Ticket Fee Free Weekend?

This weekend is a sales tax free holiday here in Massachusetts.  All items under $2,500 are tax free.  This is a big weekend for retailers.  It’s like a weekend stimulus plan for them.  What if we applied a fee free weekend for tickets? 

A weekend where you can buy tickets to any event anywhere fee free.  The face value of the ticket is the only cost.  We could go even better and offer a weekend sale on advance tickets.  How about 10% off and fee free.  Do you think our customers and fans would buy?  Would it stimulate them enough?

It would take an agreed effort from the venues and ticket companies.  I don’t think it would be that hard to accomplish. For Live Nation it would be easy.  They control the ticketing with Ticketmaster and the run some venues.  But for it to be successful it needs all of us in the industry to be on board. It would take a combined marketing effort.  

I am sure the ticketing companies who are reading are saying “hey you are asking us to give up our main revenue source for a weekend”.  Because ticket sales are down in general they are losing revenue every day. I am asking them to eat some revenue for a weekend to defibrillate the sale of tickets. 

If everyone jumped on board it would create a big buzz and I bet we would move some tickets.  Think about it. 

Have a great weekend!

If It’s Not One Thing, It’s Another

There are two articles of interest to the event & entertainment marketing community in today’s Wall Street Journal.  

Anybody want a slightly used ticketing system?

The WSJ article states that Live Nation Entertainment is being sued by European ticketing company CTS Eventim for breach of contract.  After I read the article I was still confused but here is what I think is the issue.  Before the merger with Ticketmaster, Live Nation wanted its own ticketing system and cut a deal with CTS to compete with TM.  This was the Live Nation ticketing system.   Now that Live Nation and Ticketmaster are one and the same LN does not need a ticketing system and CTS is suing.  I don’t know enough about this to really comment.  However, you got to believe that Live Nation and Ticketmaster had a plan on how to deal with the disbandment of LN’s ticketing system?

Michael always liked the circus

The other article of interest in today’s WSJ is the deal being cut between Michael Jackson’s estate and Cirque du Soleil.  The always thinking live entertainment company is going to produce a themed show on Michael’s music.  Kind of like the Beatles themed show in Las Vegas.  The plan is to produce two shows.  One will be an arena show that will travel and the other will have a home at the MGM Mirage in Las Vegas.  I think this is a really smart move for both parties.  The shows will keep the MJ brand moving and Cirque will sell lots of tickets.  I hope to hear more about this from Cirque at the Event & Arena Marketing Conference in June.

So…What Does This Mean?

Since the news broke on Monday that the merger between Live Nation and Ticketmaster was approved by the Government, the number one question I am asked is “what does this mean?”  The quick answer is: I don’t know yet.

Depending on where/what you are in the industry could determine if you see changes now or later.  For the customer I don’t see any real changes at least in the short term.  Christine Varney from the Department of Justice Anti-Trust division was quoted as saying “we expect that we will see ticket prices coming down”.  Why does she think this?  Live Nation alone does not control the price of tickets.  If Live Nation, AEG or anyone else is still willing to pay “out of whack” dollars for talent then prices are not going to drop. Greed is not with one company alone. Ticket prices will drop when effort is made from artists, managers, agents, promoters, and venues to work together. 

DOJ is also making the new company license its ticketing software to AEG.  For Live Nation Entertainment, this is no big deal.  The ticketing software is not a major piece of the company.  For AEG, this is a good deal because they can now sell their own tickets “ready made”.

For peeps working at Ticketmaster and Live Nation, there is a lot of uneasiness.  What will the consolidation look like?  Are there jobs that could be considered duplicates?  Yesterday, Liberty Media offered to buy more stock in the new Live Nation Entertainment.  If this happens it would give them a 35% share of the new company.  How will they play into this? They are known for taking over companies.

I do know this.  The industry as a whole is not in the best shape.  This past year was a killer for all of us.  We need to see improvement and growth in 2010.  We need to move lots of tickets.  It’s in Live Nation Entertainment’s best interest to help facilitate this.  I ask that they don’t just look at their bottom line but the bottom line of the whole industry.  As the line in the movie Spiderman said “With great power comes great responsibility”.

Sponorship Is About Being Win-Win

We have discussed this in the past, but I get excited when I see a good example of sponsors and venues working together.  The goal of a good partnership is to accomplish a win-win for both partners.

Last week I received an e-mail press release from my friends at the Roanoke Civic Center.  They have started a ticketing sponsor/partner deal with HomeTown Bank in the Roanoke market.  The goal of the venue is to move tickets for their events.  According to the press release the bank’s goal is “It is our goal to continuously provide our community with support and determine new and exciting ways to market our bank. HomeTown Bank is known for outstanding customer service and this is another way we are expanding our brand.”  Wow, they said it in such exciting bank language.

