Background Research
StubHub (SH) was once the primary provider of secondary-market live event tickets in the U.S. and also has some global experience. In this context, secondary market ticketing refers to the second-hand sale of a ticket after its original purchase on the primary ticket market. Salesmen might be both experienced resellers and simply customers who have decided to change their minds and use a ticket in another way. SH had a massive market share at the beginning of the ticket industry’s growth.
Although the industry was still expanding and SH’s income was rising steadily, new competitors were also beginning to take market share away from SH, which had decreased to approximately 40% by 2019 (United States Securities and Exchange Commission [SEC], 2021). According to its previous parent firm, eBay, SH’s sales were $1.068 billion and $1.057 billion in 2018 and 2019, respectively. As part of an audit of its operations, eBay sold SH to its rival Viagogo in 2019 for $4.05 billion (SEC, 2021). As a more globally oriented company, Viagogo planned to become the leader in the global secondary ticket market with the help of SH.
SWOT Analysis
In terms of strengths, SH has the apparent advantage of being a seasoned player on the stage, having operated for over 10 years. Apart from that, Viagogo’s connections and brand reputation could help SH boost its own image. When it comes to weaknesses, SH’s options for success are greatly limited by the nature of the industry: little innovation is possible in a currently established market. This is why going global is such an opportunity for SH, as it allows them to broaden their reach without the need to revolutionize the market. Apart from that, there are little to no threats present in the market due to an already solid SH position and Viagogo’s determination and willingness to aid.
Key Advertising Problems
As mentioned earlier, the key advertising challenge for SH is creating a unique concept that provides potential customers with benefits that are either nonexistent or poorly developed by competitors. From a more practical perspective, there may be an issue selecting physical advertising media due to the company’s global expansion. In this context, the channel of choice would be online marketing, encompassing social media, email, and specific applications.
Key Strategic Campaign Decisions
- Objectives. The primary objective of this campaign is to develop a specialized widget to be embedded on partner webpages, enabling customers to explore the possibilities of attending live events during their online music consumption. The aim is to increase monthly SH visits by more than 200 thousand, with an approximate 1% conversion rate.
- Target Audience. For this campaign, the target audience would be the consumers of SH partners who would decide to place SH’s widget on their webpages. In particular, the campaign will target people based on their music consumption preferences, regardless of other factors.
- Brand Position. SH’s brand position can be described by searching for ways to improve its bond with old customers and simultaneously attract new customers with a convenient offer.
- Campaign Strategy. The creation and use of the widget that redirects consumers to SH pages and back once the ticket sale is completed are relatively simple tasks from a technical perspective. In terms of the widget’s implementation, the company may start with a few partners and eventually expand based on availability and opportunity. This way, SH has the potential to generate a modest quantity of additional sales revenue in a short time.
Media Strategy
Media Objectives
The primary media objectives established by SH are to resonate with its customers’ music consumption preferences. In other words, the media objective is to non-intrusively inform customers of a currently playing or favorite music performer’s live events associated with them.
Media and Vehicle Selection, Planning, and Buying
The primary medium for placing SH’s ad will completely depend on the partner. For instance, if SH decides to partner up with Spotify, the ad will be displayed in their application on all accessible devices. This way, SH can delegate some of the marketing burden to their future partners while focusing on the widget’s representability and functionality.
Budget Allocation
In estimating the project’s cost, two main variables must be considered. First, there is a need to allocate resources for the project, including personnel and equipment (Anantatmula, 2020). In this context, the case study provides sufficient information regarding the SH’s available human resources.
As with any other widget, the current technical development will require the work of software designers, front-end engineers, back-end engineers, and data engineers. Second, there is a need to estimate the time required to complete the project (Anantatmula, 2020). Based on the knowledge of personnel’s average pay and required time, one could calculate the total campaign costs.
Scheduling
When estimating the ideal project timeline, two possibilities are considered. Since the widget is not complex to develop, the work could reportedly be managed by a team consisting of just one software designer, a front-end engineer, a back-end engineer, and a data engineer. However, it can unnecessarily prolong the development time and postpone the desired ad results. On the contrary, the second option implies utilizing SH’s human resources to their full extent. As a result, the overall campaign time requirement will be reduced significantly.
