You are currently browsing the category archive for the 'Musings' category.
We’re back from the Southeastern Museums Conference today. SEMC is an annual event that pulls together museum directors and operators from the region and gives them the opportunity to share best practices and ideas with each other. They were a great crowd, and we had a very successful time introducing the Biscuit to them. A special shout out to Bob, Rachel, and Kimbelee from Sloss Furnaces - it’s always nice to see familiar faces at those events.
Today I read a great post by Shariar Amin on Subliminal Marketing. This got me thinking: isn’t it a bit ironic that we find it okay to splash product placements all over movies but the practice of flashing an image for 1/3000th of a second is outlawed? (By the way, Shariar’s post is not entirely factually accurate - for the full story on subliminal advertising check out snopes)
I remember earlier this year KFC got into hot waterwith one of their commercials promoting a new sandwich. At one point in the commercial a message flashed on the screen that said you could get the sandwich for free if you mentioned a secret code word while you were ordering. The ironic thing is, you would have had to have TiVo or some sort of DVR to rewind and find the hidden message. They did another spot where they hid a dollar bill in the lettuce on a sandwich. Of course, the mere word of mouth made the campaign wildy successful.
Maybe that’s the take away- by trying to be subliminal and getting busted, everyone will talk about your ad, and you’ll get the exposure you crave. We’re always looking for new and cool ways to spread the word about the Biscuit- so what do you think? Should we dabble into the subliminal?
Maybe we should be more subliminal than this....
I’ve gotta admit, I was a big fan of MMA before but since the launch of BattlePass my fandom has gone almost to the nuclear scale. So it was with great anticipation that I awaited this last weekend’s matchup between seasoned veteran Ken Shamrockand Internet phenom Kimbo Slice.
Only the fight didn’t happen. Hours before the fight Shamrock apparently suffered a cut and was not allowed to fight. his last minute replacement was a previously relatively unknown fighter named Seth Petruzelli.
Petruzeilli knocked him out in 14 seconds. Kimbo was supposed to be the best thing for MMA since, well, (forgive the pun here) sliced bread, but he suffered an embarrassing beatdown at the hands of a no-name. And now, there are allegations that the fight was supposed to be fixed. But before I get there, why don’t you watch the fight in it’s entirety? Seriously, it will only take 14 seconds. Go ahead.
Okay so Seth delivers a beatdown. But Seth isn’t used to the limelight. So naturally, when everyone and their mother wants to talk to the guy who beat Kimbo, our boy Seth tells too much:
“They didn’t want me to take him down, let’s just put it that way. It was worth my while to try to stand up and punch with him.”
Ouch. You can read the whole article here if you are interested, but this could be big trouble for ProElite. We’ll keep you posted. One of the great things about MMA is that to this point it has been about combat, performance, preparation, skill. this kind of shenanigan would put a black eye on the sport, but it would be nothing new. I mean, there have been empires (*cough cough WWE*) built on this type of tom-foolery. The BattlePass team will actually get to meet ProElite head of Operations Jeremy Lappen at Fight Promoter University V in November, so I’m anxious to get his take on this whole matter (away from what says to the media).
On a side note, I am now a HUGE fan of Gina Carano. Wowza.
*swoon*
The Biscuit Team (or at least a couple of us) are packing up and heading to Colorado Springs, CO this week for the Association of Railway Museums (ARM) Conference, where we will be hosting a seminar on automated ticketing and mingling with the hardcore railfans. We’ll be blogging from the event AND we’ve got some special news in store for later this week, so stay tuned.
- Pikes Peak in Colorado Springs
It’s been a while since we talked about BattlePass, our first product line extension in the history of the company. BattlePass is doing extremely well, with new MMA Promoter clients being added daily. We launched a myspace page shortly after we released the product, and quickly made “friends” with Dana White (head of UFC), Chuck Liddell, and many other icons of the sport.
Check out our myspace page by clicking here
Speaking of Liddell, did anyone see the fight this weekend?
ouch.
