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October 09, 2005
New Jersey Nets got game
I love this: The NBA New Jersey Nets are using grassroots marketing this season to sign up more season ticket holders.
Nets CEO Brett Yormark is calling it the "Ticket Influencer Program," whose idealistic aim is to make the Nets "the most accessible team in sports." Great idea, bad name.
Nonetheless, the program focuses on two tactics:
1. Catered cocktail parties in the homes of "influential" current season ticket holders thrown by the team, with guest appearances from players, coaches or front-office executives. Each reception will be attended by as many as 50 potential season-ticket buyers.
2. A "Pancakes and Hoops" breakfast that includes a Nets player, coach or team executive, who will dine with 10 prospective season-ticket holders at a New Jersey diner to discuss the team and answer any questions.
The program is working, too: ticket renewals are at 96%. The events have brought in more than $1 million in ticket revenue; one event alone generated $70,000. It's a very, very smart plan to bridge emotional connections between passionate fans and sometimes distant, often over-paid NBA stars.
Don't love this: The Nets have also launched a referral program that gives season ticket holders a 3% cash "commission" for every new full or half season-ticket buyer they refer. Nets season ticket holders will receive a form in the mail asking for the contact information of friends or associates. Help us spam your friends, please.
Incentive programs to pimp friends and relationships often appeals only to customers who are in it just for the money or rewards. By monetizing the relationship (and sports is ultimately about the relationship between team and fan), a cash-for-leads programs pollutes the customer gene pool.
Seems like unfortunate program to spoil the otherwise aforementioned great program.
[Andrea Learned says the Nets Influencer program is part of a bigger philosophy to "humanize" one's brand.]
Other blogs that reference New Jersey Nets got game:
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Rule # 397: Never watch "E-Ring" the night before a brand identity brief is due.
:D
Great article about the NJ nets, but your last comments about a referral program seemed a bit harsh. When you gave the example of the Dinner party reception with 50 prospects, where do the prospects come from if not referrals? Referral programs that are orchestrated correctly, which ask for referrals that the referee thinks would be interested in the offering is less about the reward than the ability to share an offer with someone you know might be interested in. The Nets may consider splitting the reward 50/50 between refer and refer to increase the quality of leads.
Positioning Referral programs is a critical step towards getting positive results. "Friends don't refer friends to shoddy marketing campaigns."
I think the point is: If the "free" referral program is already working so well, why introduce a spam-based program into the mix?
Spam is, under every conceivable vantage point, wrong.
Good points to use grassroots marketing, but they need to now how to manage the grass to grow. If the concept is growing out of its purpose it will not be green grass.
Regarding the monetization point, the question this poses is whether incentive programs are inherently spam and bad. As a customer who may deliver significant value to the business, don't I deserve compensation? Are volunteer sales force extensions, compensated as reps, ever appropriate?
Ptroast,
I don't think all incentive programs are inherently spam and bad. But I do think that many companies have the wrong idea about why customers are motivated to spread the word to others.
In our research, we have found that evangelists want to tell their friends about the companies/products/services they love so that their friends will receive the same benefit they do. Or like they to be the expert on a certain cataegory of products, so they often talk about their expertise. They tell us that to be compensated by the company feels "dirty", like a pay-off.
I think what these customers wouldm however, appreciate recognition for referring. If a company would track word of mouth, they could send a nice thank you letter or very small gift to people who do refer.
But to devise an actual program where referrers are paid a commission makes the program about money, not about authentic referrals.
Interesting and innovative. Sounds like the Nets creatively came up with a way to get closer to their fans and sell more season passes. A win-win solution.
Leigh Futures
http://www.20bestwebmarketingsecrets.com
Yeh, money spoils between funs and sportsmen. It's not a good idea. But money is what people care about most these days
