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Wed, January 21, 2009
Here’s an interesting story about the California government issuing a bill that would ban digital billboards. I’ll shut up and just provide an excerpt from the story:
“As promised, the California assembly is considering a bill that would place a three-year moratorium on the construction of new digital billboards, including the conversion of existing billboards; it would also halt the construction of digital billboards currently underway. Assembly Bill 109 was introduced last week by Assemblyman Mike Feuer, (D-Los Angeles), close on the heels of a court victory for opponents of digital billboards in the Los Angeles area. Feuer explained the motivation behind the bill: ‘Many states and municipalities have raised concerns over the safety of electronic billboards. Common sense dictates that before we allow these displays to proliferate, we should know the results of pending safety analyses and evaluate how to respond.’ The moratorium is intended to give legislators a chance to study the potential ill effects of digital billboards more thoroughly before allowing further rollout.”
Now, maybe this is just a PR stunt and it may not get approved but, if it did, I would assume this would be a major speed bump in the growth of the rapidly growing digital outdoor industry. We are keeping a close eye on this.
Click here to read the article.
Sun, July 27, 2008
Sure, we all know by now that Google houses just about every dirty secret for Broadway (you might as well throw in Las Vegas shows as well). All of our discounts, stinky reviews, customer complaints and Reidel rants are a few key strokes away. I challenge you to Google your show with the words ‘reviews’, ‘discounts’ or the word ‘sucks’. It’s an interesting read.
When I say this, the response I often get is, "Who really searches for that info? Just because it's there doesn't mean people are looking for it." If you believe for a second that people aren’t looking for this kind of information, you are completely out of your mind. I have more than enough data to support consumers researching before buying tickets. Call me and I can break that data down for you.
With all of that said, here is what I see as the bombshell. Google is now making the voice of the consumer even more prominent. On select shows, when you Google their show name, we are now seeing a five star rating system next to their listing on Google. In short, Google has partnered with key entertainment and travel related websites to give an overall index of what consumers thought of that production. Why the bombshell? Because like an Amazon book, when someone is looking for you, a big fat consumer rating may be right next to your show name. Don’t think for one second that if you have one star out of five next to your show name this won’t have an effect on sales. We have some clients that have over 150,000 searches for their brand monthly on Google! This could be very big news for the live entertainment industry. It's been happening in the travel industry for quite some time – Google a hotel and you’ll see what I mean.
Now, we have only seen one sighting so far for a particular production, so I wouldn’t be too worried just yet. But, as more and more sites are beginning to expand consumer-generated reviews, it wouldn’t surprise me if this becomes a much bigger issue. What this says to me is that if consumers love you – this is a great thing! If they don’t, then you potentially have big problems and you need to keep an open ear to the criticism. No matter what though – this further illustrates that you have to be proactive in making the consumer experience as enjoyable as possible both before and after what happens on stage.
I won’t dive too far into the topic as we are still figuring out the details on how this is rolling out but we will keep you posted as we learn more.
Mon, June 09, 2008
Here is a chock full of interesting points that I highly recommend all entertainment marketers dive into a bit more. According to a recent article in Mediapost, “YouTube is having trouble attracting as many female African-American and Hispanic adults as their male counterparts. And MySpace and Facebook are having a tough time appealing to Hispanic females.”
I found the information specifically about the Hispanic market the most interesting. So, Hispanic females are significantly less likely to visit YouTube, MySpace and Facebook compared to their counterparts across race and gender. I hate putting these three sites into the same category as they offer very different experiences but it’s fair to say there is a theme of building connections and networks across all three that clearly is not connecting with Hispanic females. If you’re a Broadway or Las Vegas production, it’s something to keep an eye on since the target market is consistently women ticket buyers that make the buying decision.
A couple of other interesting points. “The differences in online behavior are especially prevalent with online shopping. Among general market consumers, 57% have made a recent purchase online, while only 42% of African-Americans and one quarter of Hispanics have done the same. The gap is apparently even larger with eBay visits. Less than three out of ten African-Americans and Hispanics have visited eBay in the past six months, versus 41% of the general market population.”
What do we take away from all of this? Don't underestimate the importance of customer service and ease-of-use when positioning your brand online.
Read On
Sun, February 24, 2008
Here's an interesting new initiative coming out of Las Vegas. Based on a similar model to Facebook and MySpace, "MyVegas gives tourists a virtual meeting place where they and their friends can choose a hotel, buy tickets to events and interact with other visitors. But unlike other social networking sites, MyVegas actually encourages its members to pretend to be something or someone they are not."
