A photo I took of my son that I wanted to give an old comic book feel to.
“Say NO to Will Call”
by Robert Payne
Have you ever found yourself standing in a Will Call line that stretched around the block, while enviously observing carefree patrons stroll up to the Box Office, and thought to yourself, “this is what I get for buying my ticket ahead of time?” When it comes to concerts and events, there is often a clear disconnect between the ability to register for events online, and the clunky procedure put in place for when you arrive. Are pre-printed tickets the end all be all, or have we evolved beyond their physical constraints? And as marketers, are we losing out on a multitude of opportunities that digital media affords us when it comes to planning and marketing an event?
Connecting with Customers
I think most marketers out there would agree with me when I say, now more than ever we are expected to do more – and often times with less. For a lot of folks out there, events and event marketing are the best means of getting ahead of the pack. It is a chance to demonstrate your unique capabilities, align yourself with strategic partners, build a collective conversation about your brand in both online and offline realms, and ultimately forge deep and meaningful relationships with prospects and customers. I know because I’ve done it.
Practicing What We Preach
There is one thing that has always been core to the products and services we provide at Twelve Horses. We practice what we preach. Ever since we launched our ticketing system, we’ve been putting it through its paces in real world scenarios. Sure, clients like the Las Vegas Monorail, Mountain Sports International, and the PGA’s Legends Reno-Tahoe Open use it for transportation and sporting events, but we’ve also used it for a few of our own. What do I like about it?
Keeping Control of Your Brand
For starters, Twelve Horses Ticketing is slick because I control the branding of the event. So many event management software companies have the habit of inserting their brand all over your event. Not so cool. Whether it is the event site, confirmation emails, digital or printed tickets, kiosks, or coupons, I get to control what they look like. If I bring on a new sponsor, or devise a new promotion, I simply log in to the ticketing platform’s content management system and add them. While I’m there I can see how many tickets I’ve sold thus far, the money made, and even create a handy report if the boss wants to see how I am doing.
User-Friendly
Meanwhile, attendees easily cruise through the registration process instead of getting taken offsite to some weird and seemingly unaffiliated payment system. Once they hit Submit, the ticket immediately shows up in their inbox. Sure, they can choose to receive their tickets in the mail if they want, but all they really have to do is print them right at home. Done deal. The 2D barcode that is affixed to each ticket contains all the information the registration system needs to know. In fact, I can even scan the barcode right off their cell phone screen, input their unique code, or look them up by name or credit card. “Sir, Madame, you’re good to go.”
Adding Value to Your Sponsors
As any event marketer worth their salt knows, another way to build a great event is to attract worthwhile sponsors and partners. But we can sometimes struggle to ensure we give them the value they deserve. On top of making sure their branding is on every communication channel the attendee touches, you can also use the ticketing system to orchestrate promotions and lotteries. How about give each attendee a coupon good for a free drink at a local eatery? Or 20% off their next purchase of an applicable product? You can use the lottery system to award one or many lucky individuals with a compelling prize, or put it to work to place people in groups for educational exercises. As you can see, there is a lot of flexibility to customizing your event.
Redemption is Mine
In the end, how did we do? The reporting module is super handy for analyzing redemption. If you used any discount codes then you can see how those performed. If you had unique groups then you can see how many came. In addition, you may want to see which kiosks or mobile scanners registered the most attendees. This information is useful for determining which entrances receive the most flow and at what times, or which day and what presenters were most popular. The scenarios are endless. Of course, we would prefer if you used all of our technology, but if you don’t, and you want to export any of the data or contact lists to be used somewhere else then you can easily do that as well.
Putting on a successful event takes a lot of work, so the last thing you want to deal with is a lot of disparate technology that is difficult to use and doesn’t do what you want. None of us want to be hampered by our event management software any more than we want to stand in a Will Call line.
For more on Twelve Horses Ticketing visit www.thtix.com
Any avid surfer would agree there is no such thing as having too many surfboards. Different lengths, widths, rails, tails, fin configurations, and composites are all factors that affect the way we ride and can be adjusted depending on the particular wave conditions. It doesn’t matter how big of a shredder you are, there are days when it is going to be small, mushy, or you simply want to mix it up a bit, and having a longboard in your quiver just makes sense.
