you?
8. What still works and what doesn’t with traditional media?
9. Media promotions: Are you still getting them?  Are they effective?
10. What is the industry doing to get butts back in seats?

You may notice that number one and ten are the same question.  This is by far the most important question to be answered at the conference.  This should be the number 1 focus of this year’s conference.

Since I won’t be with you in Indianapolis, I am giving you the chance to be a guest blogger.  If you have info, comments, or gossip you want to share from the conference, send them to me and I will post them.

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.

EAMC 2011: We Need A Cage Match!

Yesterday, I received both an email and tweet that the 2011 Event & Arena Marketing Conference is going to Indianapolis June 15th – 18th.  I went to the website to look over what was planned so far to date.  One interesting discussion will be the State of the Industry from a promoter prospective.

One agenda item that I always thought should be on the schedule is a real serious pow-wow between venues and shows.  Maybe it should be a locked cage match. A no holds barred discussion. This meeting should have no time limit.  No one leaves the room until they have accomplished stuff that will change the industry (WWE can sponsor it). I have always thought there was a disconnect in the industry. Promoters bitch about venue marketers and venue marketers complain about the promoters. This doesn’t change our mutual challenge:  putting butts in seats. We need to get everyone (and I mean everyone) in the room to make it a meaningful discussion with results. Every promoter, show, and venue group needs to be there.

We need to find out why customers are not buying tickets to events! Whenever I write that customers are not buying tickets, I get someone telling me their venue doesn’t have that problem.  Well, then you need to come to the conference and let us know what you are doing because this is a huge issue in the live event industry.

Let’s have a conference where we shake things up!

Post Conference Thoughts

It was a whirlwind trip to Chicago for the Event & Arena Marketing Conference last week.  If the conference didn’t create its own excitement, being ground zero for the Stanley Cup celebrations brought it over the top.

I really enjoyed Ross Bernstein’s keynote presentation on the late Herb Brooks.  Ross seemed to bring the full spirit of the 1980 Olympic hockey coach to the conference.  After hearing Ross’s speech, you can really understand how “Herbie” was able to take average college hockey players and turn them into Olympic champions.

I attended the session on viral marketing.  Wanted to hear how it is evolving or should I say “going viral”.  The session was very interesting.  When many people think viral, they think YouTube.  But viral marketing is way more than that.  Marketing on Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and FourSquare is viral marketing too.  Have your Facebook fans create an “event” for your show.  Have each of them invite all of their friends to the event.  This will spread the word to thousands very quickly.

Since I have been in this business for 25 years, I don’t get overly impressed with the type of family shows that tour today.  However, I think Walking with Dinosaurs is pretty cool.  They had a Baby T at their sponsored luncheon.  Now that is what I call a really great advance costume.  Baby T is the size of an actual baby t-rex. I was also impressed with how Cirque du Soleil has grown over the past 20 years.  The brand is now worldwide with 20 plus shows and continues to grow every year. 

I was part of a panel discussion on marketing & advertising basics.  The panel took an interesting twist. Instead of talking about how to buy media or what are the right GRP’s, we discussed actually understanding our customers.  You can’t buy media if you truly don’t know your customer.  It is more than just reading the stats.  You need to ask the customer, listen to the customer, and follow through for the customer.

EAMC – Mind Your Elders

The participants of the Event & Arena Marketing Conference were in the presence of legends yesterday. 

The first full day of the conference should have put awe in all that were sitting in the general session room.  As per tradition honors were given out.  This includes the GiGi award and new inductees to the Arena Marketing Hall of Fame.  The board got it right! 

The GiGi award named after GiGi Pilhofer was given to Larry Rubin.  Larry is considered to be one of the best arena PR people ever!  He is one of those rare people who “get it”. 

