More: They Are Finally Getting It

Last week I wrote about Live Nation cutting a deal with Groupon to move tickets.  I mentioned that this kind of deal was closer to the type of marketing that family shows have been doing for years.  This week I saw another example of family show marketing for a Live Nation concert.

Here in the Boston area, we have a large furniture chain called Jordan’s.  They are no small outfit.  They are part of the Warren Buffet empire!  Everything they do is bigger than life.  They are all about mixing entertainment with selling furniture.  All of their stores are themed toward entertainment.  Some even have IMAX theaters.  Over the past several years they have teamed up with the Boston Red Sox on promotions that include the possibility of everyone who buys furniture getting it free.   Currently they are running a promotion that if you buy a mattress, you get free tickets to see Tim McGraw.  This promotion is right out of the old Feld Entertainment handbook!

I took a peek at Live Nation’s website to see how the show was selling for the summer stop here in Boston at the Comcast Center.  Thanks to LN’s new seating chart, I was able to see how many tickets were still available in each section.  The answer: thousands of tickets are still available!  This does not even include the lawn seats.

This is a good promotion for Live Nation.  They know that Jordan’s does quality promotions.  They know Jordan’s spends tons of money in advertising.  They are one of the top advertisers in the Boston market.  LN could never afford to buy the amount of TV exposure for one concert that the Jordan’s promotion is giving them. 

I’m sure that I will get feedback from old school concert promoters ripping the promotion.  They already responded to last week’s post on the Groupon deal.  They believe that customers will wait to buy tickets at a discount.  The family show biz has been offering discounts for years and customers didn’t always respond by waiting.  If the concert industry doesn’t want to discount, than lower ticket prices.

While not every deal and promotion will breed success for concert ticket sales.  My hat is off to Live Nation for at least trying!

Doing It By The Book

You know the saying “There is a time and place for everything”.  This is true.  There are times when you really have to follow rules, policies and procedures.  In the culinary business you have to always go by the book when it comes to food safety. There are other times when you can go outside the lines, for example when it comes to recipes.  Now that I am in the culinary biz it reminds me how you can sometimes leave the comfort of rules and procedures and do what you know best.  But you can’t do that until you really know and understand it.

When you first learn a new job, craft, or profession you have to go by the book.  The book was written for a reason.  You have to keep going by the book until you understand it backwards and forwards.  You think about them in your sleep! Once it becomes “second nature”, then you know how to go off roading.

Several years ago I was doing some consulting work for Feld Entertainment. I was hired to work on a Goosebumps Live date in Detroit.  Unlike the old days when I worked for them full time, they had everything spelled out on how to market the show.  I met with my friend Bill Lee from Olympia Entertainment.  Bill is the live entertainment marketing genius in Detroit. We looked at other cities where the show was on-sale and saw business was not good.  He and I decided that we were not going to let Detroit fall into that rut.  The tour was being promoted as a theatre show for children. We threw out the playbook and wrote our own marketing plan for the engagement.  We decided to promote the show as a family show that just happens to be playing in a theatre instead of an arena. 

When the show got to Detroit, Kenneth Feld was there for opening night.  He pulled me aside and asked why business was good in Detroit.  What were we doing that other cities were not?  I said “we didn’t go by the book”.  We went with our gut.  Bill and I knew the market.  We knew what would move tickets.

Did we take a risk not going by the book?  Yes we did.  But sometimes you have to let people do what they do best!

Old School Brain Trust

I found a group that might be the right mix to fix our live entertainment ticket woes.  It’s the first annual Ringling/Feld Entertainment marketing reunion. 

The reunion and conference is taking place the weekend of February 11th in Sarasota, FL.  I plan on attending.  How can I pass this up? The RSVP list is made up of some of the very people who helped shape the marketing of not just live family show entertainment but live entertainment period.  These are the promoters that created marketing ideas so good that problems included adding seats and additional performances. The thinking of these marketers was “there is no such thing as a bad idea”.  They were willing to try anything that might put butts in seats. Many of the promotions used today were created by people attending this reunion.

What is even more awesome about this event, it’s not just a drunk fest.  There will be actual meetings! There will be roundtable discussions on our current state of the industry and marketing. This will be a great time to put all these great minds to work.  This is a group that just doesn’t sit around.  They not only come up with ideas, they make them happen!

If you are a former Ringling/Feld promoter and want to be a part of this, let me know and I will forward you to the organizers. 

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season!

When You Get Attacked!

This morning I was driving in my car and a radio spot came on with weird, distorted holiday music.  As I continued to listen I soon found out it was a radio spot attacking the touring show for the Radio City Rockettes Christmas Spectacular.  The spot was produced by the local musicians union here in Boston.  The reason, according to the spot is the touring show doesn’t use live musicians.   This radio spot was well produced and went right to the heart of what customers want; a good experience.

In the radio spot they compare the touring show from the New York City annual event.  They claim that in NYC you get live music.  On the road, you don’t.  They even claim the tapping of the feet is canned. They ask the question of why you would pay for that kind of experience?  They end the commercial asking the listeners to contact the Wang Theatre (where the show is playing) and let them know what they think.

So, what would you do if it happened to you?  What are the folks at MSG (the producer) going to do about this? Is this a potential PR crisis?

When I worked for Feld Entertainment, I was used to having animal rights protesters at Ringling Bros. Circus.  They set up shop outside the arena and hand out flyers to families entering.  Circus ticket buyers are used to it.  I think this protest with the Rockettes is different.  Why would anyone protest dancers in a family show? The musicians union is running drive time, 60 second radio spots on the number one radio station in Boston.

I am sure that MSG is aware the union has a problem with this.  The question is what are they doing to counter it? How are they going to ensure the buying public they are still getting a top notch, quality show that is comparable to New York?

With the union spending this much money and effort to get their message out, I don’t think MSG should sit back and do nothing.

Small Plate Events

There are two facts that we live with everyday in the live entertainment industry. Events and shows are getting bigger and we are having trouble filling the seats for them.  As the Devo song goes; “when a problem comes along, you must whip it”.

The larger and more complex our shows get, the higher the production costs.  The higher the costs, the higher the ticket price.  I am not suggesting we get rid of the big production shows, I am saying that we also need to create smaller, lower cost shows too.

When I worked for Feld Entertainment in the 1980′s and early 90′s, ticket prices were pretty reasonable for a family to attend.  We would get them in the venue and then get them to buy merchandise.  As we joked, it was the traveling toy store.  One of Allen Bloom’s famous quotes was; “We are for the masses not the classes.”  Today, ticket prices are much higher. They are running TV spots that talk about “affordable” prices but customer can’t get them because they are limited.  Or, the ticket price might start off affordable but by the time the fees are added in… I remember when we first offered “special rink side seating”.  We offered the seats at the premium price of $25 and wondered if the customer would buy.  Today, these seats are big bucks.

If I ran a venue I would look for some smaller but quality shows and events to fill in around the big shows.  Shows where you can charge a lower ticket price and fill up the seats.  If you are a producer of events, think about shows you can create that will offer excitement to a potential ticket buyer but won’t cost anyone their first born.

One of the hottest trends in the restaurant industry is small plate menu items. With small plates, customers tend to buy more of them which get’s them to often spend more than if they just ordered a full meal.  Why couldn’t we do the same in the live event industry?

PR Stunts Are Back

Well, they never went away but they are back in fashion again.  I’m not surprised in this “WOW” world we live in.

I have always been a big fan of PR stunts and events.  Maybe it’s because I grew up around them.  My dad may still be known as the king of PR events.  He made a great career of promoting something by an event that always drew media attention.  He reminded me recently of when some of his crazy stunts didn’t work.  He still got press!  PT Barnum once said “there is no such thing as bad PR”.  Even his stunt failures were still huge successes.

There is an article in today’s Wall Street Journal about brands getting into the Guinness Book of World Records.  Guinness has even created a new division to help companies accomplish this. In the 21^st century world of YouTube and viral marketing, brands want that exposure and buzz.

When I worked for Feld Entertainment in the 1980′s, they were still known for creating great PR stunts and events.  Who can forget the famous Ringling Bros. elephant manure giveaways?  When that event needed to kick it up a notch, they went one step further.  “Someone” stole the manure in one city.  This turned into national media attention.  I still remember Jay Leno talking about it.

All of us in the event & entertainment business have potential PR events and stunts all around us.  Our business is tailor made for them.  I understand that in today’s world of marketing measurement, it’s hard to account for their results but these events do sell tickets.  Many of the best events don’t cost a lot of budget.  They only require your imagination.

