The Arena Ticket Series?

Is it time for the arena ticket series?  If theatres and orchestras use ticket series packages then why can’t arena events?  We are all looking for ways to put more butts in seats.  This might be a way for shows to help each other while selling more tickets.

Think about the different categories of events and shows that play at the arena venue.  You have family shows, concerts (older & younger demos), and sports. There are all kinds of different ticket packages you could put together. 

In the family show market you could put together a package that includes all the family shows.  How about a package that includes only ice show events?  What about a package for the tots?  This could include Thomas & Friends, Playhouse Disney, and Sesame Street Live. 

What about a ticket package for concerts?  Package a guaranteed sellout with a few shows that will need help.  How about the complete package? This includes a sampling of all the genres coming to the venue including sports, concerts, and family events.  I think you get it, so why not try it?

I Want a Golden Ticket

The TD Banknorth Garden in Boston is about to have its official name change.  On July 16th the Garden becomes the TD Garden.  To create a buzz for the venue and the name change, the Garden is taking a page from Willy Wonka.  They are promoting the TD Garden Golden Ticket Giveaway. The Garden is giving out thousands of free chocolate bars.  Five of these candy bars will have a golden ticket.  One of the five winners will win season tickets to every single event at the TD Garden for a year.  Now that’s an arena ticket series package!  The four other winners will win a 10 game package that includes Bruins and Celtics tickets.

Shout Outs To Venues Using Non-Trad Marketing

Shout outs to the Century Tel Arena in Bossier City LA and the Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids MI.  Even though they are not large market venues, they are marketing like they are.  They have a Facebook page and I follow them on Twitter.  They use both of these social sites to market events coming to their buildings.  When they have a show on sale, they “invite” their Facebook friends to attend.  The also use their Twitter account to announce all their shows. 

The list of arena venues on Twitter is growing.  As Martha Stewart says “that’s a good thing”.  I am currently following 28 venues.  Some are better at updating then others.  It’s great to be on Twitter but if you don’t use it to market, then why have an account?  If I am not following you on Twitter or you want to follow me I am @eventpromoter.  Also, I invite all venues on Facebook to friend me or let me know and I will friend you. 

On Tuesday I received an email blast from the TD Banknorth Garden for the KISS tour.  The band has an online PR campaign to have the fans route their tour.  I like this campaign.  It is interactive and creates buzz.  All of us in the business know that the fans are not really routing the tour but I give them credit. They are thinking outside the box.  Here is part of the email I received:

Hi,

I wanted to pass this on to all of you so that we could work together to be part of something new and different in the music and entertainment industry - the first ever fan-routed tour by KISS. The first link is to a You Tube video with KISS on stage, explaining how to vote and how to put BOSTON on the map for their 2009 tour. The second is the link to actually “demand” KISS in Boston.

 Posting this online is best, so if you have your own blogs or you are on Twitter, Facebook, etc.  put it out there! The more re-tweets and posts the better! Feel free to copy and paste what I have provided in the email below.

 Your help to spread the word is greatly appreciated!

 Best,

Courtney

Demand KISS in Boston!  The first ever fan-routed tour needs your votes! 

KISS is conducting an online vote by their fans to see where their tour should stop, and we need YOUR votes to bring them to the TD Banknorth Garden!

 Click the link and KISS will tell you what it’s all about:

Demand KISS Video

BOSTON…are you ready to rock?
Then click below to DEMAND KISS in BOSTON! From there, you can recommend KISS to other demanders. The cities who demand KISS the most will earn a stop on their North American tour.
http://www.kissonline.com/

Conference “early bird” deadline is today

If you plan to attend this years Event & Arena Marketing Conference and you want to save money you need to register today.  The deadline for the early bird registration is May 15th.  This also goes for the discounted hotel room rate.  I plan to blog from the conference.  I am also going to be on one of the panel sessions.  www.eventarenamarketing.com

Have a great weekend!

Make Your Street Marketing Fun & Hands-On

Carnival Cruise Lines has a cool new interactive street/mobile campaign called the sidewalk aquarium as reported today on adage.com.  Click on the link to see the 3 minute video.  Carnival market’s itself as the ”fun” ship so it only makes sense that it would offer a “fun” marketing campaign. 

Carnival is setting up these sidewalk aquariums initially in six markets.  A person can create their own fish using their mobile device.  After they create it they can feed, play, and interact with the digital fish on the aquarium video screen.  It’s like a big video game on the street.  Carnival plans to move this to their website also.  This way you can take care of your fish from your home or office. 

I like this type of marketing campaign.  It is not a hard sell yet gives the brand good exposure and an interactive experience for the potential customer.  Anytime you can create a “hands on” experience you have better brand retention. Also, I am sure they are capturing the data from the mobile phones.  Now they can add mobile marketing to their advertising campaign to potential customers.  Look for more interactive street type marketing in the next year.  This is all part of the new “out of the box” non-traditional thinking.

