Talking Tickets 4 March 2022: MLB! Chelsea! TPC! Fans! And, More!
#125
Hey!
Are you going to be joining me at TPC in Birmingham on 16-18 March? You should be. Over 450+ marketing, ticketing, sales, and revenue-generating people from venues from around the world coming together to talk tickets, connect, and get together in person.
I love a good graphic!
Come visit with me at the Booking Protect booth. I’ll be hanging out, doing a few podcast conversations if the mood strikes, and talking tickets!
It was an awful week, no one really wins a war. I know a few folks in Ukraine, and my thoughts are with them.
Kathryn and I have been giving our donations to Rescue.org to support the war efforts of the Ukrainians and the refugees that have been forced from their homes.
If you are looking to support the Ukrainians right now, Rescue might be a good place to start.
To the Tickets!
1. The Big Story: The world is a mess right now so I can’t pick just one.
Big Ideas:
Usually, I try to hit one big story, but this week there is just so much going on that I couldn’t really figure out how to narrow in on one thing alone.
In that case, I’m going to give you some key ideas from a few different stories.
Free newsletter, I make the rules.
MLB cancels games for the first time in about 30 years.
One of my main jobs with clients is brand management and branding work. Remember, my definition is that it is the accumulation of all of the touchpoints you have with your market, positive and negative.
Keep in mind that the negative touches tear you down faster than the positive ones build you up.
My feeling with this cancelation is that it is going to go on longer than people might think at the outset and that the brand damage is going to be worse than estimated.
Baseball’s revenues have grown a lot over the last few years with new TV contracts, increased ticket prices, F&B, and merchandise costs. But attendance numbers have been declining and in many years viewership has been down as well.
There’s also the prickly number of the average audience age creeping up annually.
In the day, I would talk with y’all about that point when everything is premium, nothing is premium.
Baseball may have reached that point and it is a tipping point that will be difficult to come back from.
Chelsea is for sale.
It is wild to me to see that so many people are willing to throw themselves in front of the good name of Roman Abramovich, but that’s what I saw in the comments sections and the chats of a number of Chelsea fan boards.
I’m not sure about the legal logistics of something like this, but the squeeze that the world is putting on Russia, Vladimir Putin, and the Russian oligarchs is having a measurable impact, almost immediately.
A sale price of $4B is being floated for Chelsea.
I’m not sure if that is reasonably going to happen for a distressed asset which Chelsea definitely is at this moment, but if Abramovich follows through and puts the sale proceeds into a fund to help rebuild Ukraine…that would be a positive outcome.
But, again, this situation is so unprecedented that who knows how it will play out.
Guess what?
This is actually a situation where the use of the word unprecedented actually applies.
At least I have TPC to look forward to:
I’ll be off to Europe at this time next week, if not there already.
I’m not good with the time zones when I travel and send out the newsletter. I try to make sure the things are slotted in before I leave so I don’t have to worry about them…honestly.
But I am excited to be going to TPC. The Ticketing Professionals Conference in Birmingham, UK is one of my favorite conferences in the world and this year’s return to in-person is going to be a super valuable experience for everyone that attends.
Andrew and the team have put together a couple of great keynote speakers. They’ve got some great panels, talks, and breakout sessions. A lot of networking, and a whole lot more.
Over the rest of the time until the conference, I’m going to post some of the things I’m looking forward to on my website and social media.
So keep an eye all around.
BTW, I’m going to do a few AMA podcasts during the time I’m in Europe and Miami. If you have any questions that you might like answered, send them my way and I’ll try and record answers to everything for a couple of podcast episodes while I’m out of the office and on the road.
2. The Road to Recovery: International touring could return to Japan this year:
Big Ideas:
Japan’s government is still waiting to open up to tourists.
A change in Covid procedures could lead to the return of festivals and touring musicians.
The Japanese market has been hit even harder than most as their Olympic Games were postponed and then held without fans.
Another sign of recovery will be touring artists being able to return to markets that have historically been good for touring acts like Japan.
Japan is still holding on to some Covid restrictions and when they will see them begin to be removed is still up in the air.
One big thing that will be necessary is getting some sort of waver or acceleration of acts getting into the country and being able to hold their shows. A significant quarantine period would slow down people’s willingness to tour Japan.
An accelerant here is that Japan has a very high vaccination rate with nearly 75% of the population being vaccinated, giving the government a bit more room to be lax with some rules or requirements.
Key dates to look for are the announcement of tourists returning and any waving of touring acts restrictions because like everyone, Japan has suffered. But their suffering has been compounded due to the costs associated with holding Olympic games that fans couldn’t attend.
3. How-To: Care about getting fans in early:
Big Ideas:
Getting fans in early starts a positive perception of the entire event.
The longer you have a fan in the stadium, the more revenue you are likely to generate.
The tools are available to get to know your fans better.
I dig this short piece because it highlights a few of my favorite things about getting fans into the stadium early:
Elevated perception
More revenue
Improved atmosphere
Let’s break this down quickly.
First, we talk about touchpoints here pretty regularly. As regular readers know, there are usually more touchpoints than you imagine in an experience. The good ones add up slowly and the bad ones can tear you down super fast.
So getting people a positive feeling and experience from the jump is good.
When you have people in the building, it is buzzing and people are excited to be there. That’s anticipation and it is powerful.
Second, just having people in their seats earlier improves the atmosphere.
People have a chance to get ready for the game, so you can clap, sing, and chant from the start…instead of rushing to your seat, hoping you don’t miss something, and getting into the event from a rushed sense of space.
Think about how the anticipation of the national anthem at Capital One Arena plays out. Folks like to be in their seats to shout “O” and “Red” and the atmosphere builds from there.
Or, think about a great concert and how hyped you get while the crew is tweaking amps and tuning instruments?!
