EXCLUSIVE CONCERTS ARE THE LATEST RAGE IN EVENT STRATEGY.

There’s a new back beat to event-based marketing these days: Exclusive concerts with the brand working the door. But these gigs are not open to the public – promotion participation is the only ticket in.

Private concerts aren’t exactly a new concept – look at Miller Genuine Draft’s five-year-old Blind Date program, or the ageless Newport Jazz Festival (or the countless listener appreciation shows hosted by radio stations). But promotion-exclusive concerts are on the rise, for three reasons. One, brands want “ownable” prizes consumers can’t buy themselves. Two, marketers like events that give brands face time with potential customers to foster interaction. Three, musicians have become more amenable to participation: Witness Britney Spears or N Sync, who appear in ads almost as often as they do on-stage (see “20 Who Made a Difference”).

Marketers spent an estimated $817 million to sponsor entertainment tours and attractions this year, with the lion’s share going to music tours, according to IEG, Inc., Chicago. That’s up eight percent from 1999 and nearly 21 percent from 1998. “It’s easy to hit a certain demographic through music,” says Sean Brenner, managing editor of IEG Sponsorship Newsletter. “Marketers have learned not to leave it at image, and are looking at ways to drive traffic and sales.”

Ironically, this new breed of promotion concert may do as much to build image as sales. Hosting an event targeted solely to the brand’s promotionally responsive customers provides undiluted visibility.

Down-Home Flavor Jim Beam Brands hosted a concert right in the rackhouse where bourbon is aged. Fans played Rock the Rackhouse bar games last spring to win a trip to Louisville, KY, in August to see Tonic, G. Love, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, and Yo, Flaco! (the last one a winner of Beam’s 2000 Band Search). Five hundred winners got dinner and a private concert at a local club Friday, then spent Saturday at the distillery and the Jeremiah Beam homestead touring, tasting, and picnicking with hosts Booker and Fred Noe, Jim Beam’s grandson and great-grandson.

“People were initially shy, but Booker has such a warm personality and is bigger than life,” says Joe Karcz, Beam director-promotional marketing and public relations. “The bands took their pictures with Booker and had him autograph bottles, and the crowd warmed up.”

Then the bands warmed up, and played well into the night. Afterward, Beam got letters and e-mails raving about the trip. “We got 500 ambassadors for the brand,” Karcz says.

An on-pack Rock the Rackhouse T-shirt offer and P-O-P supported off-premise, while radio station tie-ins supported on-premise events (many of which were tied to local bands). GMR Marketing, New Berlin, WI, handled.

Rock the Rackhouse fits Beam’s overall music strategy, which includes a grant program dubbed B.E.A.M. (Benefitting Emerging Artists in Music) awarding cash and studio time to new bands. Regional competitions feed into a national playoff that awards a six-market, fully managed tour funded by the brand – which gets kudos from consumers for finding hip bands. “There’s no greater compliment than to have talent continue up the ladder and get national acclaim,” Karcz says. Plus, it doesn’t hurt to uncover high-profile spokespeople, like 1984 winner Montgomery Gentry, which performed at the Country Music Association Awards this year. “They’re still very active with Jim Beam – and avid consumers of our brand,” Karcz laughs.

Think Local, Act Global Other brands pull out the checkbook for known stars. But big-name musicians are pricey, so smart marketers find ways to squeeze a national halo from local events. When Minneapolis-based Best Buy launched in the highly competitive metro New York market this fall, it booked Sting for a Sept. 12 ticketed concert in Gotham’s Central Park. Crews tooled around town in PT Cruisers passing out gamepieces good for concert tickets or in-store discounts. To get national exposure, Best Buy ran concert details in circulars for three weeks before the show. Plus, “Sting gave us more p.r. support than we expected” by mentioning Best Buy on talk shows, says Mark Shapiro, president of Best Buy’s agency, St. Louis-based Momentum.

“You need to have an activation program that supports the expense of a concert that’ll only be seen by 30,000 people in New York,” he adds. “There are only so many markets big enough to launch with a similar program and realize the return.”

The trick was getting fans to show up for store openings taking place more than a week after the concert. Best Buy won’t say how many shoppers visited its 15 metro stores in the month following the concert, but says it’s happy with traffic. The chain plans to have 40 metro New York stores by 2002.

Beck’s North America, Stamford, CT, tapped Third Eye Blind for private concerts in New York City, San Francisco, and Chicago with a reported $5 million in on- and off-premise support. Part of Beck’s two-year-old Spotlight Concert Series, the sweeps is the only way fans can see the band this fall. (It toured earlier this year.) Fifty grand-prize winners, one from each state, get tickets, invitations to a hospitality party to meet the band, round-trip airfare, and hotel accommodations. Runners up get autographed guitars, MP3 players, and Third Eye Blind T-shirts. Fans enter via tearpads in stores and bars or online. Radio stations WKQX in Chicago, WXRK in New York City, and KLLC, San Francisco, will give away 600 tickets total via on-air promos. Radio and print ads in 23 markets and P-O-P featuring the band supports. Beck’s handles the program in-house with an assist from PSP Sports, New York City, which won the business after doing well on two sports promos for Beck’s last year.

In addition to the national sweeps, Beck’s will give its sales reps 3,800 tickets to distribute to consumers via local events. Winners arrange their own travel, and the tickets aren’t intended as trade perks.