Message Strategy
Key consumer insights regarding secondary-market ticketing generally refer to the question of convenience. According to Ylmaz et al. (2023), a typical music lover does not tend to proactively search for live music events. Apart from that, Feng and Xie (2019) state that the ad-consumer association plays a key role in an ad’s success. The authors’ study of earlier advertising and marketing literature revealed that a successful advertisement has to connect with the target audience (Feng & Xie, 2019).
Additionally, it must make it easy for customers to relate to the circumstances depicted in the advertisement. This way, it activates several cognitive processes in consumers’ minds that would otherwise remain unaffected. Due to the depth and complexity of the conceptual frameworks related to consumers’ self-perceptions, self-relevant material draws voluntarily focused attention and encourages cognitive elaboration (Feng & Xie, 2019). In other words, an ad should be relatable and also conveniently and appropriately placed along the consumer’s journey.
- Message Objectives. In this context, the primary objective of the message is to illustrate that SH values customers’ time and convenience, not desiring to intervene but rather to enhance their leisure experience.
- Selling Premise. The selling premise would consequently build itself on the customer’s affection toward the consumed content, amplified by a sense of self-relevance and reasoning.
- Big Idea. As a result, the primary idea behind this campaign is to bring SH and its customers closer together through a symbiotic relationship centered on music and live events.
- Message Design and execution. The message should include friendliness and a desire to help, whereas a simple and attractive design would ensure high conversion rates.
Other Marcom Tools Used in Support
Sales Promotion
To launch the new widget and increase the likelihood of the general public becoming aware of the new feature, SH might consider lowering the commission price for several days or weeks. This way, the news would spread faster, accompanied by a moderate growth in ticket sales. This approach can be utilized every time a new partner is ready to join SH in their advertising campaign, creating profitable opportunities and increasing market reach simultaneously.
Integration Strategy (Synergy with Partners)
Before the development stage, the technical aspects of the project were intertwined with the organizational aspects. Namely, the latter implies establishing the initial partnership and searching for new partners interested in implementing the SH widget. When it comes to financial flexibility, it is sufficient to start working with two or three partners and see an opportunity to involve more partners in the future. Assuming that every partner has its own technological and design requirements, additional development cycles might be required. Nevertheless, it would eventually pay off for both parties due to the constant incremental profit the ads would bring.
Campaign Management and Evaluation of Effectiveness
During campaign management, quality can be measured at different levels. As Anantatmula (2020) states, these levels can be categorized into quality planning in relation to campaign outcomes and campaign management processes. In particular, the former refers to the manager and the team responsible for conducting quality assurance and quality control, which are established during the planning phase and executed during implementation. Meanwhile, the latter represents a form of organizational supervision over the campaign’s development based on the organization’s knowledge and experience (Anantatmula, 2020).
When it comes to delivering the final product, its distinctive features have to undergo sophisticated quality control. In this regard, traditional methods such as checklists and control charts can be supplemented by FMEA and SMART matrices to ensure that the delivery meets all necessary criteria (Arcos-Medina & Mauricio, 2019). If there is a need to initiate the refactoring step, the qualitative tools must provide a suitable environment for comparison. Therefore, approaches such as the decision matrix, Histograms, and Success and Effect diagrams will be the most fitting for this purpose.
References
Anantatmula, V., S. (2020). Project management concepts. In A. Petrillo, F. De Felice, G. Lambert-Torres, & E. Bonaldi (Eds.), Operations management (pp. 215-231). IntechOpen.
Clow, K. E. & Baack, D. E. (2017). Integrated advertising, promotion, and marketing communications (8th ed.). Pearson.
United States Securities and Exchange Commission. (2021). 10-K eBay’s Annual report pursuant to Section 13 and 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
Yılmaz, Ö., Easley, R. F., & Ferguson, M. E. (2023). The future of sports ticketing: Technologies, data, and new strategies. Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management, 1-12.