Talking Tickets 8 October 2021: Broadway is Open, but are Ticket Buyers Back? Minimum and Maximum Ticket Prices in South America! Why Can't the Saudis Buy Spurs? And, More!
Number 105!
Hey There!
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To the Tickets!
1. Tony Awards are back, but are ticket buyers?
Big Ideas:
Broadway has re-opened, but recovery is still a ways off.
Like all businesses now, Broadway needs to follow the three steps of brand strategy: Diagnosis, Strategy, and Execution.
Broadening the market is a wise decision
First of all, I’m glad to see Broadway back. I owe a lot to Broadway and I’ve got a list of shows that I want to get to the City to see in the next few months to do my part to make sure the City bounces back.
Second, remember the maxim that “re-opening isn’t recovery”. That’s what Broadway is dealing with right now, the reality that re-opening isn’t enough.
The Tonys are a pretty good advertisement for Broadway and in most years, a soft sell event.
This year, the pleading to see “any show” ran into the reality that 2/3 of tickets are bought by tourists and tourism isn’t coming back yet.
Combine that with the rightful calls that Broadway does a better job reflecting the world around it and you had a Tony Awards show that was unlike any we’ve seen before.
In thinking through the idea of recovery, looking at what is happening in markets around the world, and helping a few clients rebuild their strategies, it seems like the right time to point out the basics of brand strategy because that will help Broadway and most organizations right now.
The three core sections at the heart of your brand strategy are:
Diagnosis
Strategy
Execution
Let me walk you through each of them quickly.
First, diagnosis.
Remember my advice, the first step in any brand activity is a step back to get a lay of the land.
You are going to want to begin with the research of the market and the world around you. As all of these shows open up on Broadway, the first thing I would have looked at was the number of tickets that were bought traditionally by tourists.
Because knowing that tourism is still on the outs, I would have known that I likely needed to redraw my map.
That’s true no matter what the project, but in this case…it is almost too obvious.
The second part of diagnosis, segmentation.
You need to draw a map of the market based on the world around you right now.
Like I read in the paper last week, the city that has been hit the hardest from a population standpoint has been DC. That means that the map the teams and venues were working off of in DC needs to be redrawn to meet the demands of the after-times.
The same with Broadway.
The City is coming back, but the tourists haven’t yet.
After you diagnose, then comes your strategy.
What are the key points to strategy?
You begin with targeting the market you want to hit.
You can’t try to hit everyone, you don’t have the budget most likely and if you target everyone with the same message, you are just throwing away money anyway.
Then you position your brand in the market.
For or against.
About you or against the competition.
On Broadway, you can do either. But don’t try to do both at the same time.
Finally, you pick some goals and objectives to help guide your tactical decisions.
The final step is execution.
That’s tactics.
In marketing, the 4 Ps:
Product
Price
Place
Promotion
Each of these pieces matters and they are executed through your strategic decisions. As an example, look at “Slave’s Play” and their 10,000 seats at $39. That could be a wise pricing decision to get an audience to try out a play that might be competing with other shows for local’s money and position it as a choice of being able to do both shows.
With the product, you can do all kinds of things with your ticket to expand the value like including a drink or a cast album download or something else.
Promotion, well if you’ve done your segmentation work, you’ll know there are tons of ways to promote a show that are unique to each segment.
The place is about distribution and in the case of the recovery of Broadway may open the door to a different discussion around distribution like what is the nature of the relationship between Broadway and the secondary market now?
As I’ve been prattling on about, none of this is easy so you need to get back to first principles.
2. A minimum and maximum ticket price in South America?!:
Big Ideas:
After 19 months, behaviors have changed and success isn’t guaranteed.
Price perception is in play with the way that the futbol clubs are pricing.
To battle pricing, the Argentinians are using both minimum and maximum pricing.
To kick off the return of fans to Argentinian futbol stadiums, the Superclasico, between River Plate and Boca Juniors!
This is the first time fans have been allowed into stadiums since March 2020 and the capacity was limited to 50% with mandates that fans have, at least, their first shot of the vaccine to be allowed into the stadium.
Like all places, after the lockdowns and so much death, strife, and economic struggle, success isn’t guaranteed going forward.
In the coming months, I’m sure we will see a lot of new ideas bubble up around the world, but a pretty interesting pricing experiment is taking place in Argentina as fans return with a maximum and minimum ticket price being used at on-sale.
Why do I think this is interesting?
Allow me to teach you three important pricing lessons this morning:
Experimentation
Price discrimination
Price Perception
First, experimentation.
This is exactly what is happening here with the Argentinian futbol structure, a grand experiment in pricing by offering maximum and minimum pricing.
A few years back, Amazon got into trouble for a price experiment that became public where they were pricing according to zip codes and buying habits. (I’ve greatly simplified the research.)
I don’t really see anything wrong with price experimentation myself as we will talk about next, but the example did show that there was a lot of variance in what people found value and what price tag people would put on a certain value.
In Argentina, we are seeing an experiment play out in public view with the examples of price floors and ceilings, coupled with the pricing for seniors.
We should all be working on some form of pricing experimentation. There isn’t usually one “right” price and the idea that we can always just set or know the right price to set at any one point in time creates an environment where discounts are all too common.
Second, Price Discrimination.
What do I mean by Price Discrimination?
It is simple. This is just a pricing model where you charge some customers more than you charge others for a similar product or service.
In the case of the Argentinian futbol leagues, seniors are getting a lower price than working-age adults. In other places, you might see this with special pricing for students, affinity groups like police or firefighters, or low-income consumers.
The discussion on how to use Price Discrimination needs to really focus on what you want your strategy to be and how you want to be perceived in the market.
If you know that certain neighborhoods don’t come to events, maybe offer a promotion that gives them a special price or benefit with verification. You can think of this as the coronavirus benefit since bands like the Foo Fighters require you to show your vaccination record to go to a show.
The key is to use this tool wisely and make sure it fits into your strategy.
The final one, Price Perception.
In this instance, the perception is playing out as the futbol clubs are working to improve the perception of attending a futbol match as a good value for people’s time and money after the lockdowns.
In other situations, you might look at the perception that people have after they went to an event.
As an example, think about the situation that movie theatres find themselves in now with attempting to lure folks back to the cinema. Before the pandemic began, there was already grumbling about people not attending movies because the prices were high, the movie quality questionable, and the experience subpar.
The perception was that, unless it was a blockbuster like Star Wars or James Bond, you could wait for something to stream.
Now, think about what people feel when they leave your game after standing in line for an inning or two for a beer or a hot dog? What about when the lines use the restrooms are long at intermission and there isn’t an option that will help people use the restroom and get a drink at intermission?
We can play these out in any number of ways, but the point is the same…perception drives pricing, brand loyalty, and repurchase.
Right now, the Argentinian futbol leagues are playing with that perception with their pricing models.
And, that’s probably a good thing.
3. CTS Eventim and Ed Sheeran come together to fight touts:
Big Ideas:
Ed Sheeran has sold around 1,000,000 tickets around Europe for his 2022 tour. Demand is high.
Sheeran is a long-time opponent of for-profit resale and this tour is no different.
This is the first use-case of CTS Eventim’s new technology, Eventim.Pass.
This is likely the biggest tour I’ve seen go on-sale in Europe since the pandemic began. And, the demand has been high, proving something that Tony Knopp tweeted about last week that the pandemic accelerated some trends that were already on display.
Like the big events selling better and everything else struggling.
The on-sale for this tour also shows that technology solutions continue to push forward with this tour marking the first instance where CTS Eventim’s new Eventim.Pass is coming into play.
Finally, this tour provides another example of how artists that can are controlling their ticket distribution as much as possible. Meaning that Ed Sheeran is able to put whatever restrictions on the resale of his tickets that he wants because he is going to sell tickets.
What can we learn from this example?
First, know your market.
Ed Sheeran can sell 1,000,000 tickets because he knows his fans. He’s also built a strong songbook and brand that most artists can’t compete with, allowing him to do things that other artists can’t.
Depending on where you are, keep in mind the old maxim: the first step you take in your go-to-market strategy is a step back. Diagnose the situation before you do anything else with market research and segmentation of the market.
Second, focus on your brand at all times.
Ed Sheeran can control the resale of tickets. He can be the first to use new technologies. He can sell out an entire tour in minutes.
All because his brand is strong.
Keep this in mind: with your brand, everything counts, good and bad.
Building brand equity takes time, but it pays off in price integrity, lower customer acquisition costs, higher profits, and customer loyalty.
Finally, having a strong distribution strategy is wise.
I spoke with Derek Palmer from Project Admission this week about their tool and the topic of distribution came up.
In the main article here, viagogo complains about Sheeran’s distribution and resale strategy, but the big thing to me here is that Sheeran has a distribution strategy that his brand, demand, and customer base make possible…meaning he is executing his strategy through his pricing and distribution strategies.
For all of y’all, keep this in mind because you need to make conscious decisions about where you want your tickets to show up and be sold.
Direct and indirect distribution decisions are important. And, you can make them on a case-to-case basis.
In the same vein, think through your pricing strategy because it seems very important that you work to maintain your price integrity and re-establish some sense of value through your pricing decisions.
On the whole, this situation shows off the entire scope of marketing in one case:
Diagnosis
Strategy
Execution
4. Tennis Australia is on a deal-making frenzy:
Big Ideas:
The Brand Triangle comes into play again: Awareness, Meaning, and Impression.
In-House sales allow Tennis Australia greater control over their brand.
One-size-fits-all is not a part of their strategy.
The Australian Open is a bucket list event for me. And, it is one of those things that I’ve had to put on hold due to the pandemic along with seeing the Melbourne Demons win a flag at the Grand Final.
If I had a magic wand, I’d say, “I’m out on Covid. Thank you very much.”
Unfortunately, I don’t have the ability to wave my magic wand and put Covid behind me, so I just keep a return to Australia in mind and pay attention to the Australian market.
Media rights’ deals aren’t something I typically bring up here in the context of the newsletter unless I mention how they impact ticket sales or revenues outside of the rights themselves, but today I see an interesting angle to talk about brand management.
To start, it is interesting to see that 25% of the tennis watching market is European. That’s a pretty strong market.
Another interesting tidbit is that Tennis Australia is dealing with their media rights at a point of inflection when the stars of today are starting to be met with the stars of tomorrow, meaning that new ideas and approaches are relevant.
In my view of the sport, I’ve actually noticed that the market for tennis is diversifying and seems to be growing in areas that you might not typically think the sport would grow in like dudes in their 40s that take up tennis because their family does and starts watching the sport.
All jokes at my own expense aside, let’s take a look at what Tennis Australia is doing through the Wakeman Brand Triangle structure: awareness, meaning, and impression.
First, awareness.
This is the easiest one because Tennis Australia is making deals that will enable them to reach the broadest audience and have the flexibility necessary to adjust those deals as partners when the market and technology change.
I’ve been re-reading Alvin Toffler’s Future Shock and he talks about how quickly the cycle from discovery to acceptance to mass use of technology has sped up from his viewpoint in the 70s, he’d be floored by how rapidly things are accelerating now.
The big key here is that Tennis Australia’s strategy is one that is focused on driving awareness now while maintaining flexibility to continue to use new tools and technology to continue to raise the bar of awareness of the sport as their audience changes and the technologies available to them change.
Second, we have the impression that Tennis Australia is leaving on the markets.
This has been coming out a lot lately because Tennis Australia has been pretty strict in the way that they’ve dealt with Covid and the athletes coming to Australia to play at their tournament.
This impression is one of safety, security, and competition.
For the folks that might want to boohoo the tough nature of Tennis Australia’s stance, Australia has taken aggressive actions throughout the pandemic to limit the intrusion of the virus onto their continent.
Making many of these actions consistent with the national stance.
Finally, we have the brand’s meaning.
These right’s deals allow Tennis Australia to continue to underline a few key brand attributes that come through in the presentation and the position of the brand like aspirational, world-class, and innovative.
Like I said at the top, I’m a fan of the Australian Open and Australia as a whole.
Earlier in the pandemic, I learned about perceptual maps and how they can show you visual representations of what consumers really think of a brand. In the class I took, we had one of Australia as a whole and the key ideas that unfolded on the map about Australia were:
Aspirational destination
Exotic
Exciting
Intentionally or not, the Australian Open and Tennis Australia get the benefit of these associations, meaning that the meaning that people associate with their brands is very strong and these deals enable them to make deals from a stronger baseline.
Looking at the deals Tennis Australia is making through the lens of the brand helps you see that decisions like geo-targeting their productions, controlling sales of rights through an in-house vehicle, and focusing on flexibility in their deals make all the sense in the world.
Now, if I can just get a flight to Melbourne sometime soon!
5. Some links to end the week:
Saudi Arabia buys Newcastle: Ethical considerations aside, another team for Spurs to end up behind…come on, man?!
Inter Milan has the largest loss in Serie A history: This is outside of the scope of the week, but the business models and losses at teams around the world is going to have an impact on the way that tickets are sold and marketed. Or, it should.
Jeff Bezos, the NFL, and London: Will the logo of the NFL team be as creative as Bezos’s rocket ship?
Dead and Company can teach you about creativity and marketing: Some of the best touring acts have done a great job of branding and marketing their bands, shows, and communities. They begin with the Dead. I even went to the Dead House in SF…I’m not even a Deadhead.
Check me out on Linktree. You’ll see links to this week’s podcast with Derek Palmer where Derek tries to give me a stroke with all of his talk about discounts.
Do you speak French? Booking Protect is looking for a French-speaking Customer Relationship Manager to help manage their growth in France! Send me a note and I will hook you up with the appropriate party and help Booking Protect continue to grow the world’s best refund protection program.
I did a worksheet with Eventellect to teach y’all how to do a Net Promoter Score survey. In next week’s podcast, I meet a fellow advocate for the use of NPS and research to keep your business moving forward. Get your copy of the NPS worksheet by sending me an email.
Activity Stream created the Activate email marketing system to help y’all reengage with your audience after the time out that Covid enforced upon us. Hook up with the Activity Stream team and find out how you can reconnect with your audience and deliver more magic moments as people return to shows.