Third Eye Blind topped Beck’s short list of bands that had the right demographics, no conflicting brand tie-ins, and an open calendar. Beck’s wanted the band in part because “they haven’t been in the limelight for three years, but have a consistent following,” says promotions director Linda Price. With a second album set for release and cameos on film soundtracks this fall, “we knew there’d be some buzz around them as our campaign hit.”

Beck’s could have afforded to sponsor a national tour or a single-city event with several bands, but chose to hit three key markets and host 4,500 winners. (Last year, the Spotlight Concert Series flew 10 winners to Germany for a private concert with Filter. Beck’s wanted more winners this year.) “We want the band’s appeal with younger consumers shining on the brand,” says exec vp-marketing Rainer Meyrer. “One beauty of this concept is that we have a large amount of prizes to spread throughout the U.S.”

Some fans are so hot to see Third Eye Blind they called Price and Meyrer to ask if they can buy tickets if they don’t win. (They can’t.) “We want people to have to go through Beck’s,” Price explains.

Other campaigns piggyback a band’s regular tour. AmEx has taken its long history of music promotions to a new level with back-to-back sweepstakes concerts in 1999 and 2000. Last year’s Sheryl Crow & Friends concert for 25,000 in Central Park launched the Blue card with national reach (and gave Best Buy its inspiration). This year’s encore performance, two October gigs by The Who at New York City’s Madison Square Garden, generated local buzz. Momentum, St. Louis, handled both.

AmEx isn’t sponsoring The Who’s national tour, but got the exclusive Garden parties through long-time marketing partner SFX, Inc. “It takes players like SFX, the Garden, and Ticketmaster to pull off a concert like this,” says AmEx spokesperson Judy Tenzer. AmEx got all the tickets for the first two nights of The Who’s longer Garden stay. Offered only to cardholders (at face value), the events sold out in hours, Tenzer says.

For the shows, AmEx decked out the Garden with more imagery than MSG’s vp-sponsorship Bess Brodsky has ever seen. “They just branded this place. Everybody except the ushers – who were union, so they couldn’t – wore AmEx `MSG in Blue’ T-shirts.” An inflatable Blue card covered the 7th Avenue marquee, and 10 giant TVs showed footage of the band framed by a Blue card in the Garden lobby for five days before the concerts. AmEx worked with The Who’s national sponsor, Musicmaker.com, to offer a CD available only on-site with AmEx purchase. The Garden’s sister company, electronics retailer The Wiz, offered shoppers two free tickets with purchase in stores.

Music suits AmEx’s promotion strategy because “it resonates with our card members as a big part of their lifestyles,” Tenzer says. “Card members expect access to special experiences.”

As vp-sponsorship for Radio City Entertainment, Brodsky scans the Garden’s calendar to match a band’s audience with a brand’s target. She worked for two years to find a match for AmEx, Brodsky says. Marketer interest is increasing: “More sponsors want to really brand themselves at concerts.”

Band Awareness On the other side of the mike, bands like the chance to brand themselves at marketers’ expense. Playing a promotional gig gives a band visibility in a non-touring year – and offers some extra income. Besides, those ubiquitous CD samplers given as premiums often translate into album sales.

The band 98ø took center stage in 2,100 Wal-Mart stores in September when its fourth album, Revelation, premiered via exclusive satellite broadcast on Wal-Mart Television. The Ohio-based band filmed songs at Wal-Mart headquarters in Bentonville, AR, for 600 children of Wal-Mart staffers. (Employees bought raffle tickets for $1 each to win their kids seats. Ticket sales were donated to Wal-Mart’s Christmas family charity.) Wal-Mart also got an exclusive version of the CD with one bonus track.

Jam band The Big Wu got The Big Break this year through promotion contracts with Snapple and Ben & Jerry’s Homemade. The Minneapolis-based band funded its 20-date spring tour by playing as “bait” for Snapple sampling events on about 20 college campuses. Snapple’s agency, New York City-based Deutsch, contacted the band through its recording label, Phoenix Rising. As part of its Refresh Your Natural Resources Tour for flanker brand Elements, Snapple funded 10,000 copies of a sampler CD featuring Phoenix Rising bands. Noon concerts with CD and Elements giveaways helped hype the band’s evening gigs, says Big Wu manager Paul Hagen. (Snapple followed up with a 30-campus fall tour starring Big Sky.)

Deutsch was so impressed with the band’s congeniality that it called Hagen directly to add a gig for Ben & Jerry’s Urban Pastures summer tour (August PROMO). Three dates “fluffed up our [12-concert] schedule and gave us a nice infusion of cash,” Hagen says. The band thanked its sponsors on stage and directed listeners to the sampling booth, but didn’t consider the pitches a sell-out, he adds.

“It’s Snapple. People drink it anyway. And Ben & Jerry’s is an ethical brand,” Hagen says. “You won’t see them playing for cigarettes or booze, but an opportunity to play free for an all-ages crowd helps us build the following we need.”

Brands get a hipness halo for “discovering” new bands. On the flip side, brand endorsements help bands graduate to bigger venues and find a national audience. “Promoters will say, `I haven’t heard of the Big Wu, but I have heard of Snapple and Ben & Jerry’s. If they took a chance on you, I will too,'” Hagen says.

With attitudes like that, private parties will rock on with no curfew in sight.