The bottom line is the arena wanted more customer opportunities and exposure to buy tickets.  The bank wanted to enhance the customer experience.

The venue is using the Paciolan ticketing system which is part of Ticketmaster. Tickets are sold on the HomeTown Bank website, by a HTB ticket toll-free phone number, and the Roanoke Civic Center box office.  They are not selling tickets at the bank branches.  That is a good idea.  You don’t want bank tellers selling tickets.   Check out the HomeTown Bank Tix website: www.HomeTownBankTIX.com

This deal is not just about signage and brand exposure.  This is a deal where the customer is “hands on”.  If they want to buy a ticket they think HomeTown Bank.

This is what partnership is all about! If you want more sponsors give them steak with the sizzle.

So This Is Christmas

UK gives TM/LN a Christmas present

The United Kingdom’s version of anti-trust regulators has given Ticketmaster/Live Nation a surprise holiday gift.  They are now allowing the merger to go through on their side of the pond.  This should open the door and allow the U.S. to move forward.  I hear we could see the merger completed in the first quarter of 2010.  

Holiday Wishes

This week means one of two things to people in the live event industry.  You are either lucky enough to have the holidays off or your lucky enough to be working your ass off.  While Hollywood usually shuts down over the holiday period, the shows on the road are trucking along at full speed.  This is a very busy time for arena venues.  I remember several Christmas and New Year’s nights spent in Toronto with the cast of Disney On Ice.  While it is traditional to spend the holidays with family, my wife and I both agree we really did enjoy spending those holidays with our road show family too. 

This holiday period can be our version of “Black Friday”.  I hope that stockings are filled Christmas morning with tickets to all our events.  Let’s make the best of the next two weeks and put lots of butts in the seats.

I wish everyone either at home or on the road a wonderful holiday season!

Is There No Shame?

In the past I have been accused of always picking on Ticketmaster when it comes to ticketing issues.  This is not true at all.  I am an equal opportunity offender.  If an issue rears its ugly head, I believe we as an industry should bring it up and discuss it.  Today’s blog post is not about Ticketmaster.  Today I am picking on a ticket broker. 

Unless you live in the Boston market, you may not have heard about the ticket fiasco between Ace Tickets and New Kids on the Block.  The New Kids are doing a fundraiser at the Boston House of Blues for Toys for Tots.  Proceeds from ticket sales are going to the charity.  Somehow Ace has lots of tickets selling on their website for as much as $300 per ticket.  The actual cost of the tickets is $60 each. Donnie Wahlberg from the band announced his disgust that ticket brokers were scooping up all the tickets for a fundraiser.  Ace released an apology and said they would give their profits from the sale of tickets to the charity.  Ace claimed they didn’t know it was a fundraiser.

Here are my questions:

1. How did Ace not know this was a fundraiser?  If you are going to be in the ticket selling business, don’t you need to know what you are selling?
2. How did Ace get the tickets in the first place?  I thought Live Nation and Ticketmaster (not picking on TM) have technology in place to prevent this from happening? If so, who gave Ace the tickets? Was it the venue, band, promoter, etc…?
3. Once Ace realized their mistake, why didn’t they give back all the unsold seats?

As an industry, we need to stop all this crap and start marketing and selling tickets in a correct way so that our customers will want to buy our seats. The blame is industry wide.  This goes from the agents & managers, to the acts, promoters, venues, and ticket agencies. Our customers are starting to look at us as not a legit business. We are better then all this. We are not the Wild Wild West.

Feedback: Maybe A Blogs Most Important Tool

People like to read daily blogs as part of their online reading. But do they realize they can comment?  Did you know you can be a part of the discussion?  

Most blogs are written in first person.  You can use “I”.  It is the writer’s opinion. This lends itself well for starting a discussion.  Think of it as a hybrid “letter to the editor”.  I believe you do a disservice to your readers when you don’t allow feedback.  Many bloggers don’t post feedback.

People like to read what other people have to say on an issue. Bob Lefsetz makes a great effort to post feedback from his readers.  Sometimes this feedback is more popular then his original post on the topic. Depending on how controversial the topic is will dictate the amount of feedback. 

Feedback is really the most important element of blogging.  Think of blogs as online discussions. Allow feedback and you can take the pulse of an industry.

With feedback in mind I pose two questions today:

1. Do you think the merger of Live Nation/Ticketmaster will happen and why or why not?
2. How do you think H1N1 will affect ticket sales in the upcoming months?

Send me back your answers and I will post them on Friday. 

People in the biz reminder

Don’t forget that I will also post updates on what people in our industry are up to this Friday.  Please email me your updates.  As I mentioned last week, I will post these updates every Friday. This is a great chance for your fellow event & entertainment marketers to hear what you are doing or your business is doing.  We can all learn from this.

