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?

How About Easy Way Out?

Let’s face it; all of us like to do things that are easy.  But is it always the right thing to do?

One of the many amazing things I learned in culinary school is that a recipe can change big time with the slightest alteration. Or how about when a restaurant cook suggests ”Oh, I’ll just skip making fresh Hollandaise and use a mix.  No one will notice”.  I’m sure many of you enjoy good food. Would you want the real Hollandaise or the fake powered stuff? These same thought processes are used every day in every business. The event & entertainment marketing biz is no exception.

Today’s event marketers are multi-taskers.  We juggle several projects at the same time and can’t wait to get one off our plate.  Because of this, we tend to skip steps.  These missing steps could mean nothing or could cost you lots of tickets.  Here is an example that happened to me 25 years ago:

I was a very young, new promoter with The Greatest Show On Earth working on the circus in Hershey PA.  In that market, we had a long track record of success with direct marketing. In other words, we sold a shit load of tickets in advance through direct mail.  We also mailed out a group sales flier.  I was given the idea of combining the two fliers to save time and money.  Mistake number one was not asking someone (my boss) if this was a good idea.  So the direct mail piece was produced and it was screwed up.  The combined mailer gave everyone the group discount and didn’t read like an advance mailer.

The venue marketing department suggested I just use the mailer for the groups and they would feature our show in their own direct mail piece going out.  We would be the lead event in a booklet of all their venue events.  I went with that idea. This was mistake number two. 

Mistake number three was still not mentioning this to my boss.  I thought I had solved the problem.  I’m sure you know where this is going.  Our advance business was so bad that everyone in the company noticed.  After I got my ass chewed  for an entire day (not exaggerating), and put on “double secret probation” I was able to market my way out of the crisis and save the engagement. 

Think about it for a second the next time you want to take the easy way out too.

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.

In With The Old And The New

I just started reading a new book by Jamie MacVicar called “The Advance Man”.  This is the story of Jamie’s life as a Regional Marketing Director (promoter) with Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus back in the 1970′s.  It is a very long book (660 pages) so it will take a while to finish it.  I will give you my review of it when I do. 

I didn’t join Ringling until a decade later but I know or worked with most of the people mentioned in the book.  So far, my initial thought is that nothing changed for 20 years (1970′s - 1990′s) in that company.  This is not a bad thing.  Those 20 years were considered the “most powerful” years of live event marketing fueled by Allen Bloom and his team.

There is an old Bob Dylan line “I forgot more then you will ever know” and this book is bringing back many great promotions and advertising ideas that I had forgotten about.  It got me thinking, maybe we should bring some of that old thinking back.  Many of the promotions that were done in the 70′s and 80′s would still work today.  As I mentioned last week, the message has not changed just the way we communicate it.  Maybe there is a place for both the old and new to work together?

Just as I was writing this, I read an article in Ad Age Online about how Fox is marketing the movie Avatar.  Guess what, they are marketing the movie with both the old and the new. As we all know it’s paying off.  Sometimes we get so caught up with staying ahead of the curve that we forget about what still works.

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!

Same Brand, “All New Show”, Who Cares?

Last week at the Event & Arena Marketing Conference a panel of family shows and Ticketmaster discussed several areas from ticket sales patterns to marketing the shows. During the marketing portion, my ears perked up from what I heard about brand awareness.

Unless you are creating a new brand name show or concept, most potential customers know who you are.  The Harlem Globetrotters are a perfect example.  Their brand name goes back 84 years.  So when they marketed the show as “All New Show” no one got it.  When Michael Kenny, Senior VP of Live Event Marketing at the Globetrotters said this, I realized this might be the most important statement of that day. 

Using the term “all new show” for any of the shows represented on that panel really didn’t make sense.  The panel represented the brands Ringling Bros., Disney on Ice, Stars on Ice, Ticketmaster, and Harlem Globetrotters. If you have an established brand then the customer or fan knows who you are.  The question is, what is going to make them come see you?  Saying ”all new show” means what?  If you are the Globetrotters, the customer knows you are the most fun and famous basketball team in the world.  If you are Ringling Bros. you are the biggest and most famous circus in the world.  If they skip a year, will they really miss something that is “all new”?

Michael Kenny explained that this was their challenge.  So instead of telling the customers they had a new show (which they did), they decided to market to the parents.  They told mom to remember when they went as kids.  Continue the family tradition and take their kids. This could be termed “brand awareness reminder”.

If you are an established music act and you tour, why does the fan buy a ticket to see you?  You usually tour to promote a new album.  But do you think the fan really cares about that?  No, they want to see you and hear the hits.  If the new album has a big hit while you are touring (i.e. Coldplay Viva La Vida Tour) then great!  Saying come see me because I have a new album is not the right marketing tactic. 

Market your message to what your customers want to hear, not what you want to hear.

Mobile Mobile Everywhere

I went to the Boston Bruins game last night.  In case you don’t follow hockey, they are currently in first place and they won again last night.  This is the best start they have had in years.  I hope they keep it up.  Boston needs another championship to make it a complete sports domination.  So now that I ticked off all my readers in the other markets let’s get back to business.

At the game last night I had three opportunities to use my mobile phone.  First off the NHL is offering digital ways to vote for your favorite hockey all-star.  At the game you could use your mobile phone to text in your vote.  At home you can go to the website to do it.  Gone are the days when they handed out paper ballots that ended up on the arena floor because no one had a pen.

I used my mobile phone to text in my entry to win a trip to Florida to see the Bruins on the road.  The mobile phone was also used last night to text in my vote for which song they were going to play during the game. 

All this fan interaction is good for the fan to keep them stimulated during the TV timeouts.  But the real reason for the mobile text messages is to capture data.  The big question is; what are they going to do with it?  I purposely entered each of these mobile opportunities to see what will happen.  If and when I get anything from this data capture, I will let you know. 

In the last few months, I used my mobile phone to enter to win tickets to a few family shows coming to town.  I don’t know what they are using this data for but so far it is not for marketing back to me.  In the early fall I entered to win tickets to Ringling Bros. Circus.  Now Disney On Ice is coming and I entered again.  Both of these shows are produced by Feld Entertainment.  Don’t you think that a text message should have been sent to me when Disney On Ice went on sale?  They captured my mobile data with the circus promotion.  It is great to have this new technology but a waste if not used correctly.

Retailers Are Going Mobile Too

There is an article in today’s Wall Street Journal about how retailers are taking advantage of mobile marketing technology.  Wal-Mart and Target offer text messages with daily or weekly specials direct to your mobile phone.   They are not invading the customer’s personal space because these customers signed up for this type of marketing.  You cannot beat this kind of marketing.  These are customers who want you to send them advertising.  The retailer is saving major marketing dollars.  Look how many trees were saved to promote the weekly specials.

Buy.com is using Twitter messages for their followers.  Sears now offers customers the option to make purchases directly from your mobile phone with its Sears2Go program.  Amazon and Target have taken mobile one step further and now offer a free application for iphone users.  Just click on the icon and way you go to help the economy. 

What all these retailers need to do next is offer marketing messages to customers when they enter the store.  The technology does exist.  I can’t believe they are not using it.  Just think, you walk into Wal-Mart and you get a text message “Welcome back Dave.  Doing some Christmas shopping?  Here is a list of gift ideas for the wife & kids”.  You don’t get much more personal then that.