Live entertainment co-marketing

The Harlem Globetrotters are teaming up with Blue Man Group at one up-coming performance in Boston.  The Monday, March 30th performance of the Globetrotters at the TD Banknorth Garden is promoting special guests Blue Man Group.  This is a very interesting marketing approach.  A Monday evening performance is a tough sell especially when you are doing a Sunday afternoon performance.  BMG’s Boston franchise is feeling the effects of the recession and could use a marketing “pick-me-up”.  I look forward to see how this co-promotional opportunity sells for both of them.

Question of the day

Is SXSW still the right forum for promoting new music and acts or has it become more of an event for new media?

 

Do You Think You Can Afford To See You?

There is a good article on today’s front page sports section of the Boston Globe on the fun and value of watching minor league sports.  With the economy taking a bite out of everyone’s wallet, minor league sports are back in the limelight as an alternative to the very costly major league sports.

You may not see your favorite sports star but you will get to watch your favorite sport played by future stars at an affordable price.  If the team does it right, you will have a good experience and great time if the team wins or loses.  I used to handle marketing for a minor league hockey team.  This was our formula and it paid off.  Our team led the league in attendance and outsold the NBA team that played in the same venue. It is ironic that this article appeared today.  I was just discussing this very issue with someone yesterday.

I love going to see a major league team or good arena event as much as anyone.  If done right it is a great experience that is long remembered.  But the cost of that experience may have reached its max.  In fact I think its over the max based on the current economic climate. 

Here in Boston we are lucky to have three “major venues” to see events and sports.  The Garden, Fenway, and Gillette Stadium each provide a very cool and exciting experience.  However, all three have attracted the reputation of a very expensive experience.  Between the cost of the ticket, the parking, concessions, and merchandise it is becoming “out of reach” for the average fan or customer.

If I was handing the marketing for any of the three, I would put a campaign together around how it can be affordable to go.  If you are The Garden or Fenway you should cut a deal with the MBTA.  A whole campaign should be done around taking the “T” to the game or event.  The Bruins started the season promoting its “hungry for hockey” promotion.  This was a ticket that included unlimited concession items.  You should bring it back now.  This makes for great “recession” marketing.  The Red Sox and the Patriots have the great fortune of almost always being sold out.  But the seasons have not started yet.  What if the fans start to cut back? What if they want to watch you on TV instead of live? Start a campaign to show the great value of coming to your event.

If you are a show or event that plays in a “major venue” you will run into the same issues of affordability.  Because you are a first class show in a first class venue your customer may think they cannot afford to go.  You need to counter this with marketing.  Look at your ticket prices.  Look at how they get to the venue.  Look at everything that your customer is thinking.  If you were your customer, could you afford to go?

The Times They Are A Changing

Unless you live under a rock, you have to notice the changes that are slowly evolving from the recession.  Not only are companies cutting back with manpower and product but the theme of marketing is going in the recession direction.  Marketers are writing the recession into their advertising scripts.  A good example of this is Disney On Ice.  The folks at Feld Entertainment have the wording “family friendly pricing” in the TV spot script.  This is a good marketing phrase to use. Let families know that you can still afford to take to the kids out for some fun. 

I decided to check and see what the “family friendly pricing” was.  I logged into Ticketmaster and went to work.  The show is coming to the TD Banknorth Garden starting December 26th.  Ticket prices range from $75 to $20.  The $75 seats are the rink side seating.  Feld has been offering these special rink side seats for many years.  I was working for them when they first started the program.  I think it was around 1986.  These same seats were $25 each back then.  Not a bad increase after 22 years.

I requested four tickets best available.  For the performance I requested it returned $30 club level seats.  I happen to know that these are nice seats in the Garden.  They are located in the premium section of the venue.  They even have in-seat waitress service.  So I think Feld backed its claim.  But (you knew I would have one), to get the $30 seats via Ticketmaster you have to add a $4.50 convenience charge per ticket and a $2.00 building fee per ticket.  So the $30 ticket is really $36.50.  Now you have to have them delivered.  If you trust the US mail you can have them shipped for free.  If you want to pick them up at the box office you have to pay $1.00.  If you want to print them yourself at home, the price is $2.50.  Why does it cost $2.50 to print at home?  Is there some behind the scene labor I am not seeing?  It costs nothing to the box office, there is no ticket stock being used.  All the work and the cost seem to come from the customer.  It is our labor, ink and paper being used.  I would love for someone at Ticketmaster to please let me know what the story with this is.

Cutting Back On Home Delivery?

I read over the weekend that the Detroit News / Free Press is cutting its home delivery to three days a week.  I think the term to be used is “cutting off your nose to spite your face”.  The papers claim they are losing advertisers which in turn means loss of revenue.  So let’s take it out on the loyal readers. They are ones who get the newspaper everyday.   What are the publishers at newspapers smoking?  I can hear this conversation in the board room.  ”Let’s see, our revenues are down so let’s reduce our loyal readership.  Those who buy our paper everyday at home will have to look for it four days a week somewhere else.  Our advertisers will be so impressed with this they will buy more ads that fewer readers are seeing.  Yea, that’s the ticket”.