The Hall of Fame inductees included Linda Deckard, Rich Krezwick, Lynn Plage, Linc Cavalieri, and Bob Reed.  The “wow” moment came when we found out the contributions that 92 year old Linc has done for the arena business.  He invented both the glass around the hockey rink dashers and box suites.  Both were created from necessity.  The glass was because fans were losing teeth when the puck would fly through the chicken wire fence.  The box suites, because his boss (the owner of the Red Wings) was sitting near the fans and getting shit when the team was losing. Today, those suites pay for new buildings.

I know I am old when a kid of one of my early bosses is now attending the conference.  Ian Adler is an Assistant Marketing Manager with Comcast-Spectacor in Philly.  His dad Richard Adler was not only one of my bosses at Ringling Bros., he was President of the Atlanta Knights hockey team when I was there. The last time I saw Ian he was 12.

WTF Bad Business?

At the end of the conference day yesterday Jim Delaney and I walked over to the official Blackhawks store in the heart of downtown Chicago to buy some championship merch for our kids.  We got to the store at 6:30 PM.  The store closed at 6:00 PM.  Why wouldn’t this store stay open late the day after they won the Stanley Cup? The downtown area was packed with people.  We went across the street to another sports store.  They were jamed with people buying Blackhawks shirts.  The store was going through boxes of shirts.  Jim and I shook our heads and said someone was not thinking.

Great Night In Chicago

Yesterday I made it to Chicago for the 30th annual Event & Arena Marketing Conference.  It literally took planes, trains, and automobiles to get here.

What a day to come to Chicago.  Wednesday night was the night the Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup.  Everything around this town Wednesday was Blackhawks.  Rush hour even started earlier than normal so everyone could get home or to a bar to watch the game.  At the opening party at Navy Pier they kept us updated with the DJ giving the scores.

After they won the game I fell asleep only to be woken up a few minutes later by the sounds of cheering in the streets and horns blowing.  I am staying on the 36th floor of the hotel.  Think how loud the noise in the streets was. The cheering in the streets went on for hours.  It is always exciting to be in a town when a pro team wins a championship. 

Yesterday at the conference I ran into many of the veteran arena marketers. I was excited to hook up with Alex Hodges.  Alex is the COO of Nederlander Concerts.  I have not seen Alex since my days in Atlanta when I was handling the marketing at Lakewood Amphitheatre. It’s been over 10 years! He has not changed a bit. 

Today is the first full day of the conference.  As in the past two years, I plan to take lots of notes and will give you the highlights and updates.

Back To The Basics

This week I will be attending the 30th annual Event & Arena Marketing Conference in Chicago.  While at the conference I will be part of a panel on marketing and advertising basics.  This discussion should be great for people new to the industry and even better for industry veterans.

The panel is made up of entertainment marketers currently from different worlds but they all started in live event marketing.  The panel also includes: Hank Salemi – Six Flags, Jamie Macvicar – Author of Advance Man, Amy Dubinsky – Feld Entertainment, and Bob Collins – long time Live Event Marketing Guru and all around great guy!

It’s fantastic that the conference is offering this panel discussion.  Anyone who reads this blog knows that I truly believe we can never forget the basics while we invent new and exciting marketing and advertising programs. I am not a golfer but I understand why golfers always need to practice the basics.  You have to keep your basic skills sharp if you want to advance in the game.

Many of us get caught up in new technology or techniques. None of these are any good if you don’t keep up with the basics.  When you buy media do you make your decisions based just on what the computer tells you?  I know many media buyers that do.  A computer just works with stats.  These stats don’t tell the whole story.  Do you pass on print media these days?  Do you do this because everyone tells you newspapers don’t work?  Are you sure this is true? Have you tested this theory?  Do you still write a marketing plan with some thought in it?  Do you follow the plan?

Go back to the marketing driving range and get rid of the basic bad habits.  See you at the conference!

Reach Out And See Somebody

This past month I have discussed a few times how important it is for face-to-face communications with people.  This is especially true in business.  I honestly don’t believe you can really convey your true message if you can’t look someone in the eye.  When someone can read your face, they know what you really think. 

