The Friday Doubleheader

The customer experience is worth its weight in gold

My friend Doak Turner sent me an example of a good and bad customer experience with his new iPhone.  He bought his new iPhone at the Apple Store.  He asked them if they could transfer his contacts from his old phone to his new phone.  They told him that he would have to have AT&T do this.  He went to AT&T and for some reason they couldn’t do it.  They sent him back to Apple who still could not transfer them.  While at Best Buy buying a charger, he asked them if they could help with the contact transfer.  Within minutes the task was completed. 

As soon as I read his email I said, “Wow, Apple’s customer service has really gone south”.  This is not the first time I have heard or noticed Apple’s decline in the customer experience.  I remember when everyone raved about their service. 

Right after I read his email, I read Seth Godin’s blog today titled Spare No Expense.  Coincidently, the take away from the post is that if you train your customer to expect a great customer experience and then pull back on this you will amplify the bad experience.

As event & entertainment marketers we need to remember that we are in the discretionary dollar business.  Our customers buy our tickets to be entertained and provide an escape.  They expect and deserve a great customer experience.  They may need to buy a mobile phone but they don’t need to see our events.  When you budget for the event, make sure you also spend the money on the customer experience.

Project Showtime?

The Wall Street Journal is reporting today that two years ago Ticketmaster considered buying up some of the biggest ticket brokers to counter Live Nation.  Of course this was all prior to the merger of LN and TM.  The name of this secret project was called “Project Showtime”.  First off, is that the best name they could come up with? 

Can any of you imagine what would have happened if they had proceeded with this project? The article claims that one of the reasons this deal didn’t happen is because none of the interested parties trusted each other.  Really, what a surprise!

The article states that Ticketmaster actually did an experiment last year with the Van Halen tour.  They pulled tickets from 20 Van Halen concert dates and gave them to the brokers.  The money was split 70 -30.  The 30% went to the brokers and the 70% was split between Ticketmaster and the band.

Why is this article coming out today?  I can’t see Ticketmaster or Live Nation wanting this out right now. The Justice Department is in the middle of reviewing the merger and this revelation can’t help. 

 Have a great weekend!

Engage In Online Conversations

As with last year’s Event & Arena Marketing Conference, everyone at this year’s conference wanted to hear about non-traditional marketing.  Why are we still calling it non-traditional marketing?  This is 21st Century marketing.

Everyone wanted to know how to use Facebook and Twitter for their venue or show. The key to social network marketing is starting and engaging a conversation.  Web 1.0 was all about one-way communication (websites).  Web 2.0 is two-way communication.  Getting your fans/customers involved in the show or event is the best kind of marketing. If you use Facebook, you may have been invited to join something or go to something.  You can respond to the invite with yes, no, or maybe. 

Peer marketing is an important key.  Think about when you were in high school.  How many times did peer pressure come into play?  Why not engage your fans and ask them to tell their friends?  “I am so psyched to see … you need to go see them too”.

Reward is always a good incentive for spreading the word.  Give them a reason to talk about your event online.  Ticketmaster has created a new program called Ticketmaster Street Team.  You can spread the word about upcoming TM ticketed events. When someone you told buys a ticket (you have to prove this) you get paid a commission.  This is a virtual street team using the internet.  This program is perfect for Facebook and Twitter users.  It also works great for mommy bloggers. 

Many marketers are afraid to create conversational opportunities.  They don’t want people to say bad things about them.  If you are one who thinks this way, you need to get over it.  Today’s internet is going to spread the good, the bad, and the ugly anyway.  Don’t you want the opportunity to talk back or even let your fans talk back for you?  The “boo birds” will always be out there. Why let them voice their opinions alone?  I would rather they say it in my forum then someone else’s.

Did You Know? – Thursday

Did you know that scout groups represent $1 million a year to just one touring family show?  Group sales peeps for all shows and events really need to go after the scouts.  I bet you could find scout interest in almost all your shows?  Just make sure you give them a patch or a pin. 

Did you know you have a better chance of getting media attention if you can spin your event to the economy?  The media loves any story about the recession (good or bad).  Make sure you have at least one story to pitch that ties your event into the recession.

Did you know Ticketmaster has a program called PaperFast?  Promoters and venues can use this service to distribute tickets (papering the house) free (except service fees) through a special code on Ticketmaster.  I discussed this back in January. I brought this up again at the conference last week. Most in the room were unaware or they didn’t want to talk about it. 

Did you know Ticketmaster has an affiliate network that is tied into social sites and the mommy blogs?  With this system they can get the word out on special offers to niche groups.  How come they didn’t offer this to me when I was promoting the Thomas and Friends Live dates?

Did you know that cable companies are always looking for On Demand content?  Why not give them a video of pre-produced show to offer free to cable customers? Use it like an infomercial.

Did you know that face to face communication is still the best way to seal a deal?

Did you know this blog celebrated its 200th post yesterday?

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.