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!

Open Mic Friday

Happy Birthday Elvis!

Today is Elvis’s birthday.  He would have been 75.  Wow, I can’t believe he would be almost the same age as my dad.  Besides being the King of rock-n-roll, he was a real mover and shaker in live events.  Before Elvis, many acts could not even think about filling up an arena or stadium. His live tours were instrumental in the develop of marketing live events.

Who Doesn’t Love Chocolate?

As I have mentioned in the past, I believe the world of culinary live events is going to increase.  We have already seen the momentum with celebrity chefs on tour and food festivals.  This is one of the reasons I am getting into the culinary world (I also love food).  Fellow Boston marketer, Aspen Dinner Club member, and team building guru David Goldstein has launched Taste of Chocolate.  David knows that culinary is hot and anything chocolate is always popular, so he is getting into the chocolate event business.  His new venture includes chocolate tours, workshops, team building, and private events.  Will there be a chocolate festival in the future??

“The Advance Man” Update

I am still reading the book “The Advance Man” by Jamie MacVicar and I must admit it’s a very addictive read.  When is the last time you read a book and know most of the people mentioned?  I have been letting other people in our industry know about the book.  My very good friend Rob called me to say he is addicted to it too.  It brings back tons of Feld Entertainment memories.  If you ever worked for Ringling/Feld you will enjoy it.  If you didn’t work for Feld but work in the live event industry, I suggest you read it.  The people and stories mentioned in this book shaped how we market family shows and live events.  Some of the marketing ideas have been lost in time but we should re-visit them.

Have a great weekend!

The “What If’s” On Live Event Season Passes

I read in The Wall Street Journal this morning how Disney is about to market a new technology for on-demand.  This new technology is called “Keychest”.  With this, you will be able to pay a one time price for a movie and play it anytime you want on all your digital devices such as DVD, PC, iPod, and mobile. You will actually own the movie without physically having it.  This article made me think about the discussion and test trials of live event season passes.

The idea of season passes (beyond sports teams) for live events such as concerts is not new and has been discussed frequently over the past year.  This was a major discussion at last year’s Aspen Live Conference.  It has also been discussed in the LiveWorks Newsletter and The Lefsetz Letter.  Live Nation has been experimenting with season passes at some of its smaller venues such as House of Blues.

What if the artist or show was to offer lifetime passes?  Most major music acts have large fan bases with fan clubs. What if the artist was to offer a lifetime pass to these fans?  Would they buy them? Is it feasible?

This might work well for family shows.  What if Feld Entertainment offered a lifetime pass for all their shows?  They play at least two different shows (Ringling Bros. and Disney on Ice) in most markets every year.  How much money could Feld charge?  Would a young family buy into this program if it were a good deal for the years to come? 

What if the larger arena venues offered season passes for all their non-sporting events?  Is it really that far fetched?  They already sell suits and club seats, why not a season seat pass to see every event in a year?

Did You Know Elephants Can Paint?

Ringling Bros. Circus is currently playing in my city.  In case you are not aware, I worked for many years (and several years ago) for them as a promoter.  To this day, I stop what I’m doing when something about the circus pops up on my TV screen.

The reason I bring up Ringling is because I noticed they seem to be getting back to their marketing roots.  They seem to be pulling out some of the old playbook.  I think this is great!  The circus is all about that. 

This morning the local TV news station was showing footage of the elephant salad bar publicity event.  This is an oldie but goodie event.  When half a dozen elephants show up in the middle of the street and start eating salad and bread, you will get media attention.  The elephant walk was just a few days before and it also still attracts the TV and print cameras. You just can’t buy this kind of marketing.

During the news story on the elephant salad bar, they also brought up that one of the elephants had painted a picture which is being auctioned off for the Susan G Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.  This made me smile with pride.  You see, 20 years ago I first came up with the elephant painting idea after reading a news story about elephants drawing and painting at a zoo in upstate NY.  When I first brought it up, everybody laughed and said “no way”.  Some of those who laughed are the same people who came up with the elephant poop giveaway idea.  Today, elephant painting is part of the Ringling playbook and they are raising money for good causes.  This is what publicity is all about.

Have a great weekend!