Spectators Don’t Succumb to Economy
East Lansing was a sea of green last Saturday. Ann Arbor was a sea of red (oops, I meant blue) last Saturday. Last Saturday kicked off the start of the college football season.
For the first time since 1990, Spartan Stadium sold out. 75,000 screaming fans and students. The "Big House" held more than 110,000 screaming fans and students eager to finally see their team win a game.
While I was sitting in the stands, I asked myself, "Are we in Michigan or Kansas?" After all, nearly 200,000 fans paying upwards of $200 a ticket plus in an economy that is the worst in the country.
DTE Music Theater is still the #1 outdoor concert venue in the USA. Kid Rock sold out both his shows at Comerica Park. Fact is, forget the economy, spectators love their tickets.
So I was thinking about this and how we can take advantage of this phenomenon. One idea was to offer a discount for any ticket brought into the salon. The salon can then create a "ticket wall" to show off all the tickets collected.
Another idea came up after reading the article in the WSJ about home barbering. As silly as this might sound, what about salons offering the public "spectator" tickets to watch another stylist in action? Or what about charging a fee and teaching the public how to cut hair at home? It reminds me of restaurants handing out recipes to cook the same stuff at home. The more exposure, the more business.
Yet another idea was to create an in-salon special for game day widows. The staff can wear collegiate shirts and add a few posters and pom-poms, and you’re ready to go.
While in the stands, the Michigan State bookstore advertised their logo goods and the one fact that stood out from the ad was that they carried more than 900 different Spartan items. Can you imagine?
Football is big. It’s time to huddle and score.
Happy Wednesday!
September 9th, 2009 at 12:17 pm
forget the spartans…maize and blue, baby!
September 10th, 2009 at 10:07 am
I lose my husband to football and hunting..
I like the idea of Football Widows weekend and salons should offer Hunting Widows weekend also..
I worked in a gift store years ago that did in store specials on opening day, we had to wear camo too.. it was fun and you wouldn’t believe how many wives came out to spend money while their hubbys were gone…
Opening season is October 1st..(for bows)
September 10th, 2009 at 1:12 pm
You are right on!
Home haircutting is hot right now as seen in Andis’ sales of home cutting kits… can not keep ‘em in stock. I sold home kits in my retail area in my salon back in the day… ppl said I was nuts to encourage home cutting… but, like your comment on recipies… it all elevates the category. There is much to le learned and leveraged in the area of logo merchandise when we explore the successes we see in sports teams and imagine how we can import some of these concepts into our industry. Sadly, few have the marketing skliis to leverage these concepts.
Ivan
September 10th, 2009 at 2:19 pm
Melissa that would be awesome…
I always remember my dad and brothers going hunting, so me and my mom would stay home and have a girls weekend. We would go shopping together and eat together and rent movies. So that is a really good idea to have the hunting or football widows sale!! I’m sure it would go over well!
September 10th, 2009 at 4:21 pm
I could go for a hunting widows sale. Ams and I could do some shopping for her wedding shower. Don’t forget that I sometimes go hunting also, so it would have to be a time frame where I was available.