The Ultimate Encore: Stadium Concerts

Stadiums are no longer just about high scoring offenses, tough defenses, and fan experiences. They now are key assets that bring in additional revenue to the ever-changing landscape that is college athletics. 

Putting on concerts and events of this magnitude requires a strategic approach; knowing which marketing platforms to run on, as well as choosing the correct audiences to receive our digital ads. In addition to choosing the correct platforms and audiences, mastering the nuances of event cycles such as presales and the urgency of close-outs are more important than ever. Here are some client examples and how they chose to approach concerts at their venues.

Event Awareness

Prior to their on sale for the Post Malone concert, Ole Miss launched an Instagram Reminder campaign to create event awareness and have users opt in to receiving 3 push notifications to remind them of the upcoming on sale event. In total, Ole Miss generated 635 ad reminder opt-ins which helped influence a positive on sale that yielded a $43.18 ROAS across their digital campaigns.

Oklahoma took a different approach for their Luke Combs concert. In partnership with the concert promoter, OU ran paid campaigns on Meta and Demand Gen driving users to sign up to become a Bootlegger, Luke Comb’s official fan club, to receive exclusive presale access codes for the concert. Across both channels, OU generated 21,589 ad clicks for the pre-sale portion of the campaign.

On Sale

The announcement of a stadium tour generates a massive spike in conversation and overall event awareness. Having a dedicated on-sale flight captures that momentum, ensuring your paid ads appear exactly when demand is at its early peak and return on investments are at their highest. Both Mississippi State and Vanderbilt launched meta campaigns to capture buzz of their Zach Bryan and the Eagles concerts generating high revenue and returns.

Mississippi State: 

Meta - 187 conversions, $153 ROAS

Vanderbilt: 

Meta - 131 conversions, $33.60 ROAS

Closeout

This final stage of the sales cycle is aimed at capturing the late buying crowd. By flooding the market with "Last Call" messaging, you ensure the stadium reaches capacity and maximize the momentum heading into show day. In addition to ad copy messaging and creative, utilize more “fringe” audiences within your paid campaigns, lookalike audiences from 1st party data, as well as Meta’s own affinity audiences to serve ads beyond the traditional concert buyer to sell them on a once-in-a-lifetime event. Tulsa launched both meta and search campaigns to close out their Zach Bryan concert generating 743 conversions across both platforms with a $48.77 ROAS on Search and a $16.60 ROAS on Meta. Georgia Tech recently launched a campaign for Bruno Mars on Meta and are leveraging a near sellout on Saturday to push Sunday sales within their ad copy messaging. 

Summary

As events continue to be booked in our stadiums, it’s best to be prepared for all phases of the sales cycle. If you have questions, or want to plan ahead for an upcoming show at your venue, connect with your PAC Digital Marketing rep and strategize the best course of action to make your event as successful as possible!