A Lesson From The Mall

Like many of you I went to the mall over the weekend to try and shop for holiday gifts.  This time of year, a trip to the mall is like going to an event.  Lots of traffic, lots of people, lots of high priced junk food, and hopefully you are entertained.

Our customers in the event and entertainment business expect a good customer experience.  We should have the same good customer experience anywhere we go.  You would think with the economy bad and retail ready to crash & burn, an effort would be made toward making the customer happy.  Let’s compare my recent trip to the mall with your customers experience at a venue or event.

The mall in my town has grown over the past few years.  Along with the size of the mall came more parking.  More parking is only as good as the people directing the cars to it.  The mall had lots of police directing cars to a parking garage that was full.  This in turn created grid lock.  No one could get in or out of the garage.  The mall security whose job it is to watch over the parking just drove round and round doing nothing.  When one parking lot is full, doesn’t it make sense to close it and wait until you open some spaces and clear the gridlock?  How about directing cars to an open parking lot?

Like buying tickets for an event, you go to the mall to spend money. Making a purchase should be treated as an experience that will make the customer want to do it again.  Shouldn’t the people taking your money put on a smile?  You don’t go to a show to have stress, so should you go to the mall to have stress?  Why not have opportunities throughout the mall to de-stress?  Maybe a free “time-out” area?  Last year American Express had one of these for card holders.  I loved it.  A place where you could relax for a few minutes, have a free cup of coffee or hot chocolate.  I think this is a great marketing opportunity.  It made me happy to be an Amex customer. Your sponsors could do something like this at your venue.  Maybe even offer something free for stopping by.

The mall food court is like the arena concession area.  Try to keep your stands open and well staffed during key times.  You know when these times are.  The food court I went to had long lines at most places.  Not because everyone in the mall was eating at once but because they didn’t have not enough staff. 

I write this not to bitch about my day at a mall, but to have you think about what your customer goes through coming to your event.  Please remember that our events are discretionary dollars.  We have to fight for the dollar more then the necessities of life.  When they do come to our events, they are coming for an escape from all the stress of life.  They want a good, stress free experience.  Maybe we can have a New Year’s resolution to give our customers the best experience ever.

 

My Fan Experience

I went to the New England Patriots game last night.  As usual I look at venues and events differently then the average fan.  All of us in the business do.  We know what happens behind the scenes.  We know what goes into putting on an event for 80,000 people.  I have written on several occasions about how the experience may be one of the most important factors in marketing.  So, let’s talk about my experience at the game.

The guys I went with have season tickets.  They go to every game and have a system in place that serves them well.  We were going to leave for the game really early and tailgate, but the weather was threatening and none of us were in the mood to stay cold & wet the whole night (not a good experience).  So we out for a bite to eat before the game.  I asked if we were going to be able to park since we were getting to the game so close to kick off.  They use one of the many private lots that every business along Route 1 sets up.  They explained that if you are a regular customer you can pre-purchase parking for the entire season.  This gives you the same reserved spot every game.  For a private, off-site lot that is pretty cool.  The reason they park in this lot is ease of the in and out.  If you park in one of the stadium lots it can be a pain in the ass to get out.  We saw two accidents leaving the stadium.  Also, the stadium lots are a lot stricter on tailgating.

The Kraft family, owners of the Patriots have really done it right.  Not just by putting a first class team on the field but with the stadium and property around it.  As we entered the stadium grounds we walked past the new Patriots Place.  This is a shopping and entertainment complex with big brand name stores, restaurants, and a live entertainment venue. 

As we entered the stadium we were hit right away with concessions.  They have plenty.  You really don’t have to stand in line long or at all to get a beer.  If you are blind and cannot see the beer stands, no worry the beer will come to you.  We stopped to buy some before we went to our seats.  Three beers was $22.50. If you are going to charge $7.50 for a bottle of Bud, can I at least get a bottle with a ”born on” date from October or November?  All of ours were from July. I thought Bud was supposed to be fresh?  With amount of money being spent at this complex I say recession, what recession?  They have no problem selling tickets either.  They announced at the game that it was the 157th consecutive sell-out. 

The stadium experience is very good for the fan.  Loud, pumping music that keeps the crowd hyper.  They use lots of pyro and of course they have the musket firing militia in the end zones.

They take good care of their sponsor/partners.  They provide them with opportunities to interact with the fans.  They have booths set up through the concourse, they do promotions in the seats and on the jumbo-tron.  They even did a mobile marketing promotion with the fans in the seats.  My only complaint is they only mentioned it once and I didn’t get all the info to try it.  I wonder what they do with all the mobile data they collect?

The Pats lost the game in overtime which we were not happy about but we had a great time.  The overall experience was good.  This is what it is all about.  As marketers, we cannot control the result of the sports team but if the experience is a good one, the fan will come back.

Have a great weekend everyone!