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.

It’s All About Passion!

I found a book that pairs perfectly with this blog.  The book is called Crush It! Why Now is the Time to Cash In On Your Passion. The book is written by Gary Vaynerchuk. 

Like you, I don’t have time to read a ton of books so I am selective in my reading.  With this book, I actually downloaded the audio book to my iPod.  The book is about living your passion.  It talks about social media and how it has leveled the playing field.  It talks about how Facebook and Twitter are marketing tools not a media strategy. It discusses how we should use this recession to cash in on our passion.  Does all this sound familiar?  We have discussed all of this in the past on this blog.  I have met Gary a few times and I can tell you he lives this book. 

I made a decision last summer to take my passion for culinary and my 25 year career in entertainment marketing and meld the two together.  With this, I have a number of new business ideas and opportunities.  While many of these projects and opportunities are still in concept form, it has given me a new energy and excitement. My brain has not pumped out this many ideas in 10 years.

Even if you have no plans to leave what you are currently doing, you can use your passions to create new opportunities for your business.  If you enjoy what you do, then come up with new ways to make it even more fun.  If you don’t have fun at your career, then you need a new career.  Don’t think of it as a job, think of it as “This is what I do”.

All of us in event & entertainment marketing have passions beyond what we do at our daily business.  What if you could take that passion and apply it to the events, shows, and venues you promote?

If They Want It, They Will Buy It

Over the weekend I attended the Boston Wine Expo.  This annual event is always a big draw for wine lovers.  But the most interesting facts from this years event were that both days were sold out, the price/type of the wines being sampled, and the average age attending.

Yes, this event was sold out.  I am not sure how many tickets were sold each day but tickets cost $85 each.  The event was from 1:00 PM until 5:00 PM each day.  With the economic climate we are in, I think this is impressive.  As with last years event the demo of the ticket holder was younger.  I would guess the late 20′s / early 30 something crowd.  Why were they willing to drop $85 bucks for a few hours of wine tasting?  The answer is in the title of today’s post.  If they want it, they will buy it. If they see a value, they will buy it.

While I was there I hooked up with wine and social media guru Gary Vaynerchuk.  He was all decked out in his Jets football jersey.  He is a huge Jets fan so I feel bad for him today.  I understand his pain!

A very interesting fact worth discussing is the average price point of the wines being sampled.  The average bottle being offered was in the $10 – $15 range.  This has dropped since last year.  Wine producers have come to the realization they are now main stream.  They need to offer their products to the “masses not the classes”.  I remember this was a favorite line of Allen Bloom when describing the demo of Ringling Bros.  He also finished that line with “we are Chevy not Lincoln’s.  More people drive Chevy’s then Lincoln’s”.

As you produce and sell your events you should keep in mind these five important items when it comes to pricing:

1. Who is my demo?
2. Is this a product they want?
3. What will they really pay?
4. Will my customer see a value?
5. Will they buy again next time?

Do You Blog?

In this blog we have discussed various types of non-traditional digital marketing including; social, mobile, and email.  What about blogs? Many people ask me what is a blog?  Here is how Wikipedia defines it:

A blog (a contraction of the term weblog) is a type of website, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order. “Blog” can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.

The fact that you are reading this means that blogs can be an effective marketing/PR tool.  Today, there seems to be a blog for just about everything.  If you don’t believe me do a Google search on any topic and you can find a blog. If you tweet on Twitter then you are writing mini-blogs.

People do read blogs.  The amount of readership really depends on the topic.  If you want to write about Hollywood gossip and you have the inside scoop, then you could be the next Perez Hilton. His blog has made him into a household name and he even got to judge the Miss USA contest.  Of course we all know the results of letting a blogger be a judge.

Video blogs are like internet TV shows.  One very popular video blog (vlog) is Gary Vaynerchuk’s Wine Library TV.  He posts a new show almost every day.  He claims to get 90,000 hits a day.  This video blog is making him a household name not only in the wine world but in the web 2.0 world.  Wine producers and sellers all know who he is. A good review on Gary’s show can mean a lot of wine sales.  The main reason Gary does this video blog is to sell wine.  Gary owns a wine store in New Jersey.  Because of this video blog and the internet, he took his small family owned wine store to a $50 million business.

If you are a PR person for events, sports teams, shows, or venues you should have a blog.  You don’t have to write something everyday.  Just write when you have something to promote. I am sure you have a website for your product.  Place the blog post on the website.  Put it right on the home page.  You could use this blog to announce on-sales, publish press releases, poll your customers, and interview artists.  You could give your readers a behind the scenes look at the venue. How many times have you had a PR story idea that you could not get placed in the newspaper?  Do the story yourself and post it on your website. 