EAMC – First Full Day

How ironic that the event & arena marketing conference is sharing the hotel with the Colorado coroner’s conference.  Rich Oriolo from Stafford Sports peeked in and said one of their posted topics was “fun stuff”. Don’t you want to know what “fun stuff” is at a coroner’s conference?

Yesterday, EAMC conference began with breakfast and awards.  The conference gives the GiGi award to one outstanding, long time, live event marketer who has made a difference.  This year the award went to Sunny Rubenstein.   They also added two long term marketers Donna Dowless, XOXO Media Group (Ticketmaster alum also) and Roberta Wright, Cumberland County Civic Center to the hall of fame.

The keynote address was given by Darryl Seibel who just recently left the United States Olympic Committee as their Chief Communications Officer He gave a great behind scenes point of view of last summers Olympic Games in China.  Here are a few very cool stats: 

• 4.7 Billion people watched the Olympics on TV
• 1/3 of the world’s population saw opening ceremonies
• 90% of all Chinese residents watched some portion of the games 

The general session came next and was on “How to Sell in a Down Economy.  The panel consisted of Michael Kenny – Harlem Globetrotters, Tami Allen – Stars on Ice, Amy Dubinsky – Feld Entertainment, and Kim Burgan – Ticketmaster. 

The panel all agreed that ticket selling patterns have changed.  Pre-sales are ok, but they are not seeing huge advance sales.  The circus has always been a late sell, but it is selling even later these days.  Disney on Ice has traditionally done well with VIP and P1 ticket sales.  They have seen a dramatic drop in these two price categories.  To counter this, they have scaled back higher priced seats and have added more P2 and P3 seats. 

I brought up the point that shows and venues need to get off our butts, throw out the old handbook, and start thinking.  

Shows need to start listening to the customers instead of cramming tickets deals down the customer’s throat.  To date, we have not been very good at listening to our customers.

EAMC – Opening Night At The Zoo

It is not easy getting to Colorado Springs from the East Coast.  No such thing as a non-stop, direct flight.  But after a lot of sitting on planes (some with electrical issues) and running through airports, I made it to the Event & Arena Marketing Conference. 

First on the schedule was the team building event.  This used to be called the “newcomers” event.  I didn’t make that event.  As my friend Carla likes to say “I had a thing”.

The main event was the opening night reception at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. The event was sponsored by Ticketmaster and Smucker’s Stars On Ice.  This was a very good place to host an opening party.  The zoo is actually on Cheyenne Mountain so the views are spectacular. We had the whole zoo to ourselves.  The habitats for the animals are great.  They created a very natural atmosphere.  We saw a coyote walking around on a hill.  He looked like he was free but after careful looking we realized he wasn’t.

I am getting older because venue marketers are getting younger.  An all new generation has arrived.  Of course all the regulars still come.  It would not be a conference without Bob Collins.  He retired from WWE last year.  He told me he is enjoying life.  He has been traveling but still looks forward to doing some projects.  He is one of those with show biz in his blood and that is a good thing for all of us.

Another person that is the fabric of this conference is Sunny Rubenstein.  Sunny will be speaking at the EAMC Grad School.  This is a session from event marketing veterans for event marketing veterans.  The session is for event marketers with at least 10 years of experience. It is a two hour session and limited to 30 people.  I am signed up for this and will blog you the highlights.

Twitter Is Very Useful For Marketing Content

As a blogger, I am always looking for content.  Some of it comes from the three newspapers I read everyday. Some of it comes from what I hear or see on TV and radio.  Some of it comes from web sources.  Since this blog is read by people interested in event & entertainment marketing, I believe I should have content from entertainment marketers directly.  As this blog continues to evolve, I hope that it becomes the mouth piece for our industry.  I added a great resource to my content search, Twitter.

I have written in the past on using Twitter as a PR and marketing tool.  Since I am now following arena venues and other entertainment marketers, I am finding content.  This is great!  This means you are using Twitter for useful purposes. Here is some interesting Twitter marketing content I would like to help spread the word on:

The Sprint Center in Kansas City is promoting QT family four packs for the NHL preseason game between the LA Kings and the New York Islanders.  Offer includes 4 tickets, $20 QT gas card, and 4 QT kitchen sandwiches.  Nice use of tying in the recession and price of gas.  The ARCO Arena in Sacramento is doing a Twitter contest this Friday.  One follower will win two tickets to the WWE’s “The Bash” event on June 28th.  Both of these marketing tweets include a deep link directly to the Ticketmaster page to buy tickets.

MSG is promoting on Twitter a contest to win a 5 star prize package for the August 1st Steely Dan concert at the Beacon Theatre in NY.  Their link takes you to the contest info page on the MSG website.  The prize includes: good seats, pre-show party including dinner & drinks, souvenir laminate, hassle free entrance, and crowd free merchandise shopping.  The last two prizes are interesting.  This must be an issue in NY to make “hassle free & crowd free” a prize.

