I’ve got the golden ticket! Breaking down the anatomy of a ticket sales promotion

by Ken Troupe – May 2013

NO, not really.  The University of Minnesota Golden Gophers have the original Golden Ticket.  What we at the Phoenix Coyotes saw was an idea that worked for another team, so we developed a version that would work for us.

It has always been my thought that to be good at the business of selling tickets you need to always be looking for and trying to develop the next “great idea.”  In my eye, the next “great idea” can be something truly original or something you saw work (or not work) for another team.  The latter was the case here with the Coyotes GOALden Ticket.

The Golden Gopher’s Golden Ticket was based around the idea that if you saw the Gophers Men’s basketball team lose at home your ticket was voided.   They sold some packages, but they also got a tremendous amount of buzz, and created exposure for their program.  We took the idea and adapted as our own with three main focus points.

1. 1. We wanted to develop a ticket package to help drive sales over the last 10 games of our season, which are games that traditionally we struggle with.
   2. We looked at the GOALden Ticket as an excellent branding tool to create some buzz within our market and possibly nationally.
   3. We continually work to find ideas to help fill our building which also increases the demand and perceived value of our season tickets.

A Golden Incentive Plan

Emphasize potential savings. We built incentives around the Coyotes version of the GOALden Ticket to encourage our fans to attend as many games as possible.  The package centered on the number of goals allowed at home emphasizing the “potential” value/savings the holder of a GOALden Ticket may receive.

We offered a five goal package for $100 and a twenty-five goal package for $250.  We picked a seating area with the smallest percentage of season ticket holder in a lower level section normally listed with a gate price of $75.  If we had given up five goals that first game, those folks with the 5-goal package would had seen one game for $100.  As it turned out we surrendered five goals over three games, so the average ticket price ended up at $33.33 a seat and a great value for our fans.

Promote additional attendance. As of today we have given up fifteen total goals over eight  games, so it appears that our 25-goal GOALden Ticket buyers will see all 10-games. That works out to the great value of $25 a game.  Additionally we added an element to encourage buyers to attend each of our games: If GOALden ticket plan buyers see a shutout the team will provide extra tickets to the last regular season game of the year.

Distribute via multiple channels. We marketed the GOALden Ticket via an email blast, the use of a variably printed postcard to past season ticket buyers (5-6 years back), a purchased list of recent new movers from hockey markets, a strong social media push and newsletter/press release inclusion.

The GOALden Ticket ended up being a tremendous win for us, selling around 200 packages for $35,000 in revenue, and another $10,000 in revenue coming from other packages that resulted from call campaign to past STHs.

What’s your idea?

Now, of course, the challenge becomes to find that next big idea and adapt it as our own.   Tell us what’s worked for you in the comment section below and tweet @KTsportsmarket and @BaylorS3.