creative

Best Ticket Campaign Ideas

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Best Ticket Campaign Ideas
by Darryl Lehnus – June 2017

Kicking off the S3 StubHub Ticket Campaign Competition

Learning best practices is one of the most valuable elements of the meetings, conventions, and seminars we all attend. To that end, with partnered with StubHub to launch the annual S3 StubHub Ticket Campaign Competition at the 2017 S3 Board Meetings this past January. We’d love to have more great submissions for this year’s (January 16-17, 2018) meetings. Click here to learn more.

Finalists for the 2017 competition were Joe Schiavi, Detroit Pistons; Evans Adonis, Charlotte Hornets; Stephen Gray, Austin Spurs; and Adam Martelli and Chase Kanaly,  Houston Astros.

Shoot for your Seat

Joe Schiavi, Detroit Pistons

The Shoot for your Seat campaign was an interactive initiative to generate leads through invites from sales staff and marketing communications. Held during an off-season time frame (September), prospective clients were invited to the Palace for a fun four hours of activities. The attendees went through a series of station interactions with Piston personalities, introduction to new stadium food, a photo booth, behind the scenes staff-guided tours and the ultimate opportunity to take a shot from half court to win free season tickets. Phone follow-ups to everyone occurred within three days after the event. The results were dynamic as $100,000 in new sales were generated with an ROI of the event at 8-to-1.

Holiday Pack Mini Plans

Evans Adonis, Charlotte Hornets

The Hornets shared a “Holiday Mini-Pack” campaign that offered great flexibility and a nice Christmas present. The target audience was past holiday pack buyers and potential buyers who connected with Hornets via the email sent or linked the Hornets’ website. Leads were distributed to all sales reps with a window of November 7th thru December 30th to close the 5-game mini pack. Buyers could pick any 5 games for their packages (excluding Golden State). To motivate quick closes the first 300 buyers received a Mitchell and Ness Buzz City hoodie as a gift. The hoodie was a good gift for a friend or family member for Christmas. The campaign created an increase in holiday pack buyers averaging 30 packs a week for the duration of the campaign.

The Ballpark Pass

Adam Martelli and Chase Kanaly, Houston Astros

Some of the hardest MLB tickets to sell are the Monday-Thursday games early in the season. The Ballpark Pass focused on the 10 Monday through Thursday games in May. The primary target audience was millennials seeking a social experience. The value package of $49 includes all 10 games with tickets delivered digitally to smartphones with day of game seat assignment. The rationale behind the digital approach and seat location was that millennials place less emphasis on location and more on social experience. Sending tickets digitally is a common experience for this audience. The success of this campaign was to increase the database in this merging demographic and to increase attendance at low demand games without undercutting season ticket sales efforts. The Astros created 967 passes for almost $50K in new revenue and created an overwhelmingly positive digital experience for the target audience.

College & Career Readiness Game

Stephen Gray, Austin Spurs

The Austin Spurs took a single game approach to focus on middle and high school students. The College & Career Readiness event took a low attendance weekday game and converted it into a new revenue generator. They recruited over 40 colleges and companies to have a presence (booths) on the concourse to interact with the students. The game promotions and halftime encouraged healthy study, eating and living habits. Halftime included the Spurs iconic George “Iceman” Gervin challenging students to stay in school, lead a drug-free lifestyle, and to support anti-bullying.  The game sold 2480 group tickets in 2016 and doubled its numbers for 2017. A key to its success is the organizational buy-in at all levels with a complete focus on high school aged demographics and their educational careers.

2017 S3 StubHub Ticket Campaign Winner

Based on a vote of the 65 managers and executives attending the S3 Board Meeting Advisory meeting, the winner was Stephen Gray and the Austin Spurs “College & Career Readiness Game.”  Congratulations to the Austin Spurs and their staff for truly creating such a successful event!

Campaigns at a Glance

Below are the overview slides of each campaign. We look forward to your entry at the 2018 January 16-17 S3 Board Meeting! Click here to register.

How to Create Sponsorship Inventory & Activation Out of Thin Air

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How to Create Sponsorship Inventory & Activation Out of Thin Air
by Drew Mitchell – April 2014

After spending more than 8 years in the “Minor Leagues” (4 with Daktronics Sports Marketing and 4 with the Texas Legends), I have learned you can never have a shortage of creative inventory and thinking.  This is especially true in a competitive market space where you are up against all the big boys of the NBA, MLB, NHL, and NFL. You must be able to differentiate your property and the value of your brand with new, creative ways to drive value to a brand or sponsor. 

Where do you find new premium inventory?

When team owners annually increase revenue goals and you are already sold out of your premium inventory, what do you do? Where do you find new premium inventory that drives enough value to justify a major spend and attract the big sponsors?

Justin Cooper
Justin Cooper

Justin Cooper, Director of Group Sales for the Texas Legends suggests, “With major league teams the sponsorship opportunities provided are more black and white, while within the D-League (and other minor league markets), being creative is half the battle. Without creative and outside the box thinking, it’s hard to affect the transactions that big league teams are asking for.”

