Talking Tickets 24 December 2021: Run Run Rudolph! Short and Sweet, But Still Stopping By!
Number 116: Come on Rudolph!
Hey There!
Happy Christmas and Festive New Year…Happy Holidays, the whole thing.
Whatever you celebrate, I’m grateful for y’all being here.
Thank you!
We will keep this week’s short and sweet.
Next week, we will see what we get. I don’t know what I’m doing next week, but you’ll get a newsletter…because that’s what we do around the Dave office, we deliver on schedule!
But it might be a short and sweet one as well.
To the Tickets!
1. The Big Story: Congress investigates Live Nation over the Astroworld Festival tragedy:
Big Ideas:
It seems that if a congressional committee is investigating what happened at Astroworld that only investigating Live Nation on this side is only looking at half the story.
The speed of this request and hearing might mean that the committee is serious.
Knowing the challenges all businesses have faced during the pandemic to get proper staff levels, having such a large festival might come under question.
This story deserves the full treatment, but we will only hit the highlights today.
Such a quick turnaround on a request for information likely means that the committee is serious about investigating the Astroworld tragedy. In an election year, it is likely that folks are going to want to show action.
Looking only at Live Nation is only getting to one side of the story. I’d be surprised if there isn’t a deeper investigation into the artists, any outside partners, and other key stakeholders from the event.
Seeing how difficult hiring has been for businesses of all sorts since the pandemic lockdowns started to ease, staffing, training, and risk management are likely to be at the heart of this investigation as well.
2. The Road to Recovery: 50% no-shows and a devastating scenario developing in the UK:
Big Ideas:
Omicron is causing an even bigger mess. The NHL is shutting down for a week to get a grasp on the new variant.
As long as there is uncertainty, there won’t be a recovery.
Whatever plans you have will need to be flexible.
Man, I left for Georgia on Saturday morning and everything was totally fine. I mean, I’m cool wearing masks indoors or in crowds even fully vaccinated.
But by the time I got settled into Atlanta on Sunday, the amount of coughing, hacking, and unwell folks had me on-edge. It didn’t help that my buddy was texting me from NYC with a potential breakthrough case either.
I bring that up to highlight that I’m probably not unusual in how apprehensive being around sick, hacking, coughing people made me.
So, we have to recognize that uncertainty is going to play a role in our lives going forward until we have a stronger grasp on the virus.
The Premier League has put new guidelines in place, Broadway, the NHL, everyone…this is a mess and as long as there is uncertainty, there will be no full recovery.
So you are going to need to be flexible.
3. How-To: Brand Strategy:
Big Ideas:
Diagnosis/Strategy/Tactics
What will you do? What won’t you do?
How will you turn your strategy into action?
Here is something we will come back to a lot more over the next few months, but this piece is one of the ten top pieces from Mark Ritson this year.
Mark was one of my marketing professors and he’s the person that really helped me reignite my focus on pricing.
To get a good grasp on the basics of brand strategy, you really need to keep the framework of diagnosis drives strategy and strategy drives tactics in mind.
4. Profile/Tech/Tools: Eric Fuller gets Steve Earle on his podcast!
Big Ideas:
Steve Earle! Holy shit!
The Boss can still throw down.
Picking yourself up over and over is the key to success.
This came to me as I am finishing up this week. And, this is a really great holiday story.
Steve Earle has written a really good book, fiction.
He’s an interesting musician and like other folks like Neil Young, he has set up an organization to help beyond his lifetime.
Check out Eric’s story and the podcast with Steve Earle.
5. Blurbs and Such:
The New York Times has renewed interest in buying The Athletic: I’m a fan of both outlets, but if I wanted to write a “how-to” on undermining your brand, I could just point you to the constant discounts that populate the promotional feed of The Athletic. Great publication, but bad business practices.
The AFLW has some goals for the next decade: I was at dinner a few weeks back and my Melbourne FC hat drew attention. I’m a fan of the AFL and what the AFLW are doing. I’ll need a bit more information here, but I like the ambition of the project.
Nightclubs need help as a psuedo-lockdown takes hold in the UK: Got my start in the world of nightclubs and as hard as this has been for theatre, sports, concerts, culture…the nightclubs are going to probably have had the worst go of it because many nightclubs are small businesses and can, even more, afford the opening and closing that has happened over the last year or two.
You can find me everywhere with my special Linktree! It is all my links!
Check out my friends at Booking Protect! Customers have been taking up refund protection at a rate that is double what it was before the pandemic began. This is a great opportunity for you to offer more value to your customers in a way that they want while also creating a new revenue stream for your organization.
Also, you’ll be able to see me and the Booking Protect team at INTIX in Orlando. I’m going to try and do some podcasting from the booth and we will have a grand time. Let me know if you’ll be there.
New Year, New Job?! Work at Fenway Park: