Merchandising is a triple winner!

September 5, 2012 Leave a comment

Merchandising is a strategy for creating alternate revenue, making performance more tangible and creating walk around visibility.     Sports marketing does this extremely well.  Arts – not so much.  It’s time for arts organizations to consider a stronger merchandising strategy.Performance experiences need to feed fans who love to shop

When did you last attend any kind of major league event that you didn’t have a chance to express your fanship with the purchase of a cap or shirt? Check out any league team website and you’ll see a “SHOP” button clearly visible above the fold.  What these franchises have learned is that their logo translates into a walking billboard and a welcome expression of their fan’s devotion.

Merchandise sales are not just breaking records for the big leagues like the MLB or the NBA.   Minor league teams in the US report over 52 million in merchandising sales.

Merchandising is an option that is open to any performance experience with a fan base.  In the arts, there is a unique opportunity to express a creative flair in the product design – after all, it’s ART!

Millennial and boomer cultural consumers both are 67% and 38% more likely than the average population* to purchase tickets online.  Why not give them more than tickets to buy?  A clever merchandising option offers up a revenue stream and walking endorsement of your performance.  Now is a great time to add a revenue stream by exploring the creation of   merchandising that allows your fans show their love!

*USA Plus-Mosaic Au10-Se11, Scarborough Adults 18+. Millennial and boomer cultural are A18-34 and A45-59 respectively that report attending a museum, dance/ballet, live theater or symphony in the past year.

Filed under Marketing, Sports, Ticketed Events Tagged with , , , ,

Marketing YOU in 3 steps

August 29, 2012 1 Comment

1 in 9 HR pros are likely to search your nameHave you searched your own name lately?   91% of human resource professionals reported screening their candidates with social networking according to a recent Reppler study .  What this means to today’s professional is that you need to actively manage your online persona.  How you look online – the results that are pulled up when you search your name – could win or lose your next job.

The three best tools to develop your own marketing campaign are LinkedIn and Twitter and  WordPress.  All three are free, simple to use and offer helpful online tutorials.  Once you build these out, they will likely become the top three search engine returns when anyone searches your name.

1. Your LinkedIn profile is much more than an online resume. It provides a multidimensional view of you that no piece of paper can replicate.  Choose a professional picture, add the latest books that you have read in your field and connect to people in your field.  LinkedIn is often the first stop for recruiters searching potential employees.

2. Twitter is a revealing look at who you surround yourself with professionally.  Your posts, and the Twitter feeds you follow need to be relevant to your business.

3.  Create a blog.  Writing and communication skills are extremely important to employers.  What better way to prove you have those skills than to create a blog?  WordPress is a free and simple blog template site that makes a first timer look like a pro!  Plan on writing about something related to your profession at least once a week.

Like any marketing campaign you’ll want to build your image strategically.  Make sure you know your intended audience and keep your profile and postings relevant to that audience.

The current employment climate makes everyone a free agent in a very competitive economy.   Use these online tools to build your brand and proactively market yourself to employers and your profession.

Filed under Digital, Marketing, SocialMedia Tagged with , , ,

Marketing time travel

August 21, 2012 Leave a comment

Less than 10 of 800 marketing educators posted in a social network themed conference“Marketing in a Socially Networked World” was the subtitle for the American Marketing Association’s Summer Educators Conference this past weekend in Chicago. My expectations included lots of spirited discourse around the established social networks like Facebook, Twitter, etc., thoughts on the next step in social marketing, some ROI debate and talk about ongoing implications of a two-way consumer conversation.  I figured the conference hashtag would be blowing up with inspiration.  Right?

Wrong. Instead I found myself plunged into ten years into the past by the paltry participation in the twitter conference hashtag.   Less than 10 of the over 800 marketing educators attending the conference posted via the conference hashtag on Twitter.

It was a disturbing insight into our population of marketing educators who don’t appear to be participating in one of the major tools of social networking.  Undoubtedly social networking is one of today’s most important relevant marketing manifestations.   If educators aren’t participating, are they teaching it?  My guess is no.

The amount of theoretical consideration required for research and doctoral dissertation appears to have eclipsed the need for keeping up with dominant themes in real-time marketing.  I am not saying that research should be abandoned.  But it’s time to make sure marketing educators teach relevant marketing.  In this case of social networking it means that marketing educators should do a better job of practicing what they teach.

Filed under Marketing, SocialMedia Tagged with , ,

Virtual to augmented reality eye openers

August 14, 2012 Leave a comment

Eye opening augmented reality - the future of ad inventory?The quickening speed of technology development adoption breeds constant speculation about the future of media.  Virtual to augmented reality is a likely trend given that the advertising business model reigns supreme.

First, consider virtual reality.  It’s a great match with our need to create more inventory to support the advertising revenue stream.  Most commonly connected with the creation of ad modules in mediated sports ( like billboards that appear on TV but not on the football field in reality), virtual reality ads can significantly multiply screen exposures.  Here’s a short example of virtual ads from ADvision – ranging from the subtle billboard style to the more ostentatious and invasive example of a beverage bottle erupting from center field.