If you weren’t living under a rock today, you probably heard that Google released a new web browser called Chrome. Initial reviews of the web browser have been extremely positive: here’s what TechCrunch and Scoble had to say. We’ve been doing some testing at The Biscuit and TicketBiscuit seems to run extra fast in Chrome.
Give it a try and let us know what you think. Post your comments here or send us feedback at support@ticketbiscuit.com. As always, thanks for using The Biscuit!
In these days of 24 hour news channels and information overload courtesy of the world wide web, it’s easy to assume the role of “know-it-all”. And as Gustav roars into the Gulf of Mexico, many of us inject the current common knowledge about hurricanes into our water cooler discussions. For example, we all know-
- Katrina was the most damaging hurricane on record
- Hurricanes lose energy over land, but pick up steam (almost literally) over hot water, and
- Hurricanes make gas prices go up.
BUT- there are many things you DON’T know about hurricanes. For example, did you know that this Gustav is actually the fifth tropical cyclone to share that name? Look it up.
Find out what else you don’t know about hurricanes – check out the quiz hosted by the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. You just might learn something.
Speaking of learning something- we occasionally post ticket selling tips on this blog, like last week’s post on event aggregator sites. We’re interested in your thoughts on these tips. Are they helpful? Do you have tips to share? Let us know.
When I got home last night from “MMA 101″ class at Spartan Fitness, my wife told me I had something on my eyebrow. Turns out, it was a piece of leather from my training partner’s glove, left there when he landed a stiff jab during the “live sparring” we do at the end of class. As we prepare to launch BattlePass.com, the first and only ticketing system built for combat sports, my MMA training is much more than just a tough workout:
1. It gives me intimate knowledge of - and respect for - the country’s fastest growing sport, something that will prove invaluable as we approach the many promoters who regularly sell out MMA, Boxing, Jiu-Jitsu, and Muay Thai fights in town halls and community centers across the country. I expect this knowledge will come in very handy as we fight for the belt of “fastest growing ticketing company in the country”.
2. It strengthens my resolve and competitiveness in the business world. There’s nothing like learning to weather punches to the face, knees to the ribcage, neck cranks, and arm bars to put things in perspective when you’re trying to convince a prospective client of the value of your software.
3. It reminds me that size doesn’t matter – at least not in fighting or business. In the early days of modern civilization, David brought down Goliath; in the early days of the UFC, Royce Gracie brought down countless bigger fighters who, on paper, should have crushed him; and call it post-fight euphoria if you want, but I have a feeling that ticket buyers and sellers alike will one day tell stories of how “scrappy little TicketBiscuit” took down the ticketing behemoths of their day by out-thinking, out-maneuvering, and out-executing them.
TicketAlert - Ticketmaster Keeps Order Processing Fees on Cancelled Events!
October 19, 2008 in Commentary, Musings, ticketing news | Tags: Frank Caliendo, Order Processing Fees, ticketmaster | by jburdett | 1 comment
Ticketmaster never ceases to amaze me. I bought tix to Frank Caliendo’s show in Birmingham and it was cancelled. On Friday, I received this email from Ticketmaster:
Hello, this is Ticketmaster Customer Service with an important alert for your upcoming event. Frank Caliendo, scheduled at BJCC Concert Hall on Friday, October 24, 2008, at 8:00PM, has been cancelled.
Your credit card will automatically be credited the ticket price and convenience charges, and should post to your account within 7 to 10 business days. Please note, the $3.20 per order processing fee and any ticketFast or UPS delivery charges are non-refundable.
If you have any questions, please contact us online at:
http://www.ticketmaster.com/h/asktm.html
Thank you for using Ticketmaster. We appreciate your business!
I love the last line: We appreciate your business! What service did they provide me? In my opinion, they just stole $3.20 from me and provided no service at all. Glad to see I’ll get my money back so quickly as well (note the sarcasm).
I know this isn’t news to many of you and I’m sorry you have to put up with it. There is something you can do about it. Stop going to events where Ticketmaster is the ticketing vendor and encourage your favorite venues, promoters, and artists to sign up with the Biscuit.