From the article...
Last week, the opera house announced that it would sell 200 seats for every weeknight performance for just $20 each. Tickets for these seats, which would normally sell for $100, go on sale two hours before curtain time. On Tuesday, the day of the announcement, 160 tickets were sold in 20 minutes. The remaining 40 were sold out by 7:10 p.m.
Next door at Lincoln Center, the New York City Opera is in its second season of “Opera-for-All,” selling every seat in the house for $25 on eight evenings over the course of the season. Then there is City Center, where the third season of the Fall for Dance festival, with all tickets priced at $10, concluded Sunday. And the Off Broadway Signature Theater Company, which specializes in American playwrights, is selling every seat at $15 during the eight-week scheduled run of each show through the spring.
This could be a very effective promotion for any of our local theater companies -- Broadway Series, BalletMet, Catco, etc.
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VBRs & HALF-BAKED:
- Catco has an $11.50 @ 11 program theatre-goers who want to see a play mid-week (Wednesday) and mid-day (11 am) at a great price ($11.50).
- Use our Keyword (MixWord/FanWord) programs to tag the end of commercial spots and link site visitors to a promotional where they can buy the event tickets for $9.71 or $14.60 (depending on the station). This offers not just a great deal to the listener, but an excellent way to track performance of the on-air offer.
- Why not sell 50 tickets at half price, rather than giving away 10 for free?
- Tie event advertisers into the Mix Marketplace -- instead of giving away tickets on the air, sell them for a fraction of their face value thru the 50% off site. The promotional mentions connected to the Mix Marketplace package most likely totals much more than they would have received via live contest mentions.
- I know, I know -- you're saying "but the client WANTS on-air contesting!" My response is to say the want RESULTS, they just think the on-air contest is the way to get them.
- Too often, things are valued by want you pay for them. Giving away free tickets via contesting costs people nothing to receive the prize. Do you really think the station's "prize pigs" -- those 5 or 6 people who seem to win EVERYTHING (and frequently have NO idea what they won when they call in) -- are going to use the tickets? A lot of people simply don't bother to enter contests because they have the attitude of "oh, I never win those things." BUT, offering an excellent value to those listeners who truly want to take advantage of the ofer will go much further in delivering those the results our clients are seeking.
