“They were skeptical at first, but the Placer data was objective proof. I was able to show them the numbers and explain why they needed to expand their advertising radius if they wanted to reach their target audience and sell more concert tickets.”
-- Josh Williams, VP of Strategy and Technology at Catalyst Marketing
The Challenge
Casino Resort turns to Catalyst Marketing to improve concert ticket sales performance
A popular casino resort booked 5-6 artists a year for concerts at its outdoor venue, which attracted both travelers and locals alike. The casino resort team believed their concert programming was an effective strategy for boosting casino visitation and wanted to increase concert ticket sales. They turned to Josh Williams, VP of Strategy and Technology at Catalyst Marketing, for help. Were the seasonal concerts effective at driving visitation to the casino and how could Josh help the casino resort team increase ticket sales?
The Solution
Placer Trade Area coverage insights reveals casino advertising efforts missed top concert audiences
First, Josh geofenced the casino resort as well as its outdoor concert venue (which was separate from the casino) in Placer to analyze visitation based on past concerts. Placer’s Visits Trend report revealed the outdoor concerts did indeed have a notable impact on overall casino visitation: the casino resort saw on average nearly 145% more visits on concert days (4,836 visits) compared to non-concert days (1,974 visits). However, skeptical that local residents would travel more than an hour for a concert, the casino resort team had only been advertising to audiences within 50 miles of the venue. Using Placer’s Trade Area Coverage By Distance report, Josh discovered that a 50 mile advertising radius only reached about 76% of concertgoers — and completely ignored over 6k concertgoers traveling 50+ miles to attend! In other words, the venue had a much larger trade area than the casino team realized. Placer data indicated expanding concert advertising to reach audiences within 100 miles would effectively capture 91% of historical visits and help boost ticket sales.
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Next, Josh used Placer’s Audience Profile report to understand the outdoor venue’s audience and identify those most likely to purchase concert tickets. He found that several top audience segments were converting far below what their trade area potential would suggest. Placer’s Map Studio report revealed why: these top audience segments (like Upper Suburban Diverse Families, Young Urban Singles, and Budget Boomers) typically resided 80-100 miles away. Moreover, the psychographic map layer also showed how these top segments in the concert audience base extended further south than the casino team had estimated, resulting in concertgoers from a nearby major city. Finally, with data showing that the concert venue’s trade area heavily over indexed for country music fans (+87% above the state average) as well as for heavy metal and pop punk fans, the casino team was able to validate popular artists/genres to guide their concert programming.
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The Outcome
SUCCESS: Casino Resort boosts ticket sales 42%, improves conversion of top concert audiences
Josh convinced the casino resort team to expand their advertising reach to a 100 mile radius. The move helped the casino effectively target its top concert audiences. Armed with new demographic and psychographic insights on the type of people coming to the outdoor concerts, the casino team optimized their concert programming and and saw a 42% increase in ticket sales for the 2024 concert season.
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