Blogs are a marketing/PR tool. With newspapers on the decline, you can be the information source for your fans and customers.  Use it to stimulate your customer into buying tickets.

Weekend Of Working & Sipping Wine, Life Is Good!

So I spent my weekend at the Boston Wine Expo.  Now that’s a trade show!  I grew up in the trade show business and understand everything that goes on.  So when I go to one it always seems like work.  I am so entrenched in the event business that most shows and events feel like this.  I bet many of you feel the same way.    But not this time, I enjoyed working and hanging at the wine expo.

The show is an annual event here in Boston.  It is one of the big wine expos like the NY wine expo which opens this week.  The Boston event was both Saturday and Sunday.  It included the main floor with hundreds of wineries offering free tastings.  The cost of the event is not cheap.  A full price ticket is $85 per day.  They did offer a two day combo price.  I bet there were a lot of free tickets out there too. 

The cue line to enter the event was very smooth and orderly.  They used lots of space and stairs to break up the crowds entering.  When we first got in the line on Saturday my first thought was “oh great how long is this line”?  But I was very happy to see it move quickly.  On your way in you pick up your real wine glass.  Wow a place that gives thousands of people real glass.  Then you go down a set of stairs, they take your ticket and you are in.  That’s it.   I guess only a wine fest can give thousands of people a glass, unlimited alcohol, and everyone stays calm and civilized. 

One of the most interesting observations was the age of the crowd.  The majority were 20 and 30 something’s.  This just tells you where our society is in the drinking of alcohol.  When the recession first hit, I thought beer sales would go up because of price vs. other adult beverages.  However, the latest sales reports show the opposite. 

I was at the expo for two reasons: (here comes the shameless plug) I am working on a project to help market and sell the Gary Vaynerchuk Thunder Cruise http://www.garyvthundercruise.com/.  This is a seven day wine cruise featuring Gary.  If you are looking for a cruise and you like to drink wine, this would be the right place.   

Based on the demo of the wine expo, Gary really has the right marketing brand.  He is today’s wine drinker.  He is 30 something, drinks wine everyday, owns one of the most successful independent wine retail stores in the country and his daily video blog gets 90,000 hits a day http://tv.winelibrary.com. What started as a true mom & pop store is now a $50 million plus business. 

Gary was the keynote speaker at the expo.  He ran two blind wine tasting seminars that expo patrons could buy tickets for.  His talks are “real”.  No typical wine snub stuff here.  Where can you go to a wine tasting and the speaker asks if you smell a “sheep’s butt” in the wine?

The other reason I went to the expo was to try wine. Thank God for the spit buckets.  If I drank every wine I tried, they would have to carry me out of the expo.  I am blown away that I didn’t see any really drunk people.  That is impressive!

 It will be a long time before I buy another bottle of the “big brand name” wine.  There are so many different wines out there at really low prices.  No, you don’t have to drink “2 buck chuck”.  You can drink “great” wine for $12.  Gary pointed out in his seminar that when you pay big bucks for a wine, you are paying for the brand.  All of us in marketing can understand this.  This is part of what is getting our shows and events ticket sales in trouble during this rough time.

This event got me thinking.  If you are looking to create events, you might want to look at more of these lifestyle type shows.  The key is to stay ahead of the trends and have your event ready to go when the trend is peaking.  I will keep my eyes open for this stuff and let you know.  My guess is that some kind of big web 2.0 show might be it.  Now I have to figure out what and how.

 

A Few Fun Things

Don’t be blue its fun

I saw a very cool news story this morning on the Today Show.  The Blue Man Group has opened a private elementary school in New York for kids.  They take all the fun, amazing, and silly stuff they do at their shows and turned it into a real school curriculum.  This is an example of a live show or event taking brand marketing to the next level.  Not only is this good PR for the show but it makes the Blue Man Group brand part of the community. Here is the video link http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/18424824#28811117

Does it come with a donut factory?

I love PR and promotions that take it right to the people.  Dunkin Donuts did this very thing this morning here in Boston.  They are giving away 10,000 “Charlie Cards” with one way fares on them.  The Charlie Card is what MBTA subway riders use in Boston (Do you remember the song “Charlie on the MTA”?).  They decided to take a page from “Willy Wonka” and had Peter Ostrum, who played “Charlie” help with the giveaway.  Yes, one lucky person is going to get a golden ticket.  That ticket will be good for a year’s supply of DD coffee and unlimited rides on the T.  I like this event because its fun, promotes the brand, and gets media coverage.  The local NBC station was showing footage of the PR event by 7:30 AM this morning.  Just the perfect time when people are thinking coffee and commute.  I am also happy to see the MBTA doing a little marketing tie-in.  With ridership up on public transportation, this might be a good time to look at doing public transportation promotions to your venue or event.

