Gene Carr's Patron Technology Blog

The Ticket Is Dead

"The ticket is dead," proclaimed Fred Maglione, CEO of New Era Tickets.

That's a shocking statement coming from the President/CEO of a company that does the ticketing for such high profile clients as the Philadelphia Flyers and 76ers and is owned by Comcast-Spectacor. He made that comment as one of an all-star cast of industry professionals talking about the future of ticketing at a conference in Arizona last month.

As many of you know, we've recently entered the ticketing business ourselves with our new PatronManager CRM system, which we built in partnership with Salesforce.com and the Salesforce Foundation. Our system combines box office ticketing and subscriptions with donor management, e-mail marketing, day-to-day calendaring, and staff collaboration. So as you can imagine, I've been thinking a lot about potential innovations in the ticketing world.

When we were planning PatronManager CRM, I was determined to bypass the traditional ticket printer route entirely. We'd start by offering our clients print-at-home ticket capability, and the long-term view was that eventually everyone would just show up with a smartphone or other mobile device that displayed a barcode, which could be scanned at the door.

My logic was that if today I can show up at JetBlue with a piece of paper I printed out at home and get on an airplane, why can't I show up at the theatre in the same way? And if I'm just printing a piece of paper at home, why shouldn't the box office use a simple desktop printer to do the same thing? Why must they buy special cardboard ticket stock and print tickets using a specialized printer (costing $1000 or more) just for that purpose? I thought we'd be doing everyone a favor by eliminating the high cost of ticket printing.

Well, I was wrong. It turns out that many organizations still feel the need to have an actual printed ticket. When asked why, "our patrons expect it" is mostly what we hear back. So I've relented, and we've integrated PatronManager with these costly printers that have been the "state of the art" for decades.

But I still believe that with tickets, we're at yet another crossroad where consumer behavior meets new technology. It's like swimming in a lake where there's warm spots and cold spots. Some areas are moving ahead faster than others. Last week I boarded a Delta flight with nothing but a barcode on my cell phone that was scanned and accepted by the government's own TSA security check. I did "self-checkout" at the Food Emporium, scanning my own groceries.

And this is just the start -- true digital payments are coming. Visa and American Express are investing millions to invent the "digital wallet" where you would pay for things by simply bumping your smart phone (embedded with a special chip) on a device at the point of purchase. And last week, The New York Times had an article describing the move among some retailers to send shoppers digital receipts and attempt to entirely eliminate the paper receipt at the store. This is a trend started by Apple, which gives their salespeople the ability to swipe your credit card on their iPhones from anywhere in the store and immediately e-mail you a receipt.

Currency comes in many forms besides pure cash (frequent flyer points and Groupon discounts are two obvious examples). As soon as these substitute currencies become completely fluid, the concept of handing over pieces of paper or plastic to buy something may seem as outdated as paying for your groceries with a check seems today.

And with these changes will come a lot of benefits for both buyers and sellers of tickets. Perhaps the most obvious one in our business is for subscribers. Subscriptions have always been hugely valuable to arts organizations because (among other reasons) they front-load cash into the coffers of organizations during the off-season when cash is tight. However, we're in a world where patrons are shying away from buying anything in advance, and this has put a strain on organizations' liquidity, not to mention the issue of customer loyalty.

It seems to me that one answer to shoring up the subscription is to up the ante and make sure the subscription is more valuable. And that does not mean discounting! It means focusing on the enormous benefit of transferability. The old "NO REFUNDS NO EXCHANGES" line seems not only antiquated in an era of customer service, it seems even hostile.

As an arts subscriber myself, there are things I'd like to be able to do:

• Exchange my subscription tickets for another performance with no exchange fee
• Pay to upgrade my ticket to a better seat online
• Buy an additional ticket for a friend and then move both of us to new seats
• Have more options for dealing with a ticket I can't use. I'd like to forward it to a friend who can use it in my place or donate it back to the organization for a tax credit or put the value of that unused ticket into a "credit" account for the future.

And -- most importantly -- I'd really like to be able to do all of these things 30 minutes before showtime from my smartphone, while sitting in the restaurant across the street from the theater.