Now Comes The Meat Of The Merger

Anyone who reads this weeks media reports on the Ticketmaster/Live Nation merger might think it’s all doom and gloom.  One might think the merger is not going to happen.  However, this just means we are getting to the fun part. 

The United Kingdom’s version of anti-trust regulators released their preliminary report on the merger yesterday.  Of course it was critical.  Of course it currently shows Live Nation/Tickmaster controlling everything.  The U.S. report is due shortly and they will most likely mirror the U.K. report.  Why is anyone surprised by this?

During the Senate hearings on the merger, all the assets of both companies were exposed.  Discussion of what would happen with these assets already came up. Everyone was in agreement that both companies would have to give stuff up.  We discussed all this months ago.  Have you noticed that nothing has been given up yet?  Now that the Government reports are coming out, you will see what happens with some of these assets.  This is when the real negotiation begins.  For example, I bet Tickmaster will sell or spin off TicketsNow and Live Nation will dump its ticketing system. Both companies are not stupid.  As much as they would like to, they know they can’t completely control the promoting/ticketing world. 

The U.K. commission left the door wide open.  In their statement they said they would consider possible “remedies”.  This is where the meat and potatoes come in.

I still believe this merger is going to happen.  In the weeks ahead you will see changes announced. Live Nation and Ticketmaster properties spun off or sold.  Both companies have been waiting for this moment.  They have the “remedies” waiting in the wings.

Have a great weekend!

Just New Ways Of Doing It

Free food always brings attention

My marketing / PR friend Adam Klein did an old PR event with a new spin on it.  In case you are not aware, October is National Pizza Month.  Adam’s client is Uno’s Chicago Grill.  Adam and his team spent last Thursday morning delivering pizzas to radio/TV personalities, celebrities, and politicians in the Boston area.  These were not just your typical deep dish pizzas, they were pizzas with pizzanility.  Uno’s created pizzas that fit the personalities of the recipients.   Check out the link above for a picture example.  The idea of delivering food for PR is not a new idea.  But as they always say “there are no new ideas, just new ways of doing it”.

If the movie industry does it, then so should we

There is an article on today’s Ad Age website about how the movie industry is using social network sites to market.  While social sites may not have taken over word of mouth yet, they are having an impact.  The article discusses how Sony Pictures used social media as part of the marketing mix. The results of their last three releases were impressive.  They also gave an example of social networks having a negative effect on the box office.  Many industry people believe that Twitter and other sites helped with the quick drop in tickets for Bruno.  People bitching on these sites is very contagious.  Negative breeds negative.

Ticketmaster scalped?

There is an article in today’s Wall Street Journal about TM being sued.  The article says that a ticket broker has filed a lawsuit against Ticketmaster claiming that brokers were paid to sell tickets at premium prices.  This was part of a secret trial project from a couple of years ago called “Project Showtime”.  While I am not always known for defending TM, I do smell a rat with the timing of this lawsuit.  The merger of Ticketmaster and Live Nation is close and ticket brokers are getting very nervous.

Ringtones Are A Great Marketing Tool

If you are in any type of marketing, you need to listen to the youth.  They are the present and the future of trends.  They will let you know what they like and dislike.  They will tell you their influences.  My daughter came up to me last night and said “I know what you need to write for your next blog, ringtones”. 

She went on to inform me that one of the must run commercials on the kids cable channels today are spots for ringtones.  Marketers now realize that most pre-teens and above have cell phones.  It is now cool to collect ringtones for them.   For example, one of my daughter’s ringtones is the jingle for FreeCreditReport.com.  You know the commercial with the guy in the piece of crap car singing about how his credit is shot. 

As we plan future marketing campaigns, we need to budget and create ringtones.  Create a cool ringtone that gets your message out.  Promote and give it away everywhere your target demo is. 

Here is a great ringtone promotion for a sports team to use for themselves or a sponsor:

1. Create a ringtone that promotes the team or sponsorship partner
2. Have your fans text you at a game to receive the ringtone and then send it right back to them
3. Later in the game, have them all play it back at once.  Think how cool that will sound

You have now given thousands of your fans a marketing ringtone which they will spread virally.

You’re welcome for the idea.  No charge for that one.  If you like it, then try it and let me know how it works.  Also, I have many more of these ideas (hint, hint).

Ticketmaster Paperless Update

It was in the news yesterday and today about Ticketmaster’s “new” paperless ticketing.  We discussed this in a blog back in June.  Why is this “new” news?  TM is promoting this as a way to combat scalpers and brokers.  Why are they promoting this now?  Does this help them with the merger?  This paperless system gives them complete control of re-selling.  Is this a good thing?  I am still not sure what I think about this.  Let me know what you think.

Have a great weekend!