EXCLUSIVE CONCERTS ARE THE LATEST RAGE IN EVENT STRATEGY.

There’s a new back beat to event-based marketing these days: Exclusive concerts with the brand working the door. But these gigs are not open to the public – promotion participation is the only ticket in.

Private concerts aren’t exactly a new concept – look at Miller Genuine Draft’s five-year-old Blind Date program, or the ageless Newport Jazz Festival (or the countless listener appreciation shows hosted by radio stations). But promotion-exclusive concerts are on the rise, for three reasons. One, brands want “ownable” prizes consumers can’t buy themselves. Two, marketers like events that give brands face time with potential customers to foster interaction. Three, musicians have become more amenable to participation: Witness Britney Spears or N Sync, who appear in ads almost as often as they do on-stage (see “20 Who Made a Difference”).

Marketers spent an estimated $817 million to sponsor entertainment tours and attractions this year, with the lion’s share going to music tours, according to IEG, Inc., Chicago. That’s up eight percent from 1999 and nearly 21 percent from 1998. “It’s easy to hit a certain demographic through music,” says Sean Brenner, managing editor of IEG Sponsorship Newsletter. “Marketers have learned not to leave it at image, and are looking at ways to drive traffic and sales.”

Ironically, this new breed of promotion concert may do as much to build image as sales. Hosting an event targeted solely to the brand’s promotionally responsive customers provides undiluted visibility.

Down-Home Flavor Jim Beam Brands hosted a concert right in the rackhouse where bourbon is aged. Fans played Rock the Rackhouse bar games last spring to win a trip to Louisville, KY, in August to see Tonic, G. Love, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, and Yo, Flaco! (the last one a winner of Beam’s 2000 Band Search). Five hundred winners got dinner and a private concert at a local club Friday, then spent Saturday at the distillery and the Jeremiah Beam homestead touring, tasting, and picnicking with hosts Booker and Fred Noe, Jim Beam’s grandson and great-grandson.

“People were initially shy, but Booker has such a warm personality and is bigger than life,” says Joe Karcz, Beam director-promotional marketing and public relations. “The bands took their pictures with Booker and had him autograph bottles, and the crowd warmed up.”

Then the bands warmed up, and played well into the night. Afterward, Beam got letters and e-mails raving about the trip. “We got 500 ambassadors for the brand,” Karcz says.

An on-pack Rock the Rackhouse T-shirt offer and P-O-P supported off-premise, while radio station tie-ins supported on-premise events (many of which were tied to local bands). GMR Marketing, New Berlin, WI, handled.

Rock the Rackhouse fits Beam’s overall music strategy, which includes a grant program dubbed B.E.A.M. (Benefitting Emerging Artists in Music) awarding cash and studio time to new bands. Regional competitions feed into a national playoff that awards a six-market, fully managed tour funded by the brand – which gets kudos from consumers for finding hip bands. “There’s no greater compliment than to have talent continue up the ladder and get national acclaim,” Karcz says. Plus, it doesn’t hurt to uncover high-profile spokespeople, like 1984 winner Montgomery Gentry, which performed at the Country Music Association Awards this year. “They’re still very active with Jim Beam – and avid consumers of our brand,” Karcz laughs.

Think Local, Act Global Other brands pull out the checkbook for known stars. But big-name musicians are pricey, so smart marketers find ways to squeeze a national halo from local events. When Minneapolis-based Best Buy launched in the highly competitive metro New York market this fall, it booked Sting for a Sept. 12 ticketed concert in Gotham’s Central Park. Crews tooled around town in PT Cruisers passing out gamepieces good for concert tickets or in-store discounts. To get national exposure, Best Buy ran concert details in circulars for three weeks before the show. Plus, “Sting gave us more p.r. support than we expected” by mentioning Best Buy on talk shows, says Mark Shapiro, president of Best Buy’s agency, St. Louis-based Momentum.

“You need to have an activation program that supports the expense of a concert that’ll only be seen by 30,000 people in New York,” he adds. “There are only so many markets big enough to launch with a similar program and realize the return.”

The trick was getting fans to show up for store openings taking place more than a week after the concert. Best Buy won’t say how many shoppers visited its 15 metro stores in the month following the concert, but says it’s happy with traffic. The chain plans to have 40 metro New York stores by 2002.

Beck’s North America, Stamford, CT, tapped Third Eye Blind for private concerts in New York City, San Francisco, and Chicago with a reported $5 million in on- and off-premise support. Part of Beck’s two-year-old Spotlight Concert Series, the sweeps is the only way fans can see the band this fall. (It toured earlier this year.) Fifty grand-prize winners, one from each state, get tickets, invitations to a hospitality party to meet the band, round-trip airfare, and hotel accommodations. Runners up get autographed guitars, MP3 players, and Third Eye Blind T-shirts. Fans enter via tearpads in stores and bars or online. Radio stations WKQX in Chicago, WXRK in New York City, and KLLC, San Francisco, will give away 600 tickets total via on-air promos. Radio and print ads in 23 markets and P-O-P featuring the band supports. Beck’s handles the program in-house with an assist from PSP Sports, New York City, which won the business after doing well on two sports promos for Beck’s last year.

In addition to the national sweeps, Beck’s will give its sales reps 3,800 tickets to distribute to consumers via local events. Winners arrange their own travel, and the tickets aren’t intended as trade perks.

