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Poor Sports Ticket Management Means Negative PR
The old adage “any press is good press” certainly doesn’t ring true when a firm’s name is splashed across the front page of the newspaper and in the international blogosphere as the example of corporate excess and irresponsibility.
Every year America tunes in to one of the most historic and tradition filled PGA Tour stops at the prestigious Riveria Country Club in Los Angeles, CA. This extremely well known tournament, once the Nissan Open, was recently awarded to Northern Trust, headquartered in Chicago, who signed on for the naming rights. As any successful firm should do, Northern Trust activated the tournament sponsorship with client events including concerts and weekend retreats to drive business and cultivate relationships. What awaited on Monday was a PR nightmare: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601110&sid=ateteQNxUwbY. Northern Trust splashed across the newswire as inefficient and wasteful, the scapegoat for the sports sponsorship industry and an easy target for the public upset with banks receiving government bailout funds (TARP).
The aftermath was not pretty. Northern Trust produced no data to answer the press or the well-known politicians that called for answers. A firm spokesman’s e-mailed response read that sponsoring the golf tournament is “a part of a business decision regarding annual events to show appreciation for clients.”
Do you have the data you need if your firm ends up in the press? Will your sports ticket management, or lack or a sports ticket management system, leave you open to risk?
Effective sports ticket management is not only simple and affordable, it’s already being effectively utilized by major Fortune 1000′s to save money, stay efficient, and have concrete data to back such “business decisions.”
Northern Trust would do well to learn from another bank that was attacked by the PR demons when Ken Lewis, the CEO of Bank of America, defended B of A’s sports marketing efforts with tangible numbers. Lewis stated the sports marketing dollars are “worth the investment because they generate sales and profits.” Obviously, the very same reasons Northern Trust and most firms invest marketing dollars into events. The major difference was in the data. Lewis continues: “I was never inclined to pump big sums of money into sports marketing until I saw the facts and the numbers. In general terms, for every dollar we spend on sports marketing, we get $10 in revenue and $3 in earnings. This is not wasted money.”
Will the corporate world learn from Northern Trust’s mistakes and B of A’s successes? Only time will tell. One thing is for sure, effective sports ticket management is easy to implement, has been around for over a decade, and is a necessity to be “best in class”. It’s time to trust those firms where ticket management in a core competency and get away from sluggish internal systems or “jack of all trade” sports marketing firms. The government has caught on, the public has caught on, will corporate America continue to follow?
Contact Spotlight to discuss Spotlight Ticket Management solution and how Spotlight can help you immediately save money, gain control and compliance, and reduce risk. Blog about the New Yorker interview on the sports recession or abundance of stadiums.