 

Make The Holidays Work For You

With the holiday season coming up next week, I thought this might be a good time to discuss how to market in the holiday season. 

I mentioned last week that I don’t see as many holiday show ads in the newspaper.  While I agree that print should not be your number one media expenditure I do think it has a place this time of year.  Consumers are looking now for holiday gift ideas.  If you are going to run print or any form of media this time of the year why not put a tag line in that says “makes a great holiday gift” or something like that.  Now you might be saying “duh, this is a no brainer tell us something we don’t know”.  Yet, as I scan through the morning newspapers I see ads for all kinds of shows and most don’t say that.  For example there is an ad for Stars On Ice in today’s Boston Globe.  The show is coming to the TD Banknorth Garden April 5th.  The show went on sale today.  If you are running an ad today (November 21st) for an April show, would it be so wrong to have a tag in the ad say “Start your holiday shopping here”?  I bet there are lots of skating fans that would like to have tickets for the show sitting in the stocking Christmas morning.  With all the choices out there for holiday spending, you need to remind people tickets make great gifts. 

In the same newspaper section was a full page tab ad for The Hanover Theatre.  I am giving them a shout out because I have been impressed with their marketing campaign over the past few months.  They are a Worcester, MA theater that has decided to market like a big Boston venue.  In today’s ad they have several upcoming shows listed from now through June.  They did use the holiday period to their advantage.  The tag line in their ad reads: “Give the gift of entertainment.  Start your holiday shopping at The Hanover Theatre”.  Perfect! They are even promoting a “holiday open house” the day after Thanksgiving (Black Friday).  At the open house they are going to sell gift certificates and  have a one-day 10% off sale on all shows.  They are making an event out of it. Santa is even making an appearance. They are using the holiday to work for them.

If you have a live event during the holiday time period, don’t fight it.  Make it work to your advantage.  Several years ago I had the privilege of promoting Disney On Ice in Toronto.  The show opened at SkyDome the day after Christmas.  In Canada, they celebrate Boxing Day (day after Christmas).  This has turned into the biggest shopping day of the year for Canadians.  The first time we put the show on sale in Toronto, we didn’t know what to expect from Boxing Day.  Would they buy for that day?  Not only did they buy, but we sold out two performances for that day.  Besides, shopping this is the big day to get out of the house and do things.  We did a big campaign around buying tickets for the holidays and it paid off. We became a holiday tradition that first year.  You can make your events a holiday tradition if you market to the holiday and not against it. One word of advice, don’t try to run a performance on Thanksgiving or Christmas.  I was involved once and it failed in a big way!

If I was sports team, I would use this time of the year to push ticket packages.  Besides season ticket packages, teams have all kinds of packages to fit different budgets.  This would be a great time to work those deals.  If you are a team that is currently in season, the holidays should be part of the current campaign.  If you are in your off season, this is a great way to keep your ticket sales office busy.  Even in this bad economy, this is the time of the year that people will spend discretionary dollars on gifts.  Do you want them to spend it on sweaters or on your products?

Have a great weekend!

 

EAMC -Grass Roots / Alt Marketing

While at the Event & Arena Marketing Conference, I went to a discussion on grass roots and alternative advertising.  The speakers were Mark Gianturco and Scott Becker from Neoterics.  They are an agency that specializes in this type of marketing.

Their big street marketing concept involves the use of Segways.  The thought process is that as they roll down the sidewalk they will attract attention.  Makes perfect sense.  Now deck out the Segway with an advertising message and give the person driving the Segway flyers or samples and you got yourself a great rolling marketing tool. 

Other street advertising that was discussed included bike taxi’s and wrapped vehicles.  My thought is that these are not as effective anymore because people ignore them.  You have to keep ideas fresh.  People tune things out very quickly.

 The guys from Neoterics discussed street decals.  They showed some examples of 3D decals.  They were pretty cool.  They noted that these have a strong visual appeal and strong word of mouth.  From the slides they showed us I would agree.  The coolest example was the decal at the bottom of the stairs.  While you look from the top of the stairs, you see a person laying on the floor at the bottom.  It was made to look as if she fell down the stairs.  That will get your attention!

They have come up with a new way to use street teams.  They made them look like “big” fans of the team or band and had them drive all around town creating “excitement”.  In one example they showed how this street team received TV coverage for a “bunch of fans” driving all around town.

Other forms of alternative advertising included illumination on the sides of buildings with logos or  artwork.  The TD Banknorth Garden was doing this during the NBA Championships and was shown several times on TV.  Mobile billboards can be very boring.  But they showed an example that I liked.  They took a mobile billboard with the background that actually matched the exact location.  Then they placed something “crazy” on the board they made it look like a tornado was coming right at you.  The visual was cool. 

Hockey Team Idea:  Place a huge block of ice with a hockey stick frozen into it.  Run a contest where the person who can pull out the stick will win a 10 game package.  This is a take off on the story “The Sword in the Stone”.  This would make a great radio promotion.  I suggest setting this up somewhere with maximum visibility.