October 2 concluded another excellent International Entertainment Buyers Association Conference, held in Nashville, TN at the lovely Omni Hotel. As proud sponsors, we’d like to thank the entire IEBA team for taking great care of us and for all the hard work and planning that went into making #IEBA2014 a conference to remember!
From the Tailgate Party to The Price Is Right wheel, here’s our Top 5 Highlights from #IEBA2014:
1. Did someone say ‘Hammertime?’ Sunday afternoon’s Tailgate Party was the perfect addition to IEBA. The view of downtown Nashville was amazing, and the space was great for socializing and networking. Did we mention that MC Hammer performed during halftime? #2Legit2Quit
2. Music Discovery. Monday’s panel, led by Zofia Klipp (YouTube), Jay Frank (DigMark), Julien Mitelberg (Bandsintown Group), Matt Elam (WME), Tim Weber, (Good Music All Day) and Joyce Szudzik (AEG Live), shared ways that fans are utilizing today’s technologies to discover new music. Here’s what we took away from the panel:
- Use multiple touch points (from traditional posters to YouTube to any number of social media channels) to reach fans.
- When routing artists, agents decisions are primarily dictated by prior sales data and factoring in variables like night of the week and conflicting events. Data beats opinion any day of the week.
- There’s more than one path to success; what might work for someone could be totally wrong for the next–do what feels right for YOU.
3. Happy Hour at Rock Bottom Brewery. We hope everyone had as much fun as we did during our Monday afternoon Happy Hour on the rooftop of Rock Bottom Brewery. The great company, delicious food and drink, and beautiful view made for a great place to relax and unwind before heading back to the conference. Thank you to everyone who stopped by!
4. Managing the Event Life Cycle: Importance of Actionable Data & Email Marketing. Led by Doug Lyons (AEG/AXS Digital), Christopher Lester (Emma, Inc.) Brian Bauer (Rockhouse Partners) and Joe Kustelski (Etix), we had a great turnout for our panel on Tuesday morning and enjoyed sharing our email marketing tips and best practices with the room.
Here are some key takeaways from the panel:
- Create emails for mobile viewing. This is not a new concept, but with over 50% of all traffic to AXS.com coming from a mobile device, it is as important as ever to tailor to mobile.
- Automation, segmentation and personalization are the keys to successful email marketing in today’s world.
- The #1 reason people leave an email list is because of “inbox fatigue.” This reinforces just how important it is for entertainment properties to own their data. Ticketing companies should NOT be marketing other events to your list.
5. “Come On Down”… to Agents Alley! As with the Tailgate Party, Agents Alley was another great addition to IEBA. Having a more defined space to meet and greet with everyone at the conference allowed us to create many new relationships and to catch up with friends both old and new. One of our favorite parts of Agents Alley: getting to spin “The Price Is Right” wheel!
Let us know what you thought of IEBA 2014! Email us at hello@etix.com or tweet @EtixWorld.