Third Eye Blind topped Beck’s short list of bands that had the right demographics, no conflicting brand tie-ins, and an open calendar. Beck’s wanted the band in part because “they haven’t been in the limelight for three years, but have a consistent following,” says promotions director Linda Price. With a second album set for release and cameos on film soundtracks this fall, “we knew there’d be some buzz around them as our campaign hit.”

Beck’s could have afforded to sponsor a national tour or a single-city event with several bands, but chose to hit three key markets and host 4,500 winners. (Last year, the Spotlight Concert Series flew 10 winners to Germany for a private concert with Filter. Beck’s wanted more winners this year.) “We want the band’s appeal with younger consumers shining on the brand,” says exec vp-marketing Rainer Meyrer. “One beauty of this concept is that we have a large amount of prizes to spread throughout the U.S.”

Some fans are so hot to see Third Eye Blind they called Price and Meyrer to ask if they can buy tickets if they don’t win. (They can’t.) “We want people to have to go through Beck’s,” Price explains.

Other campaigns piggyback a band’s regular tour. AmEx has taken its long history of music promotions to a new level with back-to-back sweepstakes concerts in 1999 and 2000. Last year’s Sheryl Crow & Friends concert for 25,000 in Central Park launched the Blue card with national reach (and gave Best Buy its inspiration). This year’s encore performance, two October gigs by The Who at New York City’s Madison Square Garden, generated local buzz. Momentum, St. Louis, handled both.

AmEx isn’t sponsoring The Who’s national tour, but got the exclusive Garden parties through long-time marketing partner SFX, Inc. “It takes players like SFX, the Garden, and Ticketmaster to pull off a concert like this,” says AmEx spokesperson Judy Tenzer. AmEx got all the tickets for the first two nights of The Who’s longer Garden stay. Offered only to cardholders (at face value), the events sold out in hours, Tenzer says.

For the shows, AmEx decked out the Garden with more imagery than MSG’s vp-sponsorship Bess Brodsky has ever seen. “They just branded this place. Everybody except the ushers – who were union, so they couldn’t – wore AmEx `MSG in Blue’ T-shirts.” An inflatable Blue card covered the 7th Avenue marquee, and 10 giant TVs showed footage of the band framed by a Blue card in the Garden lobby for five days before the concerts. AmEx worked with The Who’s national sponsor, Musicmaker.com, to offer a CD available only on-site with AmEx purchase. The Garden’s sister company, electronics retailer The Wiz, offered shoppers two free tickets with purchase in stores.

Music suits AmEx’s promotion strategy because “it resonates with our card members as a big part of their lifestyles,” Tenzer says. “Card members expect access to special experiences.”

As vp-sponsorship for Radio City Entertainment, Brodsky scans the Garden’s calendar to match a band’s audience with a brand’s target. She worked for two years to find a match for AmEx, Brodsky says. Marketer interest is increasing: “More sponsors want to really brand themselves at concerts.”

Band Awareness On the other side of the mike, bands like the chance to brand themselves at marketers’ expense. Playing a promotional gig gives a band visibility in a non-touring year – and offers some extra income. Besides, those ubiquitous CD samplers given as premiums often translate into album sales.

The band 98ø took center stage in 2,100 Wal-Mart stores in September when its fourth album, Revelation, premiered via exclusive satellite broadcast on Wal-Mart Television. The Ohio-based band filmed songs at Wal-Mart headquarters in Bentonville, AR, for 600 children of Wal-Mart staffers. (Employees bought raffle tickets for $1 each to win their kids seats. Ticket sales were donated to Wal-Mart’s Christmas family charity.) Wal-Mart also got an exclusive version of the CD with one bonus track.

Jam band The Big Wu got The Big Break this year through promotion contracts with Snapple and Ben & Jerry’s Homemade. The Minneapolis-based band funded its 20-date spring tour by playing as “bait” for Snapple sampling events on about 20 college campuses. Snapple’s agency, New York City-based Deutsch, contacted the band through its recording label, Phoenix Rising. As part of its Refresh Your Natural Resources Tour for flanker brand Elements, Snapple funded 10,000 copies of a sampler CD featuring Phoenix Rising bands. Noon concerts with CD and Elements giveaways helped hype the band’s evening gigs, says Big Wu manager Paul Hagen. (Snapple followed up with a 30-campus fall tour starring Big Sky.)

Deutsch was so impressed with the band’s congeniality that it called Hagen directly to add a gig for Ben & Jerry’s Urban Pastures summer tour (August PROMO). Three dates “fluffed up our [12-concert] schedule and gave us a nice infusion of cash,” Hagen says. The band thanked its sponsors on stage and directed listeners to the sampling booth, but didn’t consider the pitches a sell-out, he adds.

“It’s Snapple. People drink it anyway. And Ben & Jerry’s is an ethical brand,” Hagen says. “You won’t see them playing for cigarettes or booze, but an opportunity to play free for an all-ages crowd helps us build the following we need.”

Brands get a hipness halo for “discovering” new bands. On the flip side, brand endorsements help bands graduate to bigger venues and find a national audience. “Promoters will say, `I haven’t heard of the Big Wu, but I have heard of Snapple and Ben & Jerry’s. If they took a chance on you, I will too,'” Hagen says.

With attitudes like that, private parties will rock on with no curfew in sight.

