I started my marketing career at the age of 18, marketing businesses to college students via a medium my partner and I called CDC or the College Discount Card. It was a card that was given free to students and enabled them to stretch there valuable but tight dollars. After graduating college in 1992, and with the internet still no where to be found, my partner and I grew apart, he went to law school and I moved to Boston to help start a college nightlife and entertainment guide called University People Magazine. I was always intrigued throughout college with the nightlife scene and how to market brands to the consumers who frequented these establishments. I took that magazine and built it into one of the best nightlife magazines
After hanging out in the scene and studying these consumers of the night, I realized that there was something special here. I began to entrench myself in the scene and study the consumers who went to these establishments.
One might not think that consumers who are down on their luck might not be ideal candidates to market products to but they are actually the best. These are the people who are looking for some assistance and that assistance can come in the form of a new shirt, a new cd, free song downloads, free product samples, etc. These are the things that when these people finally get back on their feet, their buying habits will change, they might or might not buy your product right away because you gave them a free sample or a giveaway, but in the end consumers love free stuff. In a recent study done by the Advertising Specialties Institute, people who receive a free sample of something or something of value imprinted with a brands logo are more likely to remember and buy that brand afterwards.
In a down economy, the nightlife scene is a marketer’s dream. It offers a consumer base which is typically well educated, between the ages of 18-40 and is either spending the money of their parents or that which was self earned, in other words they have money to spend on things they want. It is an industry which offers up an audience of early adopters which are typically open to being bombarded with marketing while they are blocking out the woes of the world. These are the people that can make or break brands. This is an industry which is receptive to just about anything. The mediums available to a marketer to reach these consumers is endless, it is an environment that allows creativity to run wild. Some mediums available are bathroom advertising, on-premise sampling, MCs and DJs from within the scene, bartenders, SMS, establishment web banners and emails, fliers, websites, bar television networks, party sponsorship, or create your own. If you’re looking to test out marketing in this environment, you can always get involved in my latest program the Nightlife Survival Kit, which allows marketers to test out this environment for a very small slice of their marketing budget.
This environment is one which allows CPG companies to market products for as little as $1000 per establishment, but pick your locations and programs wisely, each is different in their own way. Each location caters to a different demographic audience with different tastes on different nights such as alternative lifestyle, Latin, Afro-American, classic disco, jazz, blues, house music, country music, techies, etc. Once you have chosen your demographic profile, make sure the models that are sent to educate the consumer in these venues, know your product inside and out, and have used or tasted your product. Make sure the models being sent into these establishments dress like and can relate to the audience with which you are trying to connect. Over the years I have seen many agencies tell clients that they know the nightlife industry and the only thing they seem to know about this industry is how to walk in the door and have a cocktail. The nightlife industry is an industry unlike any other. It is an industry which is sometimes hard to understand and one in which it is sometimes a difficult environment within which to market products, but if your agency is chosen wisely and they can show you the ROI they have created for other clients in this type of atmosphere, then you can rest assured this agency is one that can bring you the ROI you desire.