It was a great marketing strategy for Debit MasterCard, in a way that:
1. there might be some Katy Perry's fans who would be willing to apply for the card only to attend the show.
2. Or if it doesn't make enough sense, let's say that the customers would feel rewarded as the card holder because they could buy exclusive gig tickets
3. they would also tell friends and families about how they could purchase the tickets (of course using ONLY Debit MasterCard!)
4. A great tool to expose their brands
I'm sure there are lots other benefits as Debit MasterCard holders that I have not listed (See, I'm doing word-of-mouth indirectly! hahaha...)
As we entered to the venue, we were informed that we could enter a photo booth competition to win signed Katy Perry gifts. All I had to do was to fill a contact detail form and chose the "California beach"-themed-props (i.e. sunglasses, colored wigs, hat, inflatable duck swimming ring, etc). Below is my photo taken at the photo booth!
And of course they have this Facebook page link typed on the photo for those who want to know more about Priceless Music program and Debit MasterCard. Here's the link: http://www.facebook.com/debitmastercardpricelessmusic
More bonus was given to all attendees! They would e-mail a free download link for Katy Perry's latest album - which won't be launched as a CD until 27th of August! So, we are the first to have her whole album..! YAYY.. CORRECTION! THE FREE DOWNLOAD LINK WILL ACTUALLY BE SENT ON THE 27th AUGUST, THE SAME DAY AS CD LAUNCH. SORRY FOR THE MISTAKE..
The whole experience was sooo rewarding! Easy payment, soft-copy ticket, unique photo booth competition, great music, lovely Katy Perry, and last but not least: FREE DOWNLOAD of her latest album!! Overall, thumbs up for them! Do you agree or disagree??
Please tell me your opinions and share your experience attending gigs with a very smart e-marketing strategy!
Thanks for reading =)
Great post, Natalia - showing how priceless has used an integrated approach to building a fanbase for Katy Perry. I wonder what's in it for Katy, though. Will she sell less music in the long-run, by giving it away, or does that approach build a more loyal group of followers?
ReplyDeleteoffering FREE DOWNLOAD for her album might be bad for Katy in the number of her CD sales.. but if we think in another way, when her new album release, faster or later there will be someone who upload it on the Internet and let other people to download for free.. (oops! Did I say something illegal??) I think there is nothing to do with 'building a more loyal group of followers' I maybe wrong though..
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I think Katy can gain more fanclub through this.. Assume that you are not fans of Katy (or even don't know her lol) but you have nothing to do and feel bored.. you might see the offer and decide to buy the ticket.. After you have been to the live, you have great time and become her fanclub :) [or even you have no interest in this event but go there because of you friends, gf, bf,... :p]
So are the successful artists of the future those who make money performing live, and their recorded music becomes simply a promotional tool, rather than their main source of income?
ReplyDeleteSorry for the late reply, been busy with presentation.
ReplyDeleteIt's a good point that you mentioned, Peter.
In my point of view, illegal downloading is the every artists' nightmare. However, in this case Debit MasterCard gave free download link only for those who attended the event. So I assume the ticket included the price for the download already. It is seen more as a trial for Katy Perry's new album.
In my opinion, those who downloaded music(legally and illegally) would be potentially the artist's biggest fans if they like the music. I'm a huge fan of Lady Gaga and that's because I went to PCD show last year where Lady Gaga was the guest artist. Since then I downloaded her songs and begun searching everything about her. Now I have purchased all her CDs and I went to her concert earlier this year. This is a small example of how illegal downloader become a loyal fan of an artist.
There have been some arguments out there about the pros and cons of downloading music. I am not saying that illegal download is the best thing for artists, but the fact is people are still doing it and artists are still enjoying their glory in the music industry (if they are smart enough to handle the downloading threat)
Hey,
ReplyDeleteI was just talking about this on my blog. I think it depends on the size of the artist when it comes to determining whether or not illegal downloading is "good" or "bad". For younger and less established artists, it's great because it's a cheap way of getting exposure to a huge number of people and has the potential to get them recognized (eg. PANIC! At The Disco are a US band who got signed to a major record label before they even played their first show due to the huge buzz they created online with just one track that was distributed through P2P). But for huge and already established artists like Katy Perry or Lady GaGa it is probably somewhat a bad thing because they have enough exposure through mainstream media to not need viral distribution to market themselves. However, trying to stop this would be hugely detrimental to their image in the public eye and they will almost definitely lose fans for it (eg. the huuuuuuge backlash Metallica endured when they sued Napster).
So I would say yes, music is probably becoming more of a promotional tool as artists can no longer rely on making money out of record sales.
Hi Pheroze, great opinion! First I thought the exact opposite of it. I was thinking that illegal download will have more negative impact on the less-established artists because obviously they need the fund to get things going, and well-known artists will care less about piracy since they have other source of income.
ReplyDeleteBut reading to your reply made me realize that downloading music could actually help them promote themselves virally. And in the long-term by underground promotion, they could actually reach more audiences compared to just getting people pay money for their songs.
I went to this too & was in the front row omg!
ReplyDelete