With digital tickets, all of the things on my wish-list can be done online, by me, without any physical mailing or box office action. The moment the value of the ticket is no longer attached to a printed piece of cardboard, you can start offering subscribers a lot more service (and value) with literally a few clicks. In an era when arts organizations are struggling to keep subscribers renewing, this is the kind of future I'd like to see my local arts organization offer me.

This is why Fred said "the ticket is dead." Just as the ice delivery service continued for decades after the refrigerator came on the scene and the Times still prints a paper edition, consumer habits die slowly. But the future of ticketing seems pretty clear -- whenever it happens.

A Springtime of Discontent: Two Paradigms for Thriving Arts Organizations

I spent last week at the League of American Orchestras annual conference in Minneapolis, and came away confused, concerned, and frankly somewhat depressed. My reaction didn’t stem so much from the problems the orchestra field is facing as from what people are talking about – or NOT talking about – in terms of solutions.

The conference last week emphasized the fact that things are pretty tough in orchestra-land. For the last two decades, there’s been no disagreement among thought leaders that the aging of the audience for classical music and the difficulty in recruiting large numbers of younger people is a central challenge. Pair this with the reliance on significant individual philanthropy from an existing but diminishing older audience, and you’ve got a combination that spells trouble.

The trouble now abounds, particularly for some of the country’s larger orchestras, and the recent economic collapse has weakened the financial footing of orchestras across the board. Government funding (both federal and local) is being slashed in the double digits as we speak. Corporate leaders who care about the arts are having more and more trouble convincing their companies to go out on a limb and support them. Foundation support has dwindled because the argument that orchestral music is a vital part of society is now relevant to only a very few major foundations. Costs to run orchestras have risen faster than inflation, and individual giving is not making up the difference. None of these facts should surprise anyone.

The main message of the orchestra conference, eloquently articulated by League president and CEO Jesse Rosen, was that artistic excellence is no longer enough. The industry must face its business issues head-on.

There were plenty of thought-provoking sessions by some of the leading thinkers in the field, all searching for solutions. We heard about “right-sizing,” economic planning, board development, and financial planning. All of these are relevant and appropriate. But sadly, none of these are easy, they all require a LOT of time, and all require that arts boards be willing to embrace change – which is by no means a given. I came away thinking that not only are there no easy answers, there is simply no consensus about what can be done right away that will make a difference in the next six months to a year.

In the days since the conference, I’ve done some thinking about solutions and have come up with some ideas of my own – ideas not only for the orchestra field, but for all art forms and institutions both large and small. These are changes that you can implement today that will make an impact nearly immediately, and don’t require raising funds. One is a purely an artistic paradigm, the other purely business:

1. Organizations will thrive if they make art that attracts a growing (not a diminishing) audience.

2. Organizations will thrive if they run themselves in a more and more efficient, effective, and professional way, and new technology ought to play a central role.

The first idea comes directly from a short speech at the conference by Larry Wendling, Ph.D., vice president, Corporate Research Laboratory, for 3M. He clearly and matter-of-factly described 3M’s alarmingly simple business approach: “Innovate and then add value.” He said it over and over: if you truly add value, people will beat down the door to your company (or concert hall).

And indeed, in the hallways of the Hilton Minneapolis, I heard stories from small and mid-sized orchestra managers that backed this up. A handful of managers told me that despite the economy, they were holding their own, or even improving in some key ways. Ticket sales were up, or subscriptions holding steady, largely owing to refinements in programming, pricing, or overall strategy.

A more dramatic example came from our client, the Stockton Symphony, which I mentioned more obliquely in last month’s article. Jane Kenworthy, the executive director/CEO, told me that Stockton, California, has a 17.3% unemployment rate and the seventh-highest foreclosure rate in the country. She said that “by all rights, our orchestra should have folded by now.”  

But she went on to describe how they had recently sold 3,000 tickets for a pops concert – the most they had ever sold for a single evening in the history of the orchestra. She was brimming with pride in having sold out the house and added that it had taken “years” for the board and music director to agree to initiate a pops series.

Was she bringing Mozart and Beethoven, as (some might argue) was the mission of a symphony orchestra? No. It was a pops concert, plain and simple. But she sold tickets – and lots of them.

