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.

Social Media Going Mainstream

Marketers are starting to embrace social media and social media is embracing marketers.  Check out today’s Media & Marketing section of the Wall Street Journal.  The article in today’s WSJ talks about how Mars Snackfood is using its Skittles brand to apply new online marketing techniques. 

Mars has revamped the Skittles website with content from online Skittles fans www.skittles.com.  When you go to the website you get a Twitter background with Skittle followers commenting on the candy.  This is very cool!  They do take a risk doing this.  What if Twitter followers say “nasty” stuff about the candy? As I am writing this post I do see negative comments on the site.  In the age of social media, those are the chances that online marketers have to take. Does the famous PT Barnum quote of “no such thing as bad publicity” come into play?  BTW, Skittles was one of the top topics on Twitter yesterday!

In the upper left corner they have a box where you can click on different tabs. If you click on the friends tab you go to the candy’s Facebook page. If you click on the media tab you can either go to YouTube or Flickr.  

This is a perfect example of “out of the box” thinking.  The brand is taking risks, trying new stuff, and embracing non-traditional marketing.  Congrats to them!

Open letter to U2

Dear U2:

I understand you are planning to play some small venues in the next week to promote your new album.  I applaud your thinking on how to create a buzz.  I understand that you plan to play the Boston market next week.  The two most logical choices are House of Blues and The Paradise.  Of course the Paradise would be great since you first got your start there.  I hear both venues are already booked with other gigs.  May I suggest a small 300 seat theatre in suburban Boston where your 1980 era original fans now live.  The Center for Arts Natick (TCAN) www.natickarts.org is a restored 19th century fire house that is very intimate.  The acoustics are great.  You will be able to see every one of your fans in the audience.  If you are interested, please let me know and I will help you make it happen.

 

Friday Free For All

Ain’t nothing but a party

Last night the J. Geils Band including Peter Wolf opened the new House of Blues in Boston.  I can’t think of a more perfect Boston band to open the joint.  I hear that it was Don Law that made that happen.  Of course the place was sold out.  They had TV coverage on all the local news broadcasts.  This morning it was in all the newspapers and again on local news.  HOB placed a full page (tab) color ad in the Boston Globe entertainment section announcing the opening with the great lineup of upcoming acts.  They are also running top of page banner ads on Boston.com.  Not a bad marketing plan for a concert promoter (only kidding).  Oh, and I guess my invite “must a got lost”.

And the winner is…

It will be interesting to see how the TV ratings are for the Academy Awards Sunday night. As I mentioned in the past, the movie industry is kicking ass right now.  I am rooting for Slumdog Millionaire.  Award show ratings have been dropping like a rock lately.  Let’s hope they put on a better show then the Grammy’s. 

A few comments from the past week

From It’s A Package Deal posted 2/18/09

Good post and I personally find it relevant because we’ve been working hard at completely reworking how our ticketing system handles packages so we can offer as many options as possible. We’ll currently be able to offer series packages, flex package (pick 5 of 10 events, etc.) and standard discount packages. Packages really are a great way to keep people coming back to the venue and should be used as much as possible.

Chris Auman

http://www.eventticketingsystems.com

 

I think it sounds like a smart idea – given the economy. People will definitely keep going to see entertainment – the depression bears that out when movie lines were longer than ever for escape value. But they cannot afford to KEEP going if it’s pricey.

 

If packaging can give them a substantial family discount (understanding that ancillary sales in the venue help re: making that up) then the venues can stay full. Everything is price sensitive now so anything that helps reduce cost will be attractive to an audience that needs diversion.

 

Barbara

http://www.bpmediarelations.com

 

From Do You Want To Trade? Posted 2/17/09

 

Joe,

 

Great Story! Barter is great and I am trying to float that concept.

 

Did you see that we sold Santonio Holmes winning Super Bowl catch gloves in a Reebok sponsored auction for $70,200.00!!!

 

Not bad for 10 days exposure.

 

Speak to you soon.

 

Stan

www.cmarket.com

www.biddingforgood.com

 

 

From Fees, Fees, Everywhere A Fee posted 2/06/09

 

Why is it that people in the live event industry don’t understand basic marketing?

 

Consumers want to know what they’re paying.  They want one price. 

 

Why not simply calculate the “ticket” price, any additional fees that are required, present the consumer an “all-in” price when they purchase, and then split out the correct proceeds on the back end to the venue, promoter, manager, artist, etc? Why is this so difficult to do?

 

Anonymous

 

 

Have a great weekend!