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EXCLUSIVE CONCERTS ARE THE LATEST RAGE IN EVENT STRATEGY.

There’s a new back beat to event-based marketing these days: Exclusive concerts with the brand working the door. But these gigs are not open to the public – promotion participation is the only ticket in.

Private concerts aren’t exactly a new concept – look at Miller Genuine Draft’s five-year-old Blind Date program, or the ageless Newport Jazz Festival (or the countless listener appreciation shows hosted by radio stations). But promotion-exclusive concerts are on the rise, for three reasons. One, brands want “ownable” prizes consumers can’t buy themselves. Two, marketers like events that give brands face time with potential customers to foster interaction. Three, musicians have become more amenable to participation: Witness Britney Spears or N Sync, who appear in ads almost as often as they do on-stage (see “20 Who Made a Difference”).

Marketers spent an estimated $817 million to sponsor entertainment tours and attractions this year, with the lion’s share going to music tours, according to IEG, Inc., Chicago. That’s up eight percent from 1999 and nearly 21 percent from 1998. “It’s easy to hit a certain demographic through music,” says Sean Brenner, managing editor of IEG Sponsorship Newsletter. “Marketers have learned not to leave it at image, and are looking at ways to drive traffic and sales.”

Ironically, this new breed of promotion concert may do as much to build image as sales. Hosting an event targeted solely to the brand’s promotionally responsive customers provides undiluted visibility.

Down-Home Flavor Jim Beam Brands hosted a concert right in the rackhouse where bourbon is aged. Fans played Rock the Rackhouse bar games last spring to win a trip to Louisville, KY, in August to see Tonic, G. Love, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, and Yo, Flaco! (the last one a winner of Beam’s 2000 Band Search). Five hundred winners got dinner and a private concert at a local club Friday, then spent Saturday at the distillery and the Jeremiah Beam homestead touring, tasting, and picnicking with hosts Booker and Fred Noe, Jim Beam’s grandson and great-grandson.

“People were initially shy, but Booker has such a warm personality and is bigger than life,” says Joe Karcz, Beam director-promotional marketing and public relations. “The bands took their pictures with Booker and had him autograph bottles, and the crowd warmed up.”

Then the bands warmed up, and played well into the night. Afterward, Beam got letters and e-mails raving about the trip. “We got 500 ambassadors for the brand,” Karcz says.

An on-pack Rock the Rackhouse T-shirt offer and P-O-P supported off-premise, while radio station tie-ins supported on-premise events (many of which were tied to local bands). GMR Marketing, New Berlin, WI, handled.

Rock the Rackhouse fits Beam’s overall music strategy, which includes a grant program dubbed B.E.A.M. (Benefitting Emerging Artists in Music) awarding cash and studio time to new bands. Regional competitions feed into a national playoff that awards a six-market, fully managed tour funded by the brand – which gets kudos from consumers for finding hip bands. “There’s no greater compliment than to have talent continue up the ladder and get national acclaim,” Karcz says. Plus, it doesn’t hurt to uncover high-profile spokespeople, like 1984 winner Montgomery Gentry, which performed at the Country Music Association Awards this year. “They’re still very active with Jim Beam – and avid consumers of our brand,” Karcz laughs.

Think Local, Act Global Other brands pull out the checkbook for known stars. But big-name musicians are pricey, so smart marketers find ways to squeeze a national halo from local events. When Minneapolis-based Best Buy launched in the highly competitive metro New York market this fall, it booked Sting for a Sept. 12 ticketed concert in Gotham’s Central Park. Crews tooled around town in PT Cruisers passing out gamepieces good for concert tickets or in-store discounts. To get national exposure, Best Buy ran concert details in circulars for three weeks before the show. Plus, “Sting gave us more p.r. support than we expected” by mentioning Best Buy on talk shows, says Mark Shapiro, president of Best Buy’s agency, St. Louis-based Momentum.

“You need to have an activation program that supports the expense of a concert that’ll only be seen by 30,000 people in New York,” he adds. “There are only so many markets big enough to launch with a similar program and realize the return.”

The trick was getting fans to show up for store openings taking place more than a week after the concert. Best Buy won’t say how many shoppers visited its 15 metro stores in the month following the concert, but says it’s happy with traffic. The chain plans to have 40 metro New York stores by 2002.

Beck’s North America, Stamford, CT, tapped Third Eye Blind for private concerts in New York City, San Francisco, and Chicago with a reported $5 million in on- and off-premise support. Part of Beck’s two-year-old Spotlight Concert Series, the sweeps is the only way fans can see the band this fall. (It toured earlier this year.) Fifty grand-prize winners, one from each state, get tickets, invitations to a hospitality party to meet the band, round-trip airfare, and hotel accommodations. Runners up get autographed guitars, MP3 players, and Third Eye Blind T-shirts. Fans enter via tearpads in stores and bars or online. Radio stations WKQX in Chicago, WXRK in New York City, and KLLC, San Francisco, will give away 600 tickets total via on-air promos. Radio and print ads in 23 markets and P-O-P featuring the band supports. Beck’s handles the program in-house with an assist from PSP Sports, New York City, which won the business after doing well on two sports promos for Beck’s last year.

In addition to the national sweeps, Beck’s will give its sales reps 3,800 tickets to distribute to consumers via local events. Winners arrange their own travel, and the tickets aren’t intended as trade perks.