Now fast forward to an anticipation of augmented reality that has gained momentum from Google’s Project Glass.  The development of these glasses brings into focus a world that increasingly could be augmented.   There are obviously vast implications of a world where people walk around in their own virtual shell.  One of them is  the use of this augmented reality as ad inventory.  Quoted in this NYT article William Brinker,  graduate director of computer science and software engineering department at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio notes  “…it’s also going to change real-world advertising, where companies can virtually place ads over other people’s ads…”  Or place ads and content where there is none in the real world.

This Fast Company article features a film that is as startling in its depiction of augmentation as it is illuminating regarding visual augmentation’s impact.

From virtual advertising to augmented advertising – technology and the permanence of the advertising business model mean we need to keep our eyes open!

Room for discussion:

Virtual reality is primarily being used in the world of sports.  What are some other entertainment applications?

Filed under Digital, Marketing, Sports, TV Tagged with , , , ,

Millennial marketing strategy: Free!

August 7, 2012 Leave a comment

Millennials have grown up with free as a marketing strategyThough long a concept in software marketing, the use of free as a business model (principally in online and entertainment) seemed to gain popular traction with Chris Anderson in 2008 and continues to be a growing and lively debated strategy.  Starting with the basic concept of sampling to reduce consumer risk and increase trial, free has grown to become an accepted if not demanded marketing technique.  Now is the time to embrace it in arts marketing to millennials.

Millennials have lived with this model their entire life.  From apps and social media to videos and music, this generation understands the value of free and the trade-off.  They have grown up with in store sampling, street teams handing out free product and “try it before you buy it” opportunities.  To millennials, it simply makes sense to try something for free and then upgrade to a paid model to get a fine tuned version.

Freemium marketing presents an opportunity for arts entertainment to court a generation.  Adoption of it in the arts is relatively limited to contemporary music with Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails as the poster child’s of success.  Michael Masnick in “The Sky is Rising” writes about Jason Parker a Seattle jazz musician who has successfully put free to work.

Why can’t free extend to all arts experiences?  Why not free performances to introduce non arts or light arts consumers to your best reason for purchase: your product!

Free is a business model.  Don’t be distracted by debate or the “cheap” image of free as a giveaway.  Truth is, in the right place it works. With the millennial generation it’s an expectation.   It’s time for arts to actively search out appropriate free strategies and open the doors to an entire generation.

Room for discussion:

Clearly just giving away something doesn’t constitute a strategy of free!  Choose an arts experience – what idea can you come up with to present a free strategy that will entice trial?

Filed under Marketing, Music, Ticketed Events Tagged with , , ,

Cultural confluence of sport

July 31, 2012 Leave a comment

Cultural attendees of both generations attend sports eventsResearch continues to reinforce the reality that audiences of all types are shared… not owned.  Millennial and boomer cultural attendees in the U.S show similarity in types of cultural events they attend and more importantly underscores a strong attendance at popular sports events.

There aren’t very many behaviors that these two generations share, let alone at a rate of 50% .  The propensity for cultural attendees of both generations to attend sports events is a clear stand out.   If almost 50% of your audience is going to sporting events – maybe you should (gasp!) explore collaboration with these teams? Even more shocking… but what about sports entities targeting the affluent cultural enthusiast?

People who do things, do things.  It’s a startlingly logical conclusion that is often ignored by an egocentric view of our own product. Exploring the connection of cultural to more popular culture has potential to grow audience and exposure.

Room for discussion

Sports events are a shared interest – so maybe sports advertising tactics can be shared?  What are some sports marketing/advertising tactics that translate well into the arts?

Filed under Marketing, Sports, Ticketed Events Tagged with , , ,

Millennial commitment crisis

July 24, 2012 1 Comment

Season tickets, loyal viewership, fickle fans – these entertainment issues can be related back to a US consumer finding less value in long term commitments on many levels.  Commitment and consistency is being assaulted on all fronts.

The US adult marriage rate is at an all time low of  51% (compared with 72% in 1960) according to PEW social trends   which also identified that “Today, just 20% of adults ages 18 to 29 are married, compared with 59% in 1960.”

Home ownership, a goal equated with the American culture is continues to hit new bottoms.  Bloomberg reports; “The rate dropped to 65.4 percent from 66 percent in the fourth quarter and fell a full percentage point from a year earlier, the Census Bureau said in a report today. That is the lowest level since the first quarter of 1997, and down from a record 69.2 percent in June 2004.”

Even the job market churn reinforces the concept that everyone is a free agent with little company loyalty expected or evident.

The millennial generation of 18-34s is hit hardest (or has less experience with the legacy of consistency experienced by boomers or older) by this consistent lack of permanency and it’s a fundamental change that permeates the way we do business in entertainment.