Create a phony name like "D-Money McBlackJack", upload a profile picture and interact with other members under your imaginary identity. According to the agency behind the project, "The inspiration behind this is that people have their real personality, and their Vegas personality. Traditional social networks push a bit more true-to-life representation of who you are. But MyVegas is all about representing who you want to be when you go to Vegas."
I get what they are aiming for but I'm torn on whether or not this has staying power.
As a trip planning tool - I think this could be very successful. It gives people a way to engage and organize their party in a fun, vegas-like way. But, as a true social networking site for connecting travelers in the market, I'm a huge skeptic for one basic reason - social networking is built on true connections in a real community. The whole premise of this campaign is the complete opposite - fake identities which create a fake community, no? Maybe I'm wrong - we'll have to wait and see. I do love the progressive thinking with this campaign. Even if it doesn't work, they will learn more about the Las Vegas traveler which is often a moving target.
Would love to hear what you think - email me.
Read On
Wed, January 16, 2008
That's right - 2008 will be the year that research comes front and center to marketing discussions. As I know there are many skeptics in the industry on the typical use of the word “research”, let’s start with the basic definition (yes, I know this sounds goofy but I think we need to start with a central definition). According to Dictionary.com, ‘research’ is defined as “the diligent and systematic inquiry or investigation into a subject in order to discover or revise facts, theories, applications, etc.” I think it’s fair to say based on that definition that live entertainment – particularly Broadway and the Las Vegas market – is screaming out for research.
I’m not just talking focus groups or surveys (which are important) – I’m talking concerted efforts to make research a function that is both relevant and actionable in the way we market and advertise shows. I’m talking putting in processes that begin before you start performances which continue throughout the life of the show that is embedded in the concept of forever trying to keep a pulse as to why and how people are both learning and purchasing tickets to your production.
For a moment – let’s put the concept of ‘branding’ aside. Is your TV flight lighting up the phones or online interest? Is your online advertising actually driving sales? Are the email blasts and direct mail pieces really hitting the consumers you think they are? Does advertising in print on Friday’s really drive sales into the weekend?
I believe many of these answers are on the way in 2008. One-time usage offer codes, trackable phone numbers, mapping of TV flights and affiliate tracking will soon become a reality.
Aside from the marketing and advertising, I think 2008 will also bring great improvements in the way customer service is delivered to patrons. Consumers want to be heard. They want to post reviews, get instant answers to questions and are consistently seeking out an improved customer service experience. They want suggestions and recommendations after they purchase their tickets and want to be thanked after they leave the show. They want to be treated like customers who pay over $200 an order would expect to and technology will enable productions to effectively do so in 2008.
A happy consumer builds audiences, drives revenue and gives productions a viable research channel. Cheers to 2008!
So, that’s my prediction – let’s hope it’s right. :)
On that note – here is a great ‘how-to’ article on some simple tips to effectively gather customer feedback. You would be surprised at how simple it is.
Read On
Tue, December 18, 2007
Between the stale pretzels and the dixie cup of water, there’s some new entertainment making its way on to your future flights. It’s Internet access!
This has been discussed for quite some time but it looks like there is hope that this will soon be a reality on most flights in the somewhat near future.
This is potentially a very strong place for Broadway, Las Vegas and touring productions to connect with tourists before they arrive in market in a targeted fashion. A few airlines including Jet Blue are beginning to run test programs to allow Internet access while on board. This would be a great opportunity for productions to show these incoming tourists footage from the show, special incentives to book when they arrive and all of the necessary ticketing information.
According to Henry Harteveldt, an analyst with Forrester Research, “I think 2008 is the year when we will finally start to see in-flight Internet access become available, but I suspect the rollout domestically will take place in a very measured way. In a few years time, if you get on a flight that doesn’t have Internet access, it will be like walking into a hotel room that doesn’t have TV.”
This is potentially a tremendous marketing opportunity that we are keeping a very close eye on. The one major threat I see aside from the technology limitations that they still need to overcome, is that if this is successful many of the larger entertainment properties with much bigger budgets will scoop up the limited inventory that will become available (i.e., hotel chains, etc.). We shall see.
Read On
Thu, May 10, 2007
Reaching tourists is a critical component of any marketing and advertising strategy for live entertainment productions. While the Internet has opened up a variety of channels to reach them, it’s still a difficult task to accomplish on a typical production budget. Over the past few months, we’ve begun seeing more and more very strong success stories of reaching tourists online for both Broadway and Las Vegas productions at a very strong ROI. Some campaigns were direct response oriented and ultimately sold thousands of tickets in a very short window. Others were awareness oriented and generated very high interaction rates seeding the consumer with an impression before arriving at their destination city.