But if you are like most surfers who don’t have a bottomless board budget, picking the right longboard can be a daunting decision. To confuse matters, the surf shaping and manufacturing industry is highly competitive with many different options. You’ll find well-established outfits with deep rooted histories backed by brand names who have obtained legendary status, progressive companies with unique business models and environmental practices, and larger corporations that produce a multitude of models in factories overseas. At the end of the day, you want to be stoked with your decision as you look forward to a long relationship with what could be considered to some surfers as another member of the family.
So how do you narrow it down?
To help clarify questions that I had (and I suspect you will as well) when it came to choosing your first longboard, I turned to an individual who undoubtedly has been and continues to be an enormous influence on the evolution and expansion of surfing, Robert August.
I still clearly remember seeing my first surf film, “The Endless Summer.” Even though I was only 12 years of age, I knew what I had witnessed was the embodiment of the stoke, awe, and allure of surfing that hooks us all for life. Watching Robert August and Mike Hynson explore the world in search of waves made my life feel small, but it opened my mind to the endless possibilities.
August has come a long way since then having worked on several other films, established his own line of surfboards, and benefited many important charities. In case you had any doubts, he is still tearing it up.
With over 50 years of surfing experience, let’s just say he knows a few things about buying a longboard.
Cigars are about as synonymous with Tampa as gambling is with Las Vegas. Guilty pleasures that cost money, and you can lose big when you play with them. I’m not so much of a gambler or a smoker, but despite the risks I do occasionally like to puff on a good old stogie.
I found Gaspar’s Cigar Shoppe by accident, but now I keep going back. Reason: in the back they have one case that contains Nicaraguan, Dominican, and Honduran cigars that are hand-rolled here in Tampa. The flavor and the price point are all perfect for my tastes, and there is something about the fact that there is no branding, labels, or fancy presentation – just the real deal. I also like the owner, D.C., a real deal himself who epitomizes many of the characters that compose the Tampa region.
Gaspar’s was established by fourth generation Tampan, Davelis “D.C.” Goutoufas, whose roots run deep in Tampa Bay. Goutoufas is the great grandson of a pioneering Greek who helped settle Tampa in 1887. He is a member of one of the Gasparilla krewes.
I snapped a picture of DC the last time I was in there. The above is my depiction of him.
A lot has changed since Kennedy was president. To think he never had the chance to slurp down a Starbucks non-fat latte while chattering on a 3G cell phone connection and streaming YouTube videos over WiFi is a shame. He may have helped us get to the Moon, but the idea that a human being can strap themselves to more fuel than some small countries have in reserve, and then launch beyond the confines of our atmosphere is, well, maybe not as exciting as American Idol or Michael Jackson’s drug addiction? We’ve been there done that, right?
When I rolled into Cocoa Beach Friday night on a mission to surf Tropical Danny, I observed hoards of people gathered on the causeway, and a brilliant white light beaming towards the sky over Cape Canaveral. Just a couple of subtle clues that something interesting was about to go down; or up if you want to get technical about it. I later confirmed that the Space Shuttle Discovery was scheduled to launch at 11:59pm that very night.
After settling in to my hotel room, I made my way down to the beach to see what all the fuss was about. A quick check of NASA’s Twitter account let me know there were no delays, and sure enough, just before midnight I observed a bright yellow flash on the horizon. Shuttle Discovery then lit up the night sky like a fire ball. You should see my hydrogen fuel tan, it’s fabulous.
The fact is this was no firework display or pop news that wastes brain space. It was human innovation incarnate, and I was both awed and humbled by it. As the team of astronauts arced their way out of our atmosphere at a chill speed of 17,500 miles per hour, I couldn’t help but ask myself – So, what have you done lately?
I just wanted to give a shout out to Outdoorzy and Origo for the sweet new watch. How did I win it? Well, Outdoorzy ran a contest on their snoop bloggy blog, and the blog pound rated the comments and chose the winner. What did I say?
