To say the impact of current events on ticket sales is "unpredictable" may be understatement, but more often than not there is a method to the madness - one you can build upon to the benefit of your bottom line.
Art Imitates Life
In May of 2011, television talk show icon Oprah Winfrey ended her long and successful run on the ABC television network.
During the weeks leading up to the show’s finale, celebrity and traditional news channels reported frequently on Oprah’s departure from ABC, leading to fan speculation of who would be the last guest and how Oprah would say farewell.
During that same time period, Emmy award winning writer Anne Marie Saviano wrote a satirical play about what the last Oprah show would be like. The show, 'Oprah! A Comedy! Live Your Best Laugh', began performances at Annoyance Theater in Chicago using ThunderTix to manage tickets sales.
'Oprah! A Comedy!' was reviewed and listed on The Onion's wildly popular 'AV Club' website.
"Any Soup watcher knows there’s plenty to laugh about when discussing Oprah. At the same time, though, it’s pretty darn sad Winfrey’s up and left town. Armed with both that malaise and glee, the Oprah! A Comedy! creators wrote a show that simultaneously roasts and revels in the Big O’s quirks. Oprah! A Comedy! is most likely a must for Winfrey-heads, pop culture fanatics, and proud Chicagoans alike."
On May 25th 2011, the "The Oprah Winfrey Show" finale aired and scored its highest Nielsen ratings in 17 years.
Immediately after the finale aired, Saviano posted a provocative call to action:
"The Oprah finale is over! Now come see our version this Friday night at 8!"
Ravenous for more, Chicagoans flocked to the Annoyance Theater, selling out multiple show performances.
Life Imitates Art
After ending her 25 year long run on ABC, Oprah Winfrey started OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network. In building up the fledgling cable network channel, Winfrey announced that Rosie O'Donnell would host a new daytime talk show, ‘The Rosie Show’.
Fast forward to today, March 2012.
Oprah is once again the lead story on the same celebrity and traditional news channels that covered her departure from ABC, by announcing she is cancelling the ‘The Rosie Show’, citing low ratings.
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In what may be life imitating ( Anne Marie Saviano’s ) art, there are reports of of turmoil and unrest behind the scenes at the OWN cable network. Speculation and gossip have bloomed over who will be the last guest on ‘The Rosie Show’ and how will Rosie O'Donnell say farewell during her finale - which airs tomorrow afternoon.
Sound familiar?
It sounded so familiar to Anne Marie Saviano that performances of her 'Oprah! A Comedy!' show have begun again and ThunderTix once again will offer comedy fans the sought after tickets to the show. By the way if you’re in the Chicago, area new performances are scheduled to begin in April.
Capitalizing on the conversation
We know it is rare that any performance becomes a life-imitates-art drama the way 'Oprah! A Comedy!’ has. We also do not expect you to be able to predict how future pop culture news will impact your business.
But we can help you understand that the key to higher sales is to react quickly and make use of news and current events to sell tickets, just like Anne Marie Saviano did with the return engagement of 'Oprah! A Comedy!’
Your ThunderTix account contains all the tools you need to re-start a past event, edit the new dates, then sell tickets quickly. If the folks at the Annoyance Theater can react in such a timely manner using their ThunderTix account, then you can too.
In your ThunderTix account, there is a list of past events. Click on the event you wish to re-start and then edit the dates to reflect its “return to the spotlight” as shown below.
You may also edit the event names, seating and prices, as well as establish the event frequency. The fine grained details are up to you. We’ll be cheering you on as you strive to keep up with a fluid situation!
Just as important as reacting quickly to current events is providing a way for people to buy tickets right where they are having the conversation about current events.
You’ve seen how effective Anne Marie Saviano is at using social media, specifically Facebook, to raise awareness of her comedy show. Not only is there a Facebook fan page for 'Oprah! A Comedy!’ but it makes full use of embedded ticket sales inside Facebook, as seen here:
Even if one of your past events doesn’t bloom into a national pop culture conversation today, your ThunderTix account is ready should that happen tomorrow. Be sure to take a look at our other features and sign up for a free trial today!