There were also plenty of campaigns that we felt underperformed. The lesson we are learning through our testing is that you need to clearly identify the key variables that affect the type of tourist you are talking to, and then you must deliver both a message and an offering that clearly fits their needs. In other words, we are seeing the word ‘tourists’ as too broad of a category to target. We’ve been segmenting the tourist market and speaking to them in very different languages and setting different benchmarks of success based on projected user behavior. For example, one segment is the ‘planner’ who is researching what they are going to do. They are actively searching for airfare, hotel and entertainment – they want to be educated, not sold to. The ‘buyer’ is the person actively looking to book travel. They are looking for the best price and often need specific availability and are actively looking to purchase. In short, the statistics clearly back the theory that you need to segment the tourist market to match their projected behavior if you expect to successfully reach the tourism market.
With all of that said, here's some research that dives into behavioral trends. The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority released the 2006 visitor profile. It’s a must-read for anyone doing business out there. I’m trying to find a link to one for updated NYC information but am not having much luck.
Click here to access the story (click on the 2006 Las Vegas Visitor Profile Study link)
Fri, February 02, 2007
If you are doing (or plan on doing) and work in the booming Las Vegas market, here are some tidbits of information you may find helpful. Did you know 20% of people that visit Las Vegas are first-time visitors? Or, that the average party of travelers is 2.5 people? Well, we pulled some statistics that we found interesting from the 2005 LVCVA report that we thought you may all find interesting.
Las Vegas Statistics
- Average age of a visitor: 47
- Male to Female ratio: 1:1
- Average stay (nights): 3.5
- Average stay (days): 4.5
- Approximately 20% are first time visitors
- For non-first-timers, they return 1.7 years
- 55% travel to Vegas by land (car, RV, bus, etc)
- 45% travel to Vegas by plane
- 1/3 of visitors are from Southern CA
- 50% of visitors are from the West coast
- Average party is 2.5 persons
Las Vegas Visitor Trends
- More people are booking online
- More people are planning their trip online
- People are researching information for their travel plans on travel engine sites like Expedia
- People are primarily booking flights and hotels directly from the official site (versus purchasing from a travel engine like Expedia)
- Age demographic is decreasing each year
- People choosing to see a production show is decreasing
- Number of people who go to see new events is increasing
- Number of people visiting nightclubs is increasing
- The window of time between booking a trip and the actual vacation is decreasing
Download the report from the LVCVA website.
Fri, June 02, 2006
If you do business in Las Vegas, wouldn't you love to know the answer to these questions?
- How many visitors come to Las Vegas?
- How many conventions are held per year?
- Conventions' non-gaming economic impact?
- What is the average gambling budget per trip?
- How many hotel/motel rooms are in Las Vegas?
- How long is the avg. visitor's trip (in nights)?
- What is the average age of a visitor?
- What % are first time visitors?
- What % of visitors are from So. California?
- What % of visitors are International?
Well, again, thank the tourism board.
Click here to download this (.pdf).
Fri, June 02, 2006
What a market, huh? There is so much business to be had in the Las Vegas market for theatrical productions. At the same time, there is so much competition.
From what we've seen, the key resource to consider for a Las Vegas traveler is time. Consider the average stay is only 3.5 nights, as a marketer you must look for ways to get your production on the top of the list of 'things to do' in a very busy market place.
Is it price? Is it access? Or is it just you either have 'heat' or you don't?
From an Internet marketing standpoint, we have been putting our focus on trying to find ways to convert a prospect into a buyer before they arrive in LV. It's a difficult task but we have seen numerous campaigns that have been able to do it quite successfully (i.e., search marketing, behavioral targeting, etc.).
With all of that being said, we came across the Las Vegas tourism board website which was recently revamped (I think). There is some great research that we would strongly recommend you take a look at.
Click here to read more.
Wed, December 21, 2005
With all of the hype surrounding the Las Vegas theatre market, we decided to do some research of our own on the Las Vegas market.
We came across a research study that was available for free from MRCGroup Research. Now, we don't know how accurate this research report actually is so we encourage you to take what you read with a "grain of salt."
With that said, it looks like a reputable company and the research report is quite extensive. There seems to be a lack of good, accessible data on Las Vegas entertainment so we thought you may find this interesting.
One particular point that we found interesting was the change in perceived value of visiting Las Vegas when compared to a similar study the year before.
"All metrics were more negative, Las Vegas was perceived as 'getting worse as a destination', 'getting more expensive', 'less of a value', and fewer of the July visitors said 'they would recommend it to their friends'."
Now, with that being said, Las Vegas tourism is booming. So, if perceived value is decreasing, it's not necessarily having an effect on people visiting the city.
If nothing else, enjoy the free research!
Click here to read more from the study.
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