Wine is good for you

I am headed to the Boston Wine Expo this weekend.  I plan to take lots of notes and blog about it on Monday.  While I am there I plan to drink wine (of course) and help market the wine cruise featuring Gary Vaynerchuk http://tv.winelibrary.com/gary-vaynerchuks-thunder-cruise/.  I am looking for sponsors and wine drinkers that want to go on a really fun cruise with lots of free wine.  Are you one?

Have a great weekend!

 

PR In The Web 2.0 World

The world of public relations has come a long way.  I grew up around PR.  My parents are in the business.  When I first started in the entertainment marketing business PR consisted of press releases, face-to-face story pitches, and PR events or stunts.  Today, with the technology PR can and should be one of your most valuable assets.

If you handle PR for a show, event, or venue you should be busy every single day.  You have so many options at your disposal that you should never just sit at your desk and play solitaire.  Instead use that time to play in the social network world.  You should always have your social network sites up on your screen where you are always deep in the trenches of your customer base. 

I have become a recent fan of Twitter.  This social site is perfect for all PR people.  You can tweet all day in your social space about your brand.  I search Twitter everyday looking for other Twitter members to follow (you can follow me too, I go by eventpromoter).  I am always looking for people, shows, events, and venues from our world.  To my surprise, I am still not finding that many.  What is up with that?  Twitter is the perfect PR tool.  For example, I follow Starbucks.  Why, not quite sure but I thought a big brand like them might be a good social experiment.  I am not the only one following Starbucks.  They have almost 30,000 followers.  Think about this.  You can send out any number of PR messages you want for free and your potential customer will see it.  They want to see it. That is why they follow you.   I also use Twitter to get to know a brand.  For example, I am working on a wine cruise featuring wine guru Gary Vaynerchuk (by the way, he also has 30,000 Twitter followers).  What goes with wine, but cheese of course.  So, I am following Cabot Cheese.  Everyday, I get messages from them. Each one tells me something new about them that I did not know before.  That is good PR, don’t you think?  Many brands conduct contests for their followers.  What a perfect place to give away a few tickets.

I have discussed several times the use of Facebook.  They already own the high school and college crowd.  Now their fastest growing segment is the 30+ age group.  Check out these stats: http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics.   As a PR person, you should always be able to find your niche group to spin your story.  If you are a sports team you have all kinds of groups for that team.  If for some reason you don’t, then start one.  The same goes for concerts, family shows, etc…

If you do your homework you will find all kinds and types of social sites.  Many cater directly to your target demographic.  If you are trying to reach moms then go to momslikeme http://www.momslikeme.com/.  You can actually pick the state and city that you are trying to connect with.  Want to reach the African American community?  Join http://www.blackplanet.com/.  They have over 15 million members!  Want to reach the business community then you need to be part of LinkedIn http://www.linkedin.com. Even if you are not trying to promote to the business world you need to join LinkedIn just to network for yourself.

Look at the world of blogs.  More people are reading them everyday.  You are reading one now.  There are blogs for almost everything.  Anyone can start a blog.  If you handle PR for a venue, show, sports team, etc.. you should have a blog.  What a perfect place to put all your press releases.  You will be very surprised who and how many people will read it. 

Next time your boss sees you just staring at your computer, tell him you are just playing the game of PR.

Viral Marketing Can Suck You In

I was checking out the Gary Vaynerchuk’s Wine Library video blog yesterday http://tv.winelibrary.com (check it out).   Gary has made a big name for himself and his family’s wine store business through this video blog.  He  has a cult like following with thousands of views each week.  He is getting lots of national attention including gigs on Conan O’Brien.  I first heard about him through my brother who is doing some business with him.  Anyway, his Friday post was a viral spoof.  He was promoting a “new” blood drink from Japan called True Blood.  Watching Gary supposedly sniff and drink the blood like a glass of wine was making me sick.  Then I thought this is a viral campaign for the new HBO show True Blood.  HBO’s new show is about vampires living in a small Louisiana town.  Last night I found myself looking it up on the channel guide and tuned it in.  I watched the entire hour show and now I am hooked after just the first episode.  So as you can see, viral marketing does work.  The fact that I am writing about this today shows that I am continuing to spread the viral word.  As I have mentioned before, this is part of the “new world order” of marketing.  It works and it is here to stay.  Embrace it!