Marketing / 12.03.18
December Marketing Maneuvers: Wearable Marketing, Internet Influencers and Sports Gambling
Morgan Manghera
Artists reach fans through wearable marketing, theatre is turning to internet influencers to promote ticket sales, and MGM becomes baseball’s first official sports gambling partner. Stay up to date with these recent industry initiatives.
Hurdl Connects With Concertgoers
Many artists want to connect with casual fans, not just their loyal fan base. Oftentimes, artists can only reach their fans through the ticket provider, but most bookings are for multiple tickets or customers buy and resell tickets, meaning they can’t get accurate data on their attendees. Artists and venues may not know who’s in their audience on any given night which creates challenges in reaching an entire audience to get them to come to the next show or buy merchandise. Hurdl is paving the way with the only LED wearable with the power to start a marketing conversation.
Hurdl provides wearable LED wristbands to live event attendees. Concertgoers can activate these wristbands using their mobile phones, which Hurdl says 75 percent of attendees do. To activate, the concertgoer simply texts a code that sends a radio frequency signal to activate a chip in the wearable and then must answer a short survey before completing activation. From that point, Hurdl can collect audience data and compare it to data from Facebook and other social media outlets to show artists and venues who interacts with them. The artists can also establish a relationship with each attendee by thanking them for attending the show via text message, and they can continue communication with them later to share other shows or links to purchase merchandise. Having knowledge of who is attending live events can improve performance for both artists and venues.
From Instagram to Broadway
In today’s social media-centric society, marketing for a Broadway show needs more than what traditional advertising methods can offer. YesBroadway, a platform created for fans by a fan, was founded with one main goal: to get more 25–40 year olds into the theatre. The newest branch of YesBroadway is an influencer marketing agency, where online influencers will help get this demographic into the theatre. Internet influencers can carve out a new niche for themselves…Broadway!
By leveraging non-theater influencers from all corners of the internet — fashion, travel, food, lifestyle and more — to promote the theatre, followers will be more interested in attending shows they heard about from their favorite internet personalities. This, in turn, increases ticket sales. Influencers have the platform to reach millions of ticket buyers for all types of live theatre-related performances.
MGM Signs as MLB’s First Sports Gambling Partner
MGM Resorts International (MGM) is Major League Baseball’s (MLB) first official sports gambling partner. The new partnership allows MGM to use MLB’s logo and trademarks in states that have legalized sports gambling and advertise on MLB’s broadcast and digital platforms. Also, MGM gains access to MLB data and stats. MGM can use this information to market to customers across the United States, which is a jackpot for the international hotel and casino chain.
It’s important to note that this partnership does not prevent individual baseball franchises from signing their own marketing deals with sports betting operators. However, Pennsylvania is the only state that allows sports gambling and is home to baseball teams. Still, partnerships like MGM and MLB present a way for baseball to reach revenue goals on an operator-by-operator basis instead of going through individual states. The change in public opinion and legality around sports gambling has presented new opportunities for major league sports to partner with gaming providers, says MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred. Out of all the major sports betting operators who have entered early into the new sports gambling markets, MGM seems most willing to ink deals with the major leagues, as MGM has partnerships with the NHL, NBA, and now the MLB. The NFL is the only major league without a sports gambling partnership.
Past "Marketing Maneuvers"
Want news like this delivered to your inbox weekly? Subscribe to the Access Weekly newsletter, your ticket to industry excellence.
Tags: Sports , Wristbands , Music , Social Media , Theater , Mobile , Instagram , Musicals , Broadway , Consumer Behavior , Venues