Finally, more revenue.
In restaurants and nightclubs, we would measure how long the tables’ checks were open and we could tell you that if we could get someone to spend a little more time at their table, we could turn that into more revenue.
How?
An extra round of drinks, an appetizer, dessert…all of these things add up.
The same goes for a game or event.
Someone gets in earlier and the lines for beer are short, more beer sales can happen. Same for merchandise, food, and other purchases.
You know who does this well, check out a Pearl Jam merchandise stand and line.
This stuff is simple in theory, but in practice, it doesn’t get done nearly enough.
So take this idea out and think about ways you can encourage folks to get to the building earlier, then try one. Don’t commit to doing it for the long-term, just try it a few times…and see if it sticks.
If it works, good. Stay with it if you want.
If it doesn’t, no problem. Move down the list.
4. Tech/Tools/Profile: TurnStyle partners with the Mystics
Big Ideas:
Improved UI helps sales.
Flexibility in the package drives sales.
Being customer-focused means changing the way that you approach your marketing efforts now.
I like this stuff because it meets the needs of the modern customer.
Sell to people where they are and pay attention to what they want. The core of Market Orientation is that you don’t know what your customer wants, but you do know how to do the research necessary to find out. Combined with that, you need to experiment with your products and pricing to get a good feel for what will really work in your market.
I talked with Lifeblue’s former CEO a while back for the podcast and this example with the Mystics highlights a few important ideas:
First, one reason teams see an uplift in sales is due to the fact that the user experience is just better when the team has a customized site built from the ground up.
In internet sales, the less friction the better.
Look at Amazon or anything that takes Apple Pay. Those convert more.
Same here.
Second, flexibility in ticket sales packages matters as well.
There was some interesting research from FMCG products that shows that consumers might buy once or twice a year from you.
No one has really done the research here though TicketManager did some interesting research on ticket usage that said the average company uses around 8 tickets a season… which shows how often a customer really goes to a game.
We often think of single-game buyers versus packages versus half-season buyers or whole-season buyers.
My guess is that the truth is likely a bit more complicated than that.
If we follow the research of FMCG, we will see that there are a lot more ticket buyers that may go to one, two, or three games a year instead of 10, 12, or 15. And, we need to adjust so that we can move beyond hoping that they come 3x a year to helping them come 3x a year and, maybe, moving them to the fourth game.
Finally, this highlights the overall need to do the basics of marketing better.
Why?
Because we need to recognize that we don’t have the answers.
Why?
Because we are too close to the problem.
We have to be market-oriented. Which is simply a recognition that we aren’t our market and that we need to do research to understand our customers. Once we do that, we can draw a map of the territory, pick a target, position, and sell better…its’s just the basics.
That’s what something like TurnStyle does, gets us to a point where we can execute our strategy better.
And, that’s a good thing…yeah!
BTW, FMCG is fast-moving consumer goods like candy bars, over-the-counter drugs, beer, and wine.
If you want to compare it to something more similar to get a feel for the data, the average American would go to 2.3 movies a year in the before times. 35% of British citizens would go out to eat once a month or less. In Australia, the most recent data I could find found that 38.2% of people 15 and older went to some sort of live performance.
5. Blurbs and Such:
BTS in Vegas! This would be a big-ticket. Luckily I have people in Vegas!
38% drop in tour emissions: I remember when Pearl Jam worked with UPS to reduce their carbon footprint around the Pearl Jam 20 shows in Wisconsin. I’m a fan of a lot of these environmental pushes because I’ve found myself spending a lot of time outdoors over the years in the mountains outside of Seattle, growing up in the woods of North Georgia, now in the DMV, and, even in NYC when I would sit outside in Central Park or at many, many baseball games…you have to take care of your land and the environment you live in. Duh!
Melbourne Cricket Ground uses 100% renewable energy: Look at this…a partnership that leads to 100% renewable energy use. Another thing I dig is science. If I could get solar panels on my house, I would.
Clarification on the Florida ticket law: This was shared with me and it seems that the Florida law would just enable fans to have an option to buy a ticket that didn’t limit transfer. And, it would not let venues deny entry for valid tickets not bought from the original point of sale. See…I do my research.
Increased arts funding outside of London: Art is how we are able to grapple with ideas, situations, and circumstances to make sense of them. That’s why great art typically comes out of really terrible times. Think about how grunge, punk, and The Renaissance. Funding arts so that more people have access to the arts is a good deal for society.
Russia is getting its sports taken away: The Champions League is gone. Formula 1 is gone. Almost everyone that is connected to the larger world has distanced themselves from Russia after the last week…and it happened pretty fast.
Derek Jeter and the Marlins break up: I doubt this will really impact Jeter’s brand in the long term at all. Think of it as co-branding where the two brands bring things they are good to the relationship. Jeter is a winner that knows baseball. The Marlins have a cool stadium in a good city, but struggle with attendance and on the field. In reality, people compartmentalize brands and the Marlins will be the same as they were going in and so will Jeter.
Youth sports is big business: To me, it might be too big of a business. But America…
I was in Sportico with Simon Mabb a few weeks back talking about Booking Protect, refund protection, and what customers want and need now. Give it a read.
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Be a part of the ‘Talking Tickets’ Slack community.
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, check them out in Birmingham, UK at the Ticketing Professionals Conference UK. If you are in the neighborhood, get to the conference, Andrew, Carol, and the TPC team do a great job and they throw great parties.
I had my buddy, Simon Severino, back on the podcast this week. We talked about marketing, strategy, and long-term planning. Hit some of the previous episodes. All of the ones from 2022 have been bangers: Ruth Hartt, Hannah Grannemann, Lyndsey Jackson, and, now, MK Lever. I’ve got some more good stuff coming up!