Here is a plucky orchestra manager pulling out all the stops when the chips are down. She added value to her community. And how did she do it? By taking risks and trying something new. Jane said, “We are still innovating in the midst of this economic crisis!”

This is my first point. Organizations will thrive if they make art that attracts a growing (not a diminishing) audience. If you find ways to continually fill your house, your economic engine will grow. You’ll identify new donors, board members, and you’ll look much better to prospective funders. Nothing breeds success like success.

My colleague Diane Ragsdale took me to task last month when I suggested that in this economy, filling the house must be job number one, and bending the mission of your organization might be part of that equation. For a few days others chimed in, and it was a spirited debate. You can read the whole comment thread here.

Perhaps because I straddle the fence between the for-profit and non-profit world, I have developed a particular point of view. In the end, I’d rather my local orchestra stay in business and do two pops concerts a year along with their two classical concerts, and have a growing budget, bigger audience, and a positive story to tell, than doggedly stick to what it’s been doing for decades and face extinction.

And lest you think I’m merely suggesting that everyone do more pops concerts, or more productions of Beauty and the Beast, I’m not. Witness the fact that the recent “Spring for Music” festival at Carnegie Hall sold out nearly all of its events, and presented not a single piece of standard repertoire – it was all modern music. Witness the fact that that Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival presents nearly all new work each summer from both established and cutting-edge dance companies. They don’t do The Nutcracker. I’m not passing judgment on what the art is. I don’t have an agenda. I am simply arguing for the creation of something for which tickets are hard to come by as a prime objective in tough times.

Now, let’s turn to the business paradigm: Organizations must run themselves in a more and more efficient, effective, and professional way, and new technology ought to play a central role.

I spend a good deal of my business life immersed in the technology world. Every day my inbox is overflowing with announcements about new technology innovations to make businesses more productive. In corporate America, companies are constantly seeking new technology to streamline their operations, do better marketing, provide better customer service, and save time for their employees to focus on their jobs. 

What struck me at the League conference was this: If technology is seen as a central and critical solution for American corporations, why is it not a more central topic for discussion in the arts? For instance, if I told you that new technology could reduce the time your staff takes to do their jobs by 20 or 30 percent, isn’t that a worthy goal? If time is money – then the right new technology can literally manufacture time!

In an industry in distress, why isn’t technology front and center as part of the discussion? And if technology is driving innovation at every level of the corporate world, why aren’t arts leaders embracing it?

What I know for sure is that new technology is nearly always present when industries in crisis manage to wriggle out of their troubles. The much-maligned newspaper industry, which was teetering toward irrelevance a few years ago, has made valiant strides in this regard, and now some of the very best iPad apps are those created by The New York Times and more recently the New Yorker. So why isn’t this happening in the arts?

I’m now heading out to California this week for the Americans for the Arts Conference and TCG, where I suspect I’ll be hearing stories similar to the ones I heard at the Symphony League. As I do, I’ll be thinking about these two paradigms for the direction the arts field needs to head: making art that adds value and attracts a growing audience, and embracing technology that helps it cut costs, market better, and run more efficiently.

These may not be the only things the arts world needs. But I would bet that if these are nailed, a lot of other challenges will be a lot easier to manage.

 

Pre-empting the Death of E-mail Marketing

Comscore just published an omnibus study about e-mail usage, and the study shows that it's declining by something like 6% and fairly substantially among the very young. You can read the results here.  I'm writing to head off the inevitable e-mails and blog posts about the "death of e-mail," a conclusion that would necessarily be bad for our own PatronMail business, and bad for arts marketing overall.

The article actually has some of the most staggering good news for the arts I've read in years -- buried later in the report. Referring to e-mail usage: 

In contrast, usage increased among those 55 and over. The number of 55-64 year olds accessing web-based email increased 15 percent with similar gains in engagement, while those age 65+ experienced gains across all three metrics as well. 

So what we're seeing is that now, decades after e-mail hit the scene, the bulk of the traditional arts patron audience is finally catching on!  From a marketer's perspective, these patrons are exhibiting all the traits of "late adopters."  So don't give up on e-mail so quickly -- it may only now be moving into its heyday.

