By Gene Carr, Founder
This year, my annual review of all things tech and the arts mirrors what I wrote a year ago, with some new insights. Last year’s message was that we’re between chapters. The hardware devices most of us use to access the internet — tablets, smartphones, desktops — all work pretty well and are ubiquitous. And although we can already begin to see the contours of another generation of technology, it’s not here yet.
By Gene Carr, Founder & Paul Miller, VP Sales – Non-Profit Ticketing
In our last post, we introduced the concept of the “sponsor activation,” which is becoming more commonplace in commercial venues, but less so in the arts. In this post, we’ll give you more detail on how to think about a sponsor activation at your organization — and how it differs from a traditional sponsorship.
The key element of an activation is that it offers benefits to all participants — the patron, the sponsor, and the arts organization. Read the Article
In my last post, I talked about “transhumanism” and a time when most people will have access to AirPod-type devices — either in their ears for hours on end or within easy reach. Industry insiders who follow technology trends predict this will happen sooner rather than later. With that in mind, I did some brainstorming on how this could benefit arts organizations and their patrons, looking at several different art forms. Read the Article
Recently, I went to an all-day conference at Betaworks Studios in New York dedicated to the current and future trends of audio technology. The most eye-opening presentation was by Nick Pappageorge, Senior Intelligence Analyst, Frontier Tech at CB Insights, which opened my mind (and ears) to a change in our society that’s in plain sight, but I had never stopped to notice.
As a result of his session, now as I walk around New York City I’m noticing more and more people with AirPods in their ears all the time. They go into a restaurant or a store and they don’t pull them out. Last night I was walking down the street and observed two business executives speaking with each other in a normal conversation for blocks, and one of them had AirPods in his ears the entire time. And when I’m in a store, I talk with people who have AirPods on. It’s a little disconcerting because I never know if that person is listening to me. That said, this is becoming more and more commonplace, which means I’ll get used to it.
Nick postulated that what’s happening is an early form of “transhumanism,” which he defined as “the belief or theory that the human race can evolve beyond its current physical and mental limitations, especially by means of science and technology.” Read the Article
Part 1 of a conversation between Gene Carr, Founder, and Paul Miller, VP Sales – Non-Profit Ticketing, PatronManager:
Gene: During the past few years, I’ve become aware of a trend in brand marketing that flies a bit under the radar in the non-profit world but is big business in the commercial sector. It’s called “brand activation,” and simply put, sponsors of live events are no longer willing to just slap their name on an event or park their luxury car out front of a venue and feel like they are getting value. They (like almost everyone else) want the names of the people who are interested in their products — and to achieve this, an entire industry called “brand activations” has emerged.
Brand activations are a way for a brand to engage with a passerby who agrees to trade their personal information (typically an email address) in return for some kind of benefit. These benefits are sometimes games — “enter to win” or a branded photo booth where the patron gets a photo to post on social media or share with their friends. Last week at the U.S. Open in New York, American Express offered its cardmembers a free headset to listen to commentary about the matches in progress — and in return, the company learned who was actually at the event. Read the Article
A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of sharing the stage with Maureen Andersen, President and CEO of INTIX, and Linda Forlini, Vice President of Ticket Philadelphia, for a panel discussion at the League of Historic American Theatres (LHAT) conference in Philadelphia. We were moderated by PatronManager’s Vice President of Business Development & Strategy, Robert Friend, who elicited a surprisingly wide-ranging set of answers to the main subject of the panel, which was to uncover what it takes to thrive in the digital age. Read the Article
