Posts Tagged ‘Stone Hearth Pizza’

Meet People, Learn Something New

June 5, 2009

Last night was the first night for the Boston chapter of the Aspen Dinner Club.  It was a really fun and interesting two and half hours.  This was a very informal event.  No name tags, no set agenda, just members talking about whatever in the entertainment business. 

We had attendees from different areas of the entertainment world.  We had event marketers, band managers, festival producers, independent artist development, and a promoter of dinner theater, harbor cruises and teambuilding.

We met at Stone Hearth Pizza in Cambridge MA.  This locally owned eatery was small but very cool.  Everyone in the group agreed that the pizza was great. 

One goal for this club is to learn at least one new thing during the dinner.  I believe all of us would agree this happened. In fact, we learned a few new things.

David Goldstein our team building promoter told us about Groupon.  This is a very cool group sales marketing opportunity for all of us in the ticket selling business.  You give Groupon a good deal on tickets.  You decide how many customers it will take to make a group.  They promote your event to their members and on the website. They only offer one event per day, per city. If a customer is interested, they put down their contact and payment info.  If enough people sign up for your event, then everyone is charged for the ticket and they get a coupon to print out. If the minimum is not hit, nobody gets charged. This is a digital super group!   Groupon is currently doing business in Chicago, Boston, New York, Washington DC, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Atlanta.  Check it out for yourself. 

Have a great weekend!

How Much Is Too Much & How Little Is Too Little?

June 2, 2009

Yesterday I wrote about a charity spin on aftermarket ticket sales.  I discussed how I liked the model from Tickets-for-Charity.  In the last sentence I mentioned that I hope artists will keep some “normal” priced tickets available for the regular on-sale.  This one sentence prompted a comment from one of my readers.  He/she asked what is “normal”? Shouldn’t an artist charge whatever he/she wants?  Let the market decide when it’s too much.  I agree with this anonymous reader.  I was not thinking about what the artist charges when I wrote the sentence, but I agree.

What I was thinking was how few tickets are offered for general sale by artists, sports teams, and other major events.  Today, when a concert or playoff game goes on sale to the general public, so many tickets are already gone.  At the same time, every aftermarket ticket vendor has plenty of tickets for the event. 

Of course there have always been tickets held back.  The act/team has holds. The promoter has holds . The venue has holds.  I don’t think anyone in general has a problem with this.  The problem today is the extreme amount of tickets that are gone or not available when the show/game goes on sale. 

Sure, many events have pre-sales and season ticket offers that snag a lot of seats.  Offering these types of sales is a good business decision.  However, so few seats seem to be available today on the regular “on-sale” I sometimes wonder why have an on-sale?  If you do, why make a big deal about it?  If you only have a few seats to sell, just put them up for sale.  Why run radio promotions counting down to the on-sale?

The point I am making is there needs to be a balance.  Artists need to take care of the fan clubs.  Sports teams need to take care of season ticket holders.  Venues need to take care of sponsors.  Just don’t forget the average fan or customer.  I will never forget the quote from Allen Bloom “more people drive Chevy’s & Ford’s then drive Cadillac’s & Lincoln’s”.

Boston added to Aspen Dinner Club

I am happy to announce that we have added Boston to the Aspen Dinner Club.  This is a spin-off of the Aspen Live Conference. This once a month group gets together to talk about the live event industry, network, eat some pizza, and have a few beverages.  The first monthly Boston date is this Thursday, June 4th 6:00 PM at: Stone Hearth Pizza, 1782 Mass Ave, Cambridge MA 02140.  I invite all my Boston readers to attend.


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