Among the INTIX 2026 sponsors and exhibitors that generated a lot of buzz at this year’s conference was most definitely Leap Event Technology. Back in November, the company launched its expanded marketing and analytics services that are now helping major sports leagues and various festivals and conventions reach more fans, sell more tickets and maximize revenue.
One of the industry professionals who has spearheaded this bold, new expansion is Mike Barbeau, Senior Vice President (SVP) of Strategy in Marketing Solutions, who brought with him 25 years of experience shaping major brands like Adobe, Coachella and the NBA. He and Joe Hix, Leap’s SVP of Innovation in Marketing Solutions, were looking to branch out on their own.
Mike Barbeau
Barbeau says, “The biggest thing for us is we’re builders, Joe and I. We wanted to build something bigger, and we were starting from scratch. We didn't necessarily know what we were going to build. We had a blank paper, but all the road in front of us. And then when Leap came along, I was like, ‘We have an agency already that's doing all these things, but we need to build on top of it.’ So, we had the passion of brands we wanted to work on, we had the cool people we wanted to work with at Leap and we had the autonomy to build something that we thought could be a growth engine.”
Several weeks into the job, he recalls having a conversation with Hix and asking, “Do you believe this is real?’ I pinch myself every day getting to work here.”
Jumping in With Both Feet at Leap
Barbeau has especially loved “building things from scratch.” He describes the events industry as a place where there are all kinds of “gaps” that can be explored. “You can experiment, and you can be wrong and learn,” he says. “It’s a bit of a playground for people who like to build stuff, to try new things to put butts in seats, and that’s the cool part.”
Barbeau and Hix have endeavored to be more of a “consultative force” in ticketing and live events, sharing with clients what the team knows is working and what they should do to stay ahead of the curve. “To me, that’s very exciting because ... when you start doing that, not only do you create happier clients and drive more revenue, but you also start making careers for people,” says Barbeau.
So, what event marketing problem is he most passionate about solving for clients? Barbeau was quick to answer: “When you're an event marketer for an attraction or even a team, you're often doing what you've always been doing. You don't necessarily have the perfect plan, but ‘We've been sending all these emails, so let's keep sending them. We've been spending this paid media, so let's keep spending it. We've talked about influencer marketing, so let's keep talking about it.’ But how do you get to the plan that is actually working? And how can we, as an agency, tell a client you should be doing A, B and C ... [and] they're going to say, ‘How do you know that's going to work? [And we’ll reply, saying], ‘We have examples, we have experience and we can do that.”
He continues, “The status quo is always going to fail eventually. So, to be ahead of the curve as much as possible and to be able to try new things and fail and learn from them and discover things that do work — that’s the business I want to be in! It’s extremely validating for me, who’s been doing this for 25 years, to be able to tell a brand that, literally, I’m going to watch on TV later tonight, ‘I can help you do this better.’ That is the cool part!”
One Giant Leap for Event Marketing?
Part of Barbeau’s job is staying on top of shifts in consumer behavior. His motto is “Don’t do the status quo. Do things differently.” Of course, some shifts are more important than others for event marketers — paid media, for instance.
He says, “Paid media is one of those things where you put it out there, and then you [ask] how many people bought tickets, right? But you can be more targeted. You can spend less money. You can use new channels like influencer marketing to sell tickets. But that’s where you get into this gray area of people not wanting to do the new things. Because, if they do the new things and they don’t work, they might get fired or in trouble. And if we just keep doing what we’ve been doing, you can always rely on the fact that ‘we did this last year, and we got 9% improvement over last year.’ Nobody even knows if 9% is good, but at least it's not 9% worse, and nobody's going to get fired for that.”
Leap offers more. As part of their suite of event technologies, Leap offers data-driven marketing and analytics services backed by the collective experience and skills of Barbeau, Hix and Erik Hostetler. Hostetler, SVP, Creative in Marketing Solutions, is the third leader of Leap’s marketing solution who brought with him to Leap 25 years of experience shaping such brands as Coca-Cola, Delta Airlines and Nike. Barbeau remarks, “Joe, Erik and I have been around agencies long enough where we all know that we don't have all the answers. But if you admit you don’t have all the answers and you employ engaged, excited, smart people, you’re going to come up with great ideas.”
The highlight of their workday is a 7:30 a.m. phone call between Barbeau, Hix and Hostetler where they ask and review “What are you working on?” and “Where do you have challenges and hurdles?” Barbeau says, “What that does is it fosters a sense of ‘Oh, you know what? I did something 10 years ago that's along the lines of that thing you're doing here. Did you try this? Did you think of that?’ Open communication, the willingness to collaborate, the willingness to park our egos at the door are the keys to success as a team. Titles don’t matter. The best ideas win wherever they come from!”
Looking Ahead
So, how does Barbeau foresee event marketing evolving over the next few years? He believes that the best event marketers, led by data, are going to be doing less communication and spending less money to get more return on their investment.
As for Leap, he concludes, “If we have this vision to be a data and insights company, we need to be looking at the data in a way that we can bring that to our clients and say, ‘Here’s what we are seeing for you. Here's what we're seeing in your industry. Here's what we're seeing in other industries that's working, and then here's what we're seeing globally that you need to pay attention to.’ We are not a functional technology [firm] that services our client or a functional database marketing team that does what our clients want. We need to be people who are flipping that on its head and bringing ideas, content and insights to our client — whether they’re asking for it or not — and saying, ‘Hey, great, we did that thing you asked us to do. But have you thought about A, B and C? Because it's what we're seeing over here.’ If you take the leap and do it the right way ... that's when you become a consultant. And that's where we're going.”
Editor’s Note: Thanks to Aisley Stuebs for assisting with information for this article
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