“I run a lot of class V rivers and backcountry ski over difficult terrain that requires the use of a topographic map to judge location. It is always a bit of a guessing game, and it would be a lot of fun to see if the altimeter and compass matched up with the contour lines and my estimations of location. Plus, I really need a new watch.”
I’ll tell ya, I would’ve loved using the watch on this backcountry ski trip.
As far as the functionality of the watch is concerned, I would concur with this excellent review more than anything else I have seen. Even though some of the features of the watch are difficult to use and don’t work as well as I would like, the fact is there are a lot of features packed into this watch at a reasonable price.
Because I work in marketing, I can appreciate the power of word of mouth. If you are launching a new product, soliciting reviews and incoming links is a great way to build conversation and search relevance. Of course, you in turn run the risk of receiving a negative review, but even that can be beneficial. For example, I was not familiar with the Origo brand until now, and if you are reading this blog post you might not have either. Now their brand name is in your subconscious, and when they produce future watches with even better features the likelihood of capturing your attention for further consideration is that much higher.
Of course, there is always the tie back to Kevin Bacon.
Carmichael Lynch put together a very bold and clever advertising campaign for Subaru, and it features a photograph that I took of my very own Subaru Outback after I ran it headlong into a boulder going 60 mph. I walked away relatively unscathed, but the car wasn’t so lucky.
This Subaru was 1 of 5 that I have thus far owned in my lifetime. The reasons why I walked away from the accident has much to do with my predilection. When I bought my first one it was for the All-Wheel-Drive and good gas mileage. I would later discover other positive attributes, along with the company’s attention to manufacturing efficiencies and the environment.
With the “Dear Subaru” campaign, Subaru is counting on there being more people like me who have a story to tell. It doesn’t have to be an accident like mine, but anything that demonstrates your affinity for driving their vehicles and the places they take you.
Carmichael Lynch and Subaru are pursuing a multi-channel marketing strategy with targeted ad buys in various publications, signage in dealerships, digital media, and I suspect some outdoor as well. The “Dear Subaru” imagery and messaging is all tailored to encourage conversation about the Subaru brand. People share their stories on the Web, but is so often the case conversations extend from online to offline as well as the reciprocal. It is a clever strategy, and I look forward to seeing how the campaign performs.
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If you see one of the ads featuring my photo and story please tear it out, take a photo, or forwarded it to me online. I would appreciate it!
Ah, it’s Monday. While enjoying my first cup of coffee, I thought I’d choose a WordPress plugin to play with and see what I could do with it. I stumbled across this WordPress Survey Tool and figured I’d use it to judge Facebook usage.
A note about WordPress survey tools: some are better than others, some take more time to use, some are compatible with older releases and not new ones. But sometimes it is just about getting a job accomplished, developing some insight, and moving on to the next item on your list. Either way, they’re free! I’ll let you know what I think of this one.
Answer to the best of your abilities, and if you have any other questions you would like to see added please comment on this post. I will share the results of the survey one month from today. Hope you have a good week!
It has been soooo HOT here in Tampa lately! The humidity and heat is a stifling stew that makes me want to run rampant, pillage, plunder, wreak havoc; but then that would make me sweat. Instead, I suckle my air conditioning vent like a lover and throw ice cubes at the fan.
Despite being situated between Satan’s arse cheeks, there are some not so subtle benefits of a nuclear summer – thunderstorms! The big banger variety that build in the afternoons and roll across the Bay with impressive energy.
I tried to take some photos of one the other evening out at Ballast Point State Park, but I didn’t adjust the ISO for dark light, rain beat against the lens, and my tripod swayed in the wind like the cheap POS from Ritz Camera that it is. Oh well, one of them actually came out alright even if I am too far away. The varying spectrums of light between the three bolts of lightning is what I like.
Hope you’re staying cool.
Whenever my wife and I go sea kayaking around the state of Florida, we often joke about “going down for the death roll.” It is a sick joke, but it seems to slightly alleviate the stress of being surrounded by an absurd amount of highly skilled killers. I just hope I never see this view from underneath a river log. It would indeed be my last gasp.