"But what about the audience of the future?" I hear you say.  Yes, e-mail usage seems to be declining among those in their 20s and 30s, which is why you need a good social media strategy and great execution. You're not going to win the media-day with 25-year olds with e-mail.  The good news is that with a little bit of work and completely free tools, you can do an awesome job connecting to patrons using social media. (And, in less than a month, the book I've just written with Michelle Paul will be published, in which she provides a roadmap for how to succeed with social media.)

So between e-mail usage increasing among the core arts audience, and social media coming on strong for the younger crowd, there's never been a better time to double-down on your digital marketing. 

The Last Gasp for Analog Olympics

It's been a while since I've posted here, because it's been a while since I've felt inspired. But reading about the Olympics these past few days has gotten my juices flowing.

Seems to me we're about to witness a pretty big technological thunderstorm.

On the one side we have NBC, the owner of the digital content for the Olympics. Before the Web, you could only get Olympics information direct from NBC, as they were the sole carrier for these events (here in the U.S.). In the last few Olympic years, the Web has started to seep in, and some events were streamed live online, and some highlight videos were posted as well, to supplement the nightly TV coverage.

I read that NBC will carry most things live this year because Western Canada's timezones work with ours, but it is planning to withhold some events for later rebroadcast, so as to improve its ratings. (And while they're offering online coverage, it's restricted -- here in NY, for instance, if you're not a cable subscriber, you're locked out of certain on-demand content.)

Come on -- this is pre-Internet thinking.

Because on the other side, you have digital news sources and bloggers, who care not at all about when NBC wants to announce who has won. These sources will reveal what's happening instantly. And if that's not quick enough for you, pay attention to Twitter. I predict that in the next few days, Twitter will become the "breaking news" source for the Olympics.

NBC won't be able to stop it, and in the end my guess is that people will be frustrated with the delayed television coverage. I'm guessing that this is the last gasp for the old analog Olympics - where media is controlled by one source. 

I'm waiting for what seems inevitable - live streaming in real time of each and every Olympic event. Is there any reason why we shouldn't have that?  That way the folks that are addicted to a secondary sport such as curling can be as happy as those who want to follow figure skating. 

And, for all you arts fans out there, I'm sure you see where I'm going with this. As I wrote in a post back in September, it's not going to be long before live streaming of cultural events becomes the norm as well.

Twittering Concert Notes & More

Now here's something interesting -- I read in ArtsJournal this morning that the National Symphony is going to do a real-time Twitter stream of program notes during a symphony performance. Here's the article that includes the press release.

For years, many people have been discussing the idea of a handheld device in the concert hall which would do approximately the same thing. In fact, some years ago, Roland Valliere, the new Executive Director of the Columbus Symphony, brought a good deal of thinking and investment dollars and put together a PDA "concert companion," which enabled concert-goers to not only read program notes in real time, but also watch video of the conductor from other angles other than his/her back. It was the right idea, but too early and too expensive.

Now we're looking at something more practical, and just like the iPhone tour guide product I wrote about in my last post, this is simple to execute.

Sadly, the press release above says that this experiment will be done on the lawn of an outdoor concert and that Filene Center forbids electronic devices in the hall. Why did they have to add that to the press release? Why couldn't they just say, "If this works well, we may allow patrons to bring devices into the hall in the future? "

Anyway, imagine now not program notes from a concert, but opera subtitles? Isn't a Twitter-stream of the dialogue a better, more subtle approach than the imposing overhead titles many opera houses have now? And of course, doing it via Twitter opens up the opportunity for multiple streams with different content, depending on the interests of the recipient. I, for one, would love such a thing for the next ballet performance I go to, since I usually have no idea what's going on.

This is all fascinating to me, and basically free for any enterprising arts organization that wants to experiment. I look forward to hearing about more of this stuff. 

Arts, Tourism, and Technology Wow

I’ve been in Italy on holiday for the last week, and while looking at extraordinary history from the 13^th and 14^th centuries, I tried to keep my eye out for what will eventually be extraordinary history from the 21^st century. I didn’t find much until one day when wandering by a spanking new tour office with a sign for “iPhone tours.” This intrigued me. 