Last week I was on a conference call with a potential promotional partner.  While the questions and answers were being said, I could tell the message just didn’t have the same punch.  Candid moments that could “bring it home” were not expressed.  The next day, I was with the potential promotional partner in a social setting.  I expressed a few of the missing elements. Because we were face-to-face we could read each other.  It put the exclamation point on it!

I understand we don’t always have the option to meet in person.  That is why they invented all of today’s technology.  But we shouldn’t use today’s technology as a crutch.  Look for opportunities to get out of the office.  Go to meetings, sales calls, networking events, and conferences. Network opportunities and conferences are important because it puts you in a more relaxed atmosphere.  When you feel like you are in a social situation you will feel more social. 

Speaking of conferences, this Wednesday March 31 is the deadline for early registration for the Event & Arena Marketing Conference.  This year the conference is taking place in Chicago June 9 thru 12.  If you register before the early bird deadline you will save $100.  I do plan to attend this year and have been asked to speak on a panel again.  When I write this blog I hold back a little.  But you never know what I might say when the live, face-to-face version of this blog speaks out loud.

Monday Housekeeping

The world’s biggest event is over.  Now we can get back to promoting and creating our own events and shows.  If you followed the Olympics closely, you might have picked up a few ideas.  I know I did.  As I mentioned in my post at the start of the games, the Olympics is a monster event with tons of little events all going on at the same time. 

Was it just me or did anyone else think NBC did a weird thing on ending primetime coverage of closing ceremonies? The ending we saw on the East Coast was not the end of the ceremonies.  I understand they were trying to give the new Marriage Ref show big ratings but at the cost of cutting off the world’s biggest event?  Also, didn’t the faux finale look just like something out of Ringling Bros.?

Event & Arena Marketing Conference Update

The 30th annual Event and Arena Marketing Conference will be in Chicago this year.  The dates are June 9th – 12th.  We are only 100 days away from the conference.  They have an early bird price if you register before March 31st.  I do plan to attend again this year.  The keynote speaker is Ross Bernstein.  He is a big time sports book author. Check the conference website for all the 411 you need.

Event News?

If you have an event, show, promotion, or PR stunt that you would like to share with the event & entertainment marketing community, send them my way.  Here is what I don’t want:  guest posts, anyone selling stuff, or anything that doesn’t apply to event & entertainment marketers.  This blog is for information we can all use and maybe learn from.

It May Be News To You

EAMC names its 2010 location

In case you have not heard yet, the Event & Arena Marketing Conference announced last week the dates and location for the 2010 conference.  The lucky city is Chicago. They invade the Windy City June 9 thru 12 at the downtown Marriott.  EAMC used their new Facebook page to make the announcement. 

Power in numbers

Speaking of Facebook, if you still have not joined yet, it seems you are in the minority.  Facebook announced yesterday they now have 300 million users. Do you still think that traditional marketing and advertising is the most effective way to go?

TV ads for the 21st century

The cable companies know that just running TV spots are no longer working.  They are getting into the 21st Century with interactive ads.  There is an article in today’s Wall Street Journal that discusses this.  The article mentions that some of the issues with TV spot watching are self-inflicted.  Cable companies are pushing DVR technology with their cable boxes.  Everyone is skipping the ads.    This new interactive ad technology is similar to what you might find on a website.  During the spot, you get on-screen buttons that you can click. I believe this is the way we are going with television in general.

Pushing the youth groups

I picked up a flyer at my kids hockey rink this past weekend.  It is a flyer for Boston Bruins youth group hockey opportunities.  The flyer is a group sale piece designed for teams.  The Bruins offer is more then just tickets but a chance to “play” on the ice prior or during an intermission of a game.  The youth group also gets the on ice experience shown on the video scoreboard and DVD of the event.  The flyer posts all the home schedule dates and shows which games are already booked by other youth teams.  I am glad they did this.  It shows “urgency” and helps teams with planning.  Of course as soon as the flyer was printed, I am sure it was outdated.  But that is okay.  It is a good problem if you can fill it up.