Third Eye Blind topped Beck’s short list of bands that had the right demographics, no conflicting brand tie-ins, and an open calendar. Beck’s wanted the band in part because “they haven’t been in the limelight for three years, but have a consistent following,” says promotions director Linda Price. With a second album set for release and cameos on film soundtracks this fall, “we knew there’d be some buzz around them as our campaign hit.”

Beck’s could have afforded to sponsor a national tour or a single-city event with several bands, but chose to hit three key markets and host 4,500 winners. (Last year, the Spotlight Concert Series flew 10 winners to Germany for a private concert with Filter. Beck’s wanted more winners this year.) “We want the band’s appeal with younger consumers shining on the brand,” says exec vp-marketing Rainer Meyrer. “One beauty of this concept is that we have a large amount of prizes to spread throughout the U.S.”

Some fans are so hot to see Third Eye Blind they called Price and Meyrer to ask if they can buy tickets if they don’t win. (They can’t. “We want people to have to go through Beck’s,” Price explains.)

Other campaigns piggyback a band’s regular tour. AmEx has taken its long history of music promotions to a new level with back-to-back sweepstakes concerts in 1999 and 2000. Last year’s Sheryl Crow & Friends concert for 25,000 in Central Park launched the Blue card with national reach (and gave Best Buy its inspiration). This year’s encore performance, two October gigs by The Who at New York City’s Madison Square Garden, generated local buzz. Momentum, St. Louis, handled both.

AmEx isn’t sponsoring The Who’s national tour, but got the exclusive Garden parties through long-time marketing partner SFX, Inc. “It takes players like SFX, the Garden, and Ticketmaster to pull off a concert like this,” says AmEx spokesperson Judy Tenzer. AmEx got all the tickets for the first two nights of The Who’s longer Garden stay. Offered only to cardholders (at face value), the events sold out in hours, Tenzer says.

For the shows, AmEx decked out the Garden with more imagery than MSG’s vp-sponsorship Bess Brodsky has ever seen. “They just branded this place. Everybody except the ushers – who were union, so they couldn’t – wore AmEx `MSG in Blue’ T-shirts.” An inflatable Blue card covered the 7th Avenue marquee, and 10 giant TVs showed footage of the band framed by a Blue card in the Garden lobby for five days before the concerts. AmEx worked with The Who’s national sponsor, Musicmaker.com, to offer a CD available only on-site with AmEx purchase. The Garden’s sister company, electronics retailer The Wiz, offered shoppers two free tickets with purchase in stores.

Music suits AmEx’s promotion strategy because “it resonates with our card members as a big part of their lifestyles,” Tenzer says. “Card members expect access to special experiences.”

As vp-sponsorship for Radio City Entertainment, Brodsky scans the Garden’s calendar to match a band’s audience with a brand’s target. She worked for two years to find a match for AmEx, Brodsky says. Marketer interest is increasing: “More sponsors want to really brand themselves at concerts.”

Band Awareness On the other side of the mike, bands like the chance to brand themselves at marketers’ expense. Playing a promotional gig gives a band visibility in a non-touring year – and offers some extra income. Besides, those ubiquitous CD samplers given as premiums often translate into album sales.

The band 98ø took center stage in 2,100 Wal-Mart stores in September when its fourth album, Revelation, premiered via exclusive satellite broadcast on Wal-Mart Television. The Ohio-based band filmed songs at Wal-Mart headquarters in Bentonville, AR, for 600 children of Wal-Mart staffers. (Employees bought raffle tickets for $1 each to win their kids seats. Ticket sales were donated to Wal-Mart’s Christmas family charity.) Wal-Mart also got an exclusive version of the CD with one bonus track.

Jam band The Big Wu got The Big Break this year through promotion contracts with Snapple and Ben & Jerry’s Homemade. The Minneapolis-based band funded its 20-date spring tour by playing as “bait” for Snapple sampling events on about 20 college campuses. Snapple’s agency, New York City-based Deutsch, contacted the band through its recording label, Phoenix Rising. As part of its Refresh Your Natural Resources Tour for flanker brand Elements, Snapple funded 10,000 copies of a sampler CD featuring Phoenix Rising bands. Noon concerts with CD and Elements giveaways helped hype the band’s evening gigs, says Big Wu manager Paul Hagen. (Snapple followed up with a 30-campus fall tour starring Big Sky.)

Deutsch was so impressed with the band’s congeniality that it called Hagen directly to add a gig for Ben & Jerry’s Urban Pastures summer tour (August PROMO). Three dates “fluffed up our [12-concert] schedule and gave us a nice infusion of cash,” Hagen says. The band thanked its sponsors on stage and directed listeners to the sampling booth, but didn’t consider the pitches a sell-out, he adds.

“It’s Snapple. People drink it anyway. And Ben & Jerry’s is an ethical brand,” Hagen says. “You won’t see them playing for cigarettes or booze, but an opportunity to play free for an all-ages crowd helps us build the following we need.”

Brands get a hipness halo for “discovering” new bands. On the flip side, brand endorsements help bands graduate to bigger venues and find a national audience. “Promoters will say, `I haven’t heard of the Big Wu, but I have heard of Snapple and Ben & Jerry’s. If they took a chance on you, I will too,'” Hagen says.

With attitudes like that, private parties will rock on with no curfew in sight.