Just as I was writing today’s blog, I got a tweet from Ticketbiscuit.com on a NY Daily News story about Ticketmaster’s ”mess-up” during the fan club pre-sale for the Miley Cyrus concert in Long Island. They sold tickets using the wrong posted seating chart.  See the story for yourself.

Ticketmaster Is Going Paperless

Ticketmaster will test its paperless ticket system for the upcoming Miley Cyrus tour this summer. This new system is an attempt to stop scalping and other aftermarket ticket sellers. I completely understand why they are trying this technology.  I agree that the aftermarket business has become out of control.

All customers will be required to purchase tickets with a credit card.  The customer will then bring the credit card and valid photo I.D. to the venue.  As the customer and all of his/her party enter the venue, the credit card will be swiped.  A seat “locator” card will then print out.  Watch the demo video they produced on their website. 

Think about 15,000 plus fans going through the turnstiles.  I hope every arena is ready to increase the ticket taker budget.  I hope they are ready to add more turnstiles.  What has gone from one quick step of scanning the ticket as you enter, has become swiping the credit card, checking the I.D., making sure the right number of fans are entering under that credit card, and printing out the seat locator.  Looks like parents will actually have to go with their kids to the concert.  Kids don’t have the credit card and photo I.D. that goes with it.

How will this new paperless system affect artists and promoters who sell tickets to the aftermarket?  Ticketmaster has the answer for that too.  Ticketmaster has a program called “I Love All Access”.  VIP packages will be available.  They just move the tickets there.

Will you be able to use American Express Gift Cards? Ticketmaster claims no.  They explain this on their website. They claim they have the right to cancel an order if a gift card is used. I wonder if the online system can distinguish regular AMEX cards from AMEX gift cards? These gift cards have an AMEX number on them.  AMEX claims their gift cards are good online or in person at any U.S. merchant that takes American Express. 

Stay tuned…

Even Supermarkets Are Going Mobile

There is an article in today’s Wall Street Journal about Unilever testing mobile coupons.  Unilever is one of the biggest packaged goods companies in the world.  Their brands include: Breyers ice cream, Dove soap, Hellmann’s mayonnaise, and Lipton tea. 

This test will take place at a Shop Rite store in New Jersey.  They will offer coupons via a mobile device.  The customer can download the coupons into the phone and then have the phone scanned at checkout.  If this works, no more cutting coupons.  How many times have you cut out a coupon only to leave it at home?  Most customers today bring their mobile phones with them to the store. Just think of the promotional tie-ins you could do with supermarkets and your events with this technology?

This is just another example of mobile marketing.  All of us in the event and entertainment business really need to jump (with both feet) into this technology.  I believe that we could become the standard bearers for this non-traditional marketing. 

Ticketmaster came close with mobile technology in the last few months with their BlackBerry app.  But they didn’t seal the deal.  Most Ticketmaster venues use scanning technology now for tickets.  If a customer can now buy tickets via the BlackBerry then why do they still have to print the ticket out?  Why can’t the barcode be scanned from the BlackBerry? 

Last year at the Event & Arena Marketing Conference, Tickets.com showed us mobile ticketing.  They showed us not only technology that places a barcode on the mobile device, but captures data.  This data is then marketed back to the customer.  This even includes knowing when the customer has entered the venue.

When I go to this year’s conference, I will be asking everyone these questions: What are you doing with mobile marketing?  What are you doing with your mobile data capture?

Have a great weekend!

What’s Up With This? (part 2)

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about my experience in trying to buy Boston Bruins playoff tickets online.  I discussed how my son was on the Ticketmaster website at exactly 11:00 AM when they went on sale.  There were no tickets available except the $250+ club seats.   

A heard from a few “in the know” peeps who gave me some reasons why this may have happened:

1) The season ticket holders not only had rights to their seats but could buy additional seats.

2) As part of the effort to attract more season ticket holders, the Bruins offered new 2010 season ticket holders the opportunity to purchase playoff tickets.

Both of these reasons make sense. Are they the only reasons?

So if the above reasons are true and season ticket holders take all the tickets, why even have an on-sale?  If you have no tickets to sell except for a few club seats why promote the on-sale?  Just release the few tickets.  You know fans are going to go online and look anyway.

Yesterday, they put this Sunday’s playoff game on sale.  I was at the Ticketmaster site before 11:00 AM and kept refreshing until the event popped up.  One of my friends did the same thing.  Guess what, the only tickets available at 11:00 AM were those $250+ club seats again.  However, there were lots of tickets available over on TicketsNow. 

I did something I have never done before.  I purchased tickets from TicketsNow.  Yes, I paid above face value. Yes, they have all the infamous TM service fees attached. Yes, this spoiled ticket marketing guy is going to sit in the nose bleeds (it’s all I could afford).

I took the bullet for two reasons: 1) my son and his friend really want to go to the game; 2) I thought this would be a good learning experience for event marketers like you and I.

The next step in the process will be getting the tickets.  I had to pay $14.00 for FedEx shipping.  I will let you know how the rest of my experience goes.