Turns out a week ago, this tourism company started renting iPhones preloaded with dozens of 3- to 10-minute video narratives of key historical sites, museums and the like. Using the phone's visual GPS, I could navigate easily to pretty much any spot in Florence, and the phone included organized itineraries so I could map out a logical order of seeing things.

What had been a somewhat cumbersome experience of finding my way on the map, opening the guide book, finding the page, and reading about what I was seeing, suddenly became entirely now. I was now listening to my own personal guide (in most cases with appropriately chosen music underscoring) and seeing on the video specifically what I should be looking for. It was particularly helpful inside churches where it’s not always clear where to find the chapels.

What was surprisingly helpful was watching the short videos as a way of selecting where to go – there’s never enough time to see everything, and often the descriptions in the guide books are nothing compared to watching a video preview.

 

What I experienced was version 1.0 of this new product. As the beaming salesperson (who I think may have been the owner of the company) explained, the phones are of course already Web-enabled (which let me check my e-mail and news for free, rather than paying for an internet café or over-priced hotel access), but soon you’ll be able to use it as a real phone for the day as well. So if you’re traveling with someone, now there's a really good way of keeping track of each other, particularly with the new apps that let you see where your friends are on a map. 

Just like the Web is no a replacement for printed book, but something rather different, this approach is far more than a electronic replacement for a guide book. I can only imagine how useful it will be when you can call up cultural events happening while you’re in a city, buy tickets that you can use with a bar-coded entrance rather than a ticket, and get discounts already arranged by the tour company.

It also suggests a time when rather than having the tours pre-loaded onto the phone, you could merely stream them directly from a Web site. That opens up tons of possibilities because you won’t then need to rent a particular device – anyone could access any tour from anywhere. And the tours could be developed by anyone – imagine a city-tour for foodies hosted by your favorite celebrity chef, or an art gallery tour given by a noted art historian.

This has the potential to completely revolutionize the travel experience. Those of you who are explorers and cringe at all of this technology removing the sense of discovery will hate this. But I found it to be a whole new way of experiencing travel – and I think it's going to reinvent what some refer to as cultural tourism.

Do You Have an Open Relationship With Your Software?

From my perch as someone who is watching the development of software systems across the board, there are some trends in the industry that have been happening slowly but surely for the last few years. And these trends more or less define whether a software company is part of yesterday's world, or tomorrow's world. Microsoft has clearly been in yesterday's world, and Google has been on the other end of the spectrum.

So it was of some interest that Ray Ozzie, Microsoft's chief software architect, put out an announcement this week indicating a shift in his company's longer-term strategy. Apparently the big ship Microsoft is shifting direction. His prose is what you would expect from a software executive, and here it is:

"Application design patterns at both the front- and back-end are transitioning toward being compositions and in some cases loose federations of cooperating systems, where standards and interoperability are essential... At a higher level, myriad options exist for delivering applications to the user: The web browser, unique in its ubiquity; the PC, unique in how it brings together interactivity/experience, mobility and storage; the phone, unique in its extreme mobility. Developers will need to build applications that can be delivered seamlessly across a loosely coupled device mesh by utilizing a common set of tools, languages, runtimes and frameworks – a common toolset that spans from the service in the cloud to enterprise server, and from the PC to the browser to the phone."

What he's saying is that the age of the "walled garden" where you buy a closed software system is over. Systems that "talk" to each other and transfer data seamlessly are going to dominate, and will do so using the Web as the transfer medium.

In our case, PatronMail is built that way. We have what's known as an API and we're in the process of partnering with several companies to make the transfer of PatronMail e-mail information happen instantly and automatically. Sadly, in our industry there are still many software companies in the ticketing and fundraising arenas that have not caught this bug. They are still singing the "do it our way, or take the highway" song. And this is to the detriment of you - the arts executive that wants to have "best of breed" software, at the best price.

So if you're out shopping for new software, start thinking differently and asking different questions. Ask how open the systems are. Find out if you can add on other systems to integrate with what you are buying, or if that decision is left solely to the vendor. In my view, vendors should make it as easy as possible for you to get what you want -- that's both good for business and good for our industry.

The Live Video Phone-ization of the World

I've been sitting for a few days with a link to this article from the LA Times, trying to decide if it is a good thing or not. The article talks about Qik.com, a startup I heard about at the NTEN Conference in New Orleans a few weeks ago. There are others doing the same thing, such as Flixwagon.com.

