Wednesday, February 2
Who Moved Our Fans: Marketing to Changing Audiences
Moderator: Adriane Biondo, Jack Utsick Presents / Worldwide Entertainment
Amy Morrison, AEG Live / Concerts West
Brian O’Boyle, Metropolitan Talent Presents
Lisa Bellamore, House of Blues Concerts
Sid Farbstein, Bill Young Productions
Calvin Lui, Ticketmaster
Kyle Newport, Bay Area Productions
Brad Locker, Avalon Attractions

Marketing ain’t what it used to be. Brad Locker summed it up by saying if there was a marketing panel at the CIC 10 years ago, the debate would be about the marketing power of radio versus the marketing power of radio.

That changed last year. Ticketmaster did a survey in 2004 that showed for the first time a majority of ticket buyers didn’t learn of a concert from radio. According to TM’s Calvin Lui, 24 percent were informed of an incoming show by radio and an equal 24 percent were notified via the Internet – be it Google, artist Web sites and, we’ll assume, Pollstar.com. Another 19 percent learned of shows through TM’s Web site or e-mail alerts.

A fickle 2004 certainly tested the ingenuity of the marketing departments.

“You can’t just do an ad plan of morning drive radio spots, a full-page ad and some ‘win it before you can buy it’ on the radio and expect a sellout,” promoter Adriane Biondo said. There’s too many intangibles these days.

So what are the answers? Everyone’s still looking into the magic 8-ball. The Internet is going to play a larger role in the marketing plan, and the industry has got to figure out how to get the word out to the kids using iPods, but it seems the details are still being ironed out.

Here are some of the nuggets:
Lui stressed that TM has marketing research it is willing to share with promoters and managers. For instance, TM compared the Los Angeles market to those of Chicago and New York City. Results showed there are fewer families in L.A. than in the other two cities. They have lower income and spend more time in retail stores than on the Internet.

“We’d like to get involved with all of the pre-planning of the marketing plans you have out there,” Lui said.

According to Bay Area Productions’ Kyle Newport, the info is worthwhile; he recently used it to focus more attention on a retail store where most of the tickets for a show were being purchased.

TM also launched a program called paperFast last year. Promoters love papering almost as much as they love pouring Dave’s Insanity Sauce in their eyes, but Lui pointed out there’s still marketing research that can be gleaned from all of those free seats because paperFast offers information on the demographics of those getting the tickets.

E-mail alerts are now a part of the marketing plan, but what good are they if they are done poorly? Alerts in HTML have better response than plain text but if they don’t open in the user’s Outlook e-mail program, they’re worthless. The marketing team needs to have the right infrastructure in place so that more than just 10 percent of the recipients can view the e-mail.

For that matter, a recent e-mail alert for a Fleetwood Mac concert was not only in HTML, but played music when opened and included a hyperlink to Ticketmaster.

The audience generated some innovative ideas. For instance, if a promoter or record company could provide a facility with promo CDs, the facility could use them in their vending machines or concession areas. For example, they could attach them to soda liters if the Pepsi or Coca-Cola vendor is willing.
Another idea was to incorporate set lists and other artist info, such as how the tour came together, into the marketing plans.

From the audience, Sean Paul’s U.K. agent, George Leitner, spoke of a creative marketing campaign by two promoters that put his client in front of 25,000 fans at the Hippodrome. The show was marketed as a dance party and tickets went on sale for a meager 10 euro. It was a sellout.

“Every one of my colleagues said it was stupid, but it worked,” Leitner said.

Another tidbit? Locker said he is never miserly when it comes to ticket giveaways.

“I want to give the radio station as many tickets as they want,” he said. “I don’t want them to call my competitor, a movie chain or both and see my mentions get slighted.”