It means that the season ticket purchaser will be increasingly extinct and the single ticket, last minute purchaser will increase in value.  Electronic mediums will see their audiences continue to fragment and find fanship more difficult to sustain.

It’s not a question of “if” anymore.  Millennials are trained on obsolescence.  They accept that technology purchases will likely be obsolete in two years.   Entertainment marketers likewise need to accept this paradigm shift.  Short term connections will need to be earned over and over again in a world where next generation has been taught no value in longevity.

Filed under Marketing Tagged with , , ,

Focus on specific useful analytics

July 17, 2012 Leave a comment

Google Analytics - the key is to focus on specific infoWeb analytics are a valuable, often ignored marketing tool.  Yes, they can be overwhelming.. but don’t let that stop you!  Instead of being overwhelmed – simply focus on what you want.  Here is a cheat sheet for 3 helpful pieces of data from Google Analytics.  Why Google Analytics?  It’s free and it’s easy.   You have no excuse to not use!

1.  Overview/ Visits:  easy look at what the traffic is to your site, how it fluctuates over time

  • Overview/New and Returning  – helps understand if you are appealing to or reach new customers
  • Overview/Mobile – how many are accessing you on their mobile phones (is your website mobile friendly?)
  • Overview/Mobile/Devices – if the dominant mobile device is Apple, then you know that you should design without flash.

2.  Traffic Sources/Search/Organic:  see what your customers put in the search box when they look for you.

  • Very interesting test to see if they call your “official” name.  Clues you in on your nickname(s) or your customer frame of reference!

3. Traffic Sources/Sources/Referrals:  Lists the sites that send you traffic.

  • Great opportunity to reach out and collaborate with the sites
  • Often a surprise and unique partner opportunity

Google Analytics puts a ton more information at your fingertips.  Problem is, that can feel overwhelming, a feeling often cited as the reason for not looking at the analytics.   The solution is to just choose specific data, and to choose the data that is actionable.   It’s easy as 1,2, 3!

Filed under Marketing

Millennials focus is legit

July 10, 2012 Leave a comment

What segments can make or break a your show?  Look to the millennials as one of the leading indicators.   Although the courtship of millennials has been a bit rough… the arts (as in live theater, musicals, museums, etc) really need to continue to woo these 18-34 year olds.  They are a great segment for a number of reasons; they are active, more curious, and more vocal about their experiences.

Active – for sure.  Scarborough US (August 2010 through September 2011) data shows that there are just about as many millennials as boomers that report having had a cultural experience in the last year.    That is 8.5%  (20.1 million) percent of the 18-34s  versus 8.9% (20.4 million) of the 45-59 year olds.

Curious  – indeed!  Just look at their opening weekend movie behavior.  These culturally active millennials are 57% more likely to see a movie on its opening weekend.  Add this need to see it first to a healthy dose of higher proclivity for social media and you have the active ingredient for word of mouth momentum.  This lifestyle slice provides the first wave of enthusiasm and the higher likelihood of spreading the word.

Vocal – to a fault.  The mobile culturally active millennial is 135% more likely to access social networks immediately on their phones.  You can bet they register both their enthusiasm and their lack thereof very quickly after their experience.

How do you harness the strength of this millennial cultural goer? Get them to your show first.  Give them something to talk about.  It’s a legitimate strategy that charts the future of the arts.

Room for discussion:

What are some tactics for increasing 18-34 year old participation in a cultural event launch?  What are ways that you can encourage social word of mouth?

Filed under Marketing, SocialMedia Tagged with , ,

Spotify is to TV as Engagement is to Interruption

June 12, 2012 Leave a comment

The battle between interruption and engagement is being waged on the front line with Spotify on the leading edge.  Forbes quotes  Spotify’s Chief Revenue Officer, Jeff Levick, in a recent interview with Digiday:

Each TV hour has about 15 minutes of ads

“We don’t really want to offer just straight advertising. If our CEO had his way you wouldn’t see ads at all. The way we think about advertising on Spotify is communicating through content, whether that’s an audio experience, or a great app. That’s where we see the future of ads on Spotify – understanding the content itself in order to successfully message to consumers.”

Contrast that approach with the TV – the current king of ad revenue and time spent with American consumers.  According to Kantor media “… an average hour of monitored prime time network programming contained ten minutes, fifty five seconds (10:55) of in-show Brand Appearances and 14:20 of network commercial messages. The combined total of 25:15 of marketing content represents 42 percent of a prime-time hour.” (Kantar Media, 2010)

15 minutes an hour of advertising assault on their own fans.  No engagement there.  Contrast that to the approach taken by Spotify – the Reebok workout mix, the Coke partnership.  Spotify gets it and gives it back to their connected and engaged consumers. My bet is in the long run Spotify will be leading  ad  engagement  victory way into the future.

 

Room for discussion: How can TV content becoming infused with engagement by advertisers?  Select a show /channel and develop two strategies that combine potential advertisers with the content in a fashion that engages their fans.

Filed under Advertising, Content Development, TV Tagged with , , ,

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