Lesson 9.3 – The Ticket Sales Cycle Copyright © 2011 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
Mar 31, 2015
Lesson 9.3 –
The Ticket Sales Cycle
Copyright © 2011 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
Sports & Entertainment Marketing Goals
The ultimate goal of sports and entertainment promotion according to Mullin, Hardy and Sutton is to “increase overall consumption of products or services through increased awareness and interest”
LESSON 9.3
Ticket Promotion & Sales
Copyright © 2011 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
Frequency Escalator
The frequency escalator is a marketing tool that examines the attendance levels of fans
The basic concept of the escalator is that sports and entertainment marketers focus not on getting new fans to games, but rather encourage those fans already attending to attend with more frequency
LESSON 9.3
Ticket Promotion & Sales
Copyright © 2011 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
The Frequency Escalator
Medium UserMedium User
Non UserNon User
Indirect UserIndirect User
Light UserLight User
Heavy UserHeavy User
LESSON 9.3
Ticket Promotion & Sales
Copyright © 2011 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
The unaware consumer does not know a product or service exists and therefore does not attend games or events
Copyright © 2011 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
The sports and entertainment marketer reaches this group of consumers through advertising, publicity and promotional items
LESSON 9.3
Ticket Promotion & Sales
Frequency Escalator
The indirect user is aware of the product or service, but does not directly participate by attending events, but rather consumes via another source (television, radio etc)
Copyright © 2011 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
The sports and entertainment marketer goal with indirect users is to do something to get them to act. This group of consumers can be reached through promotional tickets, individual/single game tickets, theme nights and group nights
LESSON 9.3
Ticket Promotion & Sales
Frequency Escalator
Light users attend games and events for promotional giveaways, team performance and social interaction
Copyright © 2011 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
This group of consumers can be reached through increased promotion and give-aways and creative packaging strategies
LESSON 9.3
Ticket Promotion & Sales
Frequency Escalator
Medium users attend less than half the times possible
Copyright © 2011 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
The keys to reaching this group include good service, appealing to fan pride, creating team affiliations, added benefits such as seat locationsand emphasis on the value of fan participation
LESSON 9.3
Ticket Promotion & Sales
Frequency Escalator
Heavy users participate or attend more than half the times possible and are the most important group to an organization
Copyright © 2011 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
Examples of heavy users include season ticket holders, Tom Cruise fans that see each of his films in the theater and purchase all of his DVDs and fans of the Dave Matthews Band who see the concerts each time they visit the fan’s city and purchase all of their CDs
LESSON 9.3
Ticket Promotion & Sales
Frequency Escalator
Descending the escalator occurs when consumers downgrade or eliminate their participation levels
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Descending the escalator occurs when a consumer has over purchased or overcommitted
LESSON 9.3
Ticket Promotion & Sales
Frequency Escalator
Copyright © 2011 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
Is often a byproduct of fan disconnect or discord with “their” team, event, or favorite performers
LESSON 9.3
Ticket Promotion & Sales
Descending the Escalator
Copyright © 2011 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
The University of Colorado’s experiment with Groupon to
heavily discount game tickets as way to attract new fans to
the stadium provides an example of how an
organization approaches the frequency escalator concept (the Buffaloes managed to sell nearly 1,200 tickets in
less than 24 hours)
LESSON 9.3
Ticket Promotion & Sales
Descending the Escalator
Copyright © 2011 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
CU's marketing director Prema Khanna: "While we would have liked to have sold more, we are happy with the results. What it does for us is potentially bring new people that may not otherwise go to a
Colorado football game. It's a way to introduce them to our product, get them to a game...and then, who
knows? Maybe next year they buy a three-game pack. The idea is to see if they go beyond this year."
LESSON 9.3
Ticket Promotion & Sales
Descending the Escalator
Ticket Promotion & Sales
LESSON 9.3 REVIEW (ANSWERS)LESSON 9.3 REVIEW (ANSWERS)
Copyright © 2011 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
1)Explain the concept of frequency escalator
The basic concept of the escalator is that sports and entertainment marketers focus not on getting new fans to games, but rather encourage those fans already attending to attend with more frequency with an increased level of commitment