Irving strikes again…and at the same time does something good for promoters, producers, venues, artists, sports teams, family shows…and yes fans too.
The deal Irving Azoff announced on February 12th between Wal-Mart and Live Nation/Ticketmaster will almost instantly add 500 brinks-and-mortar points-of-sale for events either playing for the promoter or a venue that uses Ticketmaster for its ticketing. Would a Wal-Mart shopper actually buy concert or sporting tickets on an impulse? If it is marketed, yes.
Marketing seems to be one of the problems (besides the company closing stores) with the deal between Live Nation and Blockbuster. The store near my house is a perfect example. They get a ton of foot traffic and participate in the Live Nation ticketing program. But the concert calendar they have up in the store never has dates or venues listed and the staff behind the counter has very little idea how to sell tickets to a guest anyway.
Wal-Mart is a marketing machine. Imagine how many people pass through the doors of a single store in one-day? The issue of course will be price. Most of our tickets are not scaled at “Wal-Mart prices”. When a customer goes into their neighborhood Wal-Mart to buy Eggo Waffles and Tide, will a message in the store prompt them to purchase 30-Seconds to Mars tickets or will the price point and service charges scare them away?
This is one you should all take full-advantage of. See how many different ways you can use the Wal-Mart ticket outlets to your benefit. Find ways of creating destination buyers for Wal-Mart…drive traffic to their stores. Run midnight madness promotions…get back to having fun.
The deal is done. Make the most of it.
Speak with you soon…
Jim
