Magazine competition to win Crufts Tickets

This Dogs Monthly magazine advertises the chance to win VIP Crufts tickets on its front page which is obviously appealing to those reading this particular magazine. It is targeting their specific target market, by offering this competition it not only encourages those interested in buying the magazine but it helps to promote Crufts as on the inside more details are given about the actual event itself. 

 To enter, readers have to cut out the entry form and post it off. This does seem a little outdated as most people tend to enter these types on competitions online, less people may enter as it requires more time and effort to do it this way.

Win Nero Tickets Facebook Competition

While on Facebook I noticed that on the right side of the page one of the sponsored links was an opportunity to win one of 10 pairs of tickets to the Nero Tour courtesy of the Darkest Hour which is a new film that has just been released. In order to do so, you have to 'like' the page for the Darkest Hour movie itself so it is promoting both the movie and tour. These links can work well as you have the option to select your preferences i.e. what you are interested in and the option to 'hide' those you are not so the adverts that do come up should be more tailored to each individuals interests therefore this helps to target the right market.

The picture isn't too clear but you can see the advert on the right hand side.
Once you click it and 'like' the site, this is displayed.

In order to enter the competition, you just have to enter your name, sex, email address and location, which then subscribes you to the mailing list for future promotions and obviously gives them information on their general audience as well for maybe further promotion, research etc. So far Crufts haven't done anything like this but it may be too early as yet. 

Tour announcement on official webpage & webpage info

Obviously there is a lot of internet coverage to do with this tour and its dates but just thought I would add in the one from their official webpage (www.thisisnero.com) which keeps all the hardcore fans updated.

The page also features a lot of the videos for their latest single releases so thought i'd add two in here to just to have a look at...

When looking at this website, it is fairly simple and straightforward to use, each of the 6 tabs at the top is clearly labelled and the site isn't too busy. The game tab makes it very different to Crufts in the way that it uses a game to promote their music/downloads. When clicking on the game tab it automatically takes you to the Facebook page. In order to play the 'Nero album preview arcade' game you must 'like' their fan page and permit the game to access your facebook information. Once this has been done, you are asked to select a character from the group and chose one of their songs as the background music. The game is based on 'Streetfighter' being a very retro, popular SEGA game it makes it appealing and people will want to play it. There are tabs to enable players to download the songs they are listening to via iTunes. There is also the opportunity to share both the songs and game which can be either on your own Facebook page or someone else's. This is a more original and fun way of promoting the album and making more people aware of them which would then hopefully lead on to more tour ticket sales!

Social Media Promo- Nero Tour

Nero announced their tour via the Social Media site Facebook, this purely targeting their online fan base effectively. Facebook is used by many as a way of finding out about events going on and helps fans keep track of their favourite bands/artist's whereabouts and any new information regarding them i.e. Single/Album releases, Tour dates, Important news etc. Looking at it today, the shares keep increasing, at the moment the status'about their tour have been shared 42 times across pages and hundreds of fans have 'liked' the status' themselves.

On the left hand side of the page there are tabs that users can click to access extras such as: music videos, photos, album previews etc. There are also links for buying tickets for tour dates and for joining the mailing list for information on releases, tour dates, videos etc. 

I noticed there was a video posted advertising their tour and the venues where they were playing....

Click for link to official Nero Facebook page

Nero also have a Myspace page...

This has similar content to that of the Facebook page apart from the blog tab where they post updates on album release dates, single releases etc. The fans also post comments on here that enable them to interact with one another. By using more