These services provide a way for anyone to stream live video to the Web from their cell phones. My guess is that this technology will soon be ubiquitous. 

If you've been to a rock concert recently, you've probably seen several dozen cameras poking above the heads of the crowd snapping digital pictures, or even recording entire songs or whole concerts which then get posted to Youtube within hours. Soon, those same cell phones will be in the air more or less permanently, recording and streaming the events live.

Aside from the obvious copyright issues (which everyone is dealing with), I've decided that this is ultimately going to be a good thing for non-profits. What may happen is that the burden of broadcasting events (whether they are live concerts, a pre-theatre talk, a lecture, rally, or board meeting) will shift from the organization to all the rest of us. Let's say I'm interested in hearing a pre-theatre talk with a director, but I can't make it to the event and the XYZ theatre staff is just too busy to organize a recording of it. No problem, the audience will be there to take care of it and post it online.

The net result will be that information of a more immediate nature, and of higher quality, will be more accessible more frequently. For any mission-based organization, that can only be a good thing. 

The Newest Coolest Technology from the Source of All New Cool Things

This morning I was at the keynote speech at the NTEN annual conference, taking place in New Orleans. The speaker was David Pogue, the NY Times's highly engaging and amusing technology writer. His speech was a "what's hot" in new technology for non-profits, and he focused on a lot of free or very inexpensive services. Since I follow his column, I didn't find that much new.

However, one thing he showed knocked me out, and you'll quickly see why. Yesterday, I was walking around New Orleans and wanted to find the name and address of a restaurant -- I knew it was called "Mothers" but that was about it. I used the Google 411 service (which is at 800-466-4411). It's a completely voice-activated service, but unlike the normal 411 service, it's free. It's also pretty clunky and I never actually got the information I was looking for, after about four tries in the space of ten minutes.

So, this morning as I was listening to Mr. Pogue, he started extolling the virtues of Google's text-messaging information service. You can send a text to 46645, and find out things like airline arrival times, weather forecasts, directions, and a whole host of other information. As he was giving his talk I sent a text with the words "mother's restaurant new orleans," and within about three seconds I got a response with complete information about the restaurant, including the address and a phone number (try it yourself!).

Aside from wanting to share this information, and to report that the restaurant had amazing seafood gumbo, it occurred to me that this service proves yet again how far ahead text-based queries are vs. voice-activated inquiries. I'll probably write more about what Pogue had to say in future posts, but this little item was so useful I wanted to share it first.

TiVo and the Future of Advertising - The revolution is coming, slowly but surely

Many years ago, well before the general public had ever heard of TiVo, there was a cover story in The New York Times Magazine about how TiVo and other similar technologies were going to allow consumers to "time-shift" their tv-watching, and in doing so completely revolutionize the advertising industry. 

Much to my surprise, eight years later, the effects of TiVo and DVRs are only now just penetrating the advertising world, and there's a lot of turmoil in the industry as the old precepts of television advertising are giving way. Yesterday I read this article about a study in the U.K., which shows that 79% of people who have the technology that gives them ability to skip through commercials actually do so. Presumably they do this manually, fast-forwarding through each commercial break. Now, I have a friend who is a bit of a self-taught programmer, and he has rigged his computer such that he can watch television on it and it automatically skips all the commercials. I figure won't be long before this kind of technology becomes widespread.

The point of all this is that we're still just seeing the very beginning of the revolution that's coming to consumer advertising. Now that there's research that shows that consumers will avoid the commercials that have been thrust in front them, advertisers are going to be forced to seek other ways to reach them.

My bet is that in the next few years, we'll be reading headlines talking about a huge amount of transplanted advertising -- moving from the relatively mass market of television, to the much more targeted arena of the Web. It's already happening, but I think the press and the stock market have both greatly underestimated what's coming. In the last week or so, Google's stock price dipped over fears of lower advertising revenue. That's very short-term thinking.

I think we're just seeing the tip of the iceberg. In another few years, advertising will be increasingly targeted, and Web advertising will become the dominant form of advertising to consumers, and will be supported by traditional media, rather than the other way around.