In my time at the Texas Legends, we have been nothing short or creative with our outside the box thinking. Most times, there is no box.

Creating visibility out of thin air

Case in point, last summer when we were brainstorming with one of our existing sponsors, KIA Motors America and Central KIA dealerships, we were challenged with coming up with a way to get them “Bigger and Better” inventory and provide a more commanding brand visible platform.

So, what’s the problem you ask? An existing sponsor is telling you that they want to spend more money with you and asking how they can spend it.

The problem was that we were sold out of premium court inventory: We had already sold the four court quadrants the NBA allows D-League Teams to sell. We had an already committed jersey sponsor. Our center court logo was the brand of a state in Mexico (Veracruz, MX), not the Texas Legends logo. So, I guess that was thinking outside the circle. But, surely we weren’t maxed out on premium inventory, right? How could we possibly find additional inventory to meet the sponsor’s need of “Bigger and Better” inventory and stand out along with our other top-tier sponsors?

Let’s hang a car!

The conversation was flowing at a nice Brazilian steakhouse with representatives from the Legends, Central KIA and regional KIA Motors. We were throwing out ideas, taking turns putting on the thinking cap and then as we scratched our heads, we looked at each other when….POOF…there it was. Just like out of thin air came the idea, “Let’s hang a car.”

Our KIA representatives looked at each other inquisitively as if they had misheard what was proposed. “Hang a car? As in a KIA?” It certainly would capture the attention of fans. What else could we do to build value?

  • We could create a season long activation and give the car away during the final home games.
  • We could capture leads for the sales team and enhance other marketing initiatives through media, digital and print.

The ideas started pouring in…from where? Out of thin air.

Fast forward…in a Kia

Eight months later, there was a beautiful KIA Soul hanging above center court inside Dr Pepper Arena. We received a challenge from a sponsor with specific goals (Bigger and Better). We created inventory that didn’t exist. We created one of the best activation ideas to be the first to suspend a car above the playing surface of a professional sports team.

Jon Bishop
Jon Bishop

“The advantage of selling a smaller sports property is the ability to help marketers target a specific group of people and engage them in an intimate and memorable way” adds Jon Bishop, Senior Director, Team Marketing and Business Operations for the NBA.

One thing I enjoy best about working in the minor leagues is that you are not limited on creatively thinking of new sponsorship inventory. The Legends have mastered this art after changing the way that many league executives think and what even a sponsor would imagine possible.

When it comes to your team or property’s inventory, are you maximizing all the potential areas of valuable inventory? Are you looking for those ideas that just may appear…out of thin air?

Using Pinterest, iTunes, and LinkedIn: How to engage fans and increase revenue

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Using Pinterest, iTunes, and LinkedIn: How to engage fans and increase revenue
by Sean Walsh – February 2013

What do teams in the United States have to learn from Italy’s AS Roma?

Pinterest

In Europe, AS Roma became the first football club to use Pinterest. AS Roma boards include:

  • Iconic photography from their history
  • A board with images of every player
  • Official club videos
  • Individual boards for merchandise (men’s clothing, women’s clothing, children’s clothing, hats, bags, homeware – all appealing to the “fashionista” community of Pinterest)
  • Every cover from their official club program
AS Roma Pinterest
AS Roma Pinterest

The AS Roma Pinterest board is a fine example for other clubs to follow – it clearly shows they understand the channel.  They understand how to use the technology to curate fan content and really get the fans involved. Most importantly, Roma recognizes fans should be included in their official club presence. The team has boards specifically for fan photography, fan videos and even a selection of amazing AS Roma themed cakes. Let’s face it, you can’t avoid cakes on Pinterest!

iTunes Player Playlists

The Italian giants rolled out iTunes playlists from first team players on their official website and can be downloaded on iTunes.

AS Roma iTunes Playlists
AS Roma iTunes Playlists

Music has always been a huge part of sports broadcasts and events, including terrace chants and anthems particularly popular in football (soccer). In recent years the image of players equipped with headphones as part of their pre-game rituals has become standard. Why not let fans tap into what their favorite players are listening to?

LinkedIn

The latest step AS Roma has taken is harnessing LinkedIn as a way of targeting fans with more business/professional orientated careers. Within the past few weeks, AS Roma announced the launch of their new AS Roma company page on LinkedIn  with a specific strategy for the channel.

We have long thought teams should adopt LinkedIn as an official social media channel:  By using a shared interest in football, it creates a casual and comfortable first point of contact in which relationships are already created. We all know businesses exploit this bond between fans–just look at the number of corporate hospitality suites and tickets sold every season. The fans use LinkedIn and they clearly want to connect with other supporters, particularly those who may share business interests.

AS Roma appears to use LinkedIn as a way to market corporate-relevant products: premium seats, corporate hospitality packages and even attracting new sponsors. Most of their content revolves around new sponsorship ventures, executive season ticket offers and current corporate partners.

As football clubs look set to monetize social media in 2013, don’t be surprised if more clubs in the UK, Europe, and the US follow in a bid to market corporate hospitality and sponsorship packages to this more affluent audience.