EXCLUSIVE CONCERTS ARE THE LATEST RAGE IN EVENT STRATEGY.

There’s a new back beat to event-based marketing these days: Exclusive concerts with the brand working the door. But these gigs are not open to the public – promotion participation is the only ticket in.

Private concerts aren’t exactly a new concept – look at Miller Genuine Draft’s five-year-old Blind Date program, or the ageless Newport Jazz Festival (or the countless listener appreciation shows hosted by radio stations). But promotion-exclusive concerts are on the rise, for three reasons. One, brands want “ownable” prizes consumers can’t buy themselves. Two, marketers like events that give brands face time with potential customers to foster interaction. Three, musicians have become more amenable to participation: Witness Britney Spears or N Sync, who appear in ads almost as often as they do on-stage (see “20 Who Made a Difference”).

Marketers spent an estimated $817 million to sponsor entertainment tours and attractions this year, with the lion’s share going to music tours, according to IEG, Inc., Chicago. That’s up eight percent from 1999 and nearly 21 percent from 1998. “It’s easy to hit a certain demographic through music,” says Sean Brenner, managing editor of IEG Sponsorship Newsletter. “Marketers have learned not to leave it at image, and are looking at ways to drive traffic and sales.”

Ironically, this new breed of promotion concert may do as much to build image as sales. Hosting an event targeted solely to the brand’s promotionally responsive customers provides undiluted visibility.

Down-Home Flavor Jim Beam Brands hosted a concert right in the rackhouse where bourbon is aged. Fans played Rock the Rackhouse bar games last spring to win a trip to Louisville, KY, in August to see Tonic, G. Love, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, and Yo, Flaco! (the last one a winner of Beam’s 2000 Band Search). Five hundred winners got dinner and a private concert at a local club Friday, then spent Saturday at the distillery and the Jeremiah Beam homestead touring, tasting, and picnicking with hosts Booker and Fred Noe, Jim Beam’s grandson and great-grandson.

“People were initially shy, but Booker has such a warm personality and is bigger than life,” says Joe Karcz, Beam director-promotional marketing and public relations. “The bands took their pictures with Booker and had him autograph bottles, and the crowd warmed up.”

Then the bands warmed up, and played well into the night. Afterward, Beam got letters and e-mails raving about the trip. “We got 500 ambassadors for the brand,” Karcz says.

An on-pack Rock the Rackhouse T-shirt offer and P-O-P supported off-premise, while radio station tie-ins supported on-premise events (many of which were tied to local bands). GMR Marketing, New Berlin, WI, handled.

Rock the Rackhouse fits Beam’s overall music strategy, which includes a grant program dubbed B.E.A.M. (Benefitting Emerging Artists in Music) awarding cash and studio time to new bands. Regional competitions feed into a national playoff that awards a six-market, fully managed tour funded by the brand – which gets kudos from consumers for finding hip bands. “There’s no greater compliment than to have talent continue up the ladder and get national acclaim,” Karcz says. Plus, it doesn’t hurt to uncover high-profile spokespeople, like 1984 winner Montgomery Gentry, which performed at the Country Music Association Awards this year. “They’re still very active with Jim Beam – and avid consumers of our brand,” Karcz laughs.

Think Local, Act Global Other brands pull out the checkbook for known stars. But big-name musicians are pricey, so smart marketers find ways to squeeze a national halo from local events. When Minneapolis-based Best Buy launched in the highly competitive metro New York market this fall, it booked Sting for a Sept. 12 ticketed concert in Gotham’s Central Park. Crews tooled around town in PT Cruisers passing out gamepieces good for concert tickets or in-store discounts. To get national exposure, Best Buy ran concert details in circulars for three weeks before the show. Plus, “Sting gave us more p.r. support than we expected” by mentioning Best Buy on talk shows, says Mark Shapiro, president of Best Buy’s agency, St. Louis-based Momentum.

“You need to have an activation program that supports the expense of a concert that’ll only be seen by 30,000 people in New York,” he adds. “There are only so many markets big enough to launch with a similar program and realize the return.”

The trick was getting fans to show up for store openings taking place more than a week after the concert. Best Buy won’t say how many shoppers visited its 15 metro stores in the month following the concert, but says it’s happy with traffic. The chain plans to have 40 metro New York stores by 2002.

Beck’s North America, Stamford, CT, tapped Third Eye Blind for private concerts in New York City, San Francisco, and Chicago with a reported $5 million in on- and off-premise support. Part of Beck’s two-year-old Spotlight Concert Series, the sweeps is the only way fans can see the band this fall. (It toured earlier this year.) Fifty grand-prize winners, one from each state, get tickets, invitations to a hospitality party to meet the band, round-trip airfare, and hotel accommodations. Runners up get autographed guitars, MP3 players, and Third Eye Blind T-shirts. Fans enter via tearpads in stores and bars or online. Radio stations WKQX in Chicago, WXRK in New York City, and KLLC, San Francisco, will give away 600 tickets total via on-air promos. Radio and print ads in 23 markets and P-O-P featuring the band supports. Beck’s handles the program in-house with an assist from PSP Sports, New York City, which won the business after doing well on two sports promos for Beck’s last year.

In addition to the national sweeps, Beck’s will give its sales reps 3,800 tickets to distribute to consumers via local events. Winners arrange their own travel, and the tickets aren’t intended as trade perks.

Third Eye Blind topped Beck’s short list of bands that had the right demographics, no conflicting brand tie-ins, and an open calendar. Beck’s wanted the band in part because “they haven’t been in the limelight for three years, but have a consistent following,” says promotions director Linda Price. With a second album set for release and cameos on film soundtracks this fall, “we knew there’d be some buzz around them as our campaign hit.”

Beck’s could have afforded to sponsor a national tour or a single-city event with several bands, but chose to hit three key markets and host 4,500 winners. (Last year, the Spotlight Concert Series flew 10 winners to Germany for a private concert with Filter. Beck’s wanted more winners this year.) “We want the band’s appeal with younger consumers shining on the brand,” says exec vp-marketing Rainer Meyrer. “One beauty of this concept is that we have a large amount of prizes to spread throughout the U.S.”

Some fans are so hot to see Third Eye Blind they called Price and Meyrer to ask if they can buy tickets if they don’t win. (They can’t. “We want people to have to go through Beck’s,” Price explains.)

Other campaigns piggyback a band’s regular tour. AmEx has taken its long history of music promotions to a new level with back-to-back sweepstakes concerts in 1999 and 2000. Last year’s Sheryl Crow & Friends concert for 25,000 in Central Park launched the Blue card with national reach (and gave Best Buy its inspiration). This year’s encore performance, two October gigs by The Who at New York City’s Madison Square Garden, generated local buzz. Momentum, St. Louis, handled both.

AmEx isn’t sponsoring The Who’s national tour, but got the exclusive Garden parties through long-time marketing partner SFX, Inc. “It takes players like SFX, the Garden, and Ticketmaster to pull off a concert like this,” says AmEx spokesperson Judy Tenzer. AmEx got all the tickets for the first two nights of The Who’s longer Garden stay. Offered only to cardholders (at face value), the events sold out in hours, Tenzer says.

For the shows, AmEx decked out the Garden with more imagery than MSG’s vp-sponsorship Bess Brodsky has ever seen. “They just branded this place. Everybody except the ushers – who were union, so they couldn’t – wore AmEx `MSG in Blue’ T-shirts.” An inflatable Blue card covered the 7th Avenue marquee, and 10 giant TVs showed footage of the band framed by a Blue card in the Garden lobby for five days before the concerts. AmEx worked with The Who’s national sponsor, Musicmaker.com, to offer a CD available only on-site with AmEx purchase. The Garden’s sister company, electronics retailer The Wiz, offered shoppers two free tickets with purchase in stores.

Music suits AmEx’s promotion strategy because “it resonates with our card members as a big part of their lifestyles,” Tenzer says. “Card members expect access to special experiences.”

As vp-sponsorship for Radio City Entertainment, Brodsky scans the Garden’s calendar to match a band’s audience with a brand’s target. She worked for two years to find a match for AmEx, Brodsky says. Marketer interest is increasing: “More sponsors want to really brand themselves at concerts.”

Band Awareness On the other side of the mike, bands like the chance to brand themselves at marketers’ expense. Playing a promotional gig gives a band visibility in a non-touring year – and offers some extra income. Besides, those ubiquitous CD samplers given as premiums often translate into album sales.

The band 98ø took center stage in 2,100 Wal-Mart stores in September when its fourth album, Revelation, premiered via exclusive satellite broadcast on Wal-Mart Television. The Ohio-based band filmed songs at Wal-Mart headquarters in Bentonville, AR, for 600 children of Wal-Mart staffers. (Employees bought raffle tickets for $1 each to win their kids seats. Ticket sales were donated to Wal-Mart’s Christmas family charity.) Wal-Mart also got an exclusive version of the CD with one bonus track.

Jam band The Big Wu got The Big Break this year through promotion contracts with Snapple and Ben & Jerry’s Homemade. The Minneapolis-based band funded its 20-date spring tour by playing as “bait” for Snapple sampling events on about 20 college campuses. Snapple’s agency, New York City-based Deutsch, contacted the band through its recording label, Phoenix Rising. As part of its Refresh Your Natural Resources Tour for flanker brand Elements, Snapple funded 10,000 copies of a sampler CD featuring Phoenix Rising bands. Noon concerts with CD and Elements giveaways helped hype the band’s evening gigs, says Big Wu manager Paul Hagen. (Snapple followed up with a 30-campus fall tour starring Big Sky.)

Deutsch was so impressed with the band’s congeniality that it called Hagen directly to add a gig for Ben & Jerry’s Urban Pastures summer tour (August PROMO). Three dates “fluffed up our [12-concert] schedule and gave us a nice infusion of cash,” Hagen says. The band thanked its sponsors on stage and directed listeners to the sampling booth, but didn’t consider the pitches a sell-out, he adds.

“It’s Snapple. People drink it anyway. And Ben & Jerry’s is an ethical brand,” Hagen says. “You won’t see them playing for cigarettes or booze, but an opportunity to play free for an all-ages crowd helps us build the following we need.”

Brands get a hipness halo for “discovering” new bands. On the flip side, brand endorsements help bands graduate to bigger venues and find a national audience. “Promoters will say, `I haven’t heard of the Big Wu, but I have heard of Snapple and Ben & Jerry’s. If they took a chance on you, I will too,'” Hagen says.

With attitudes like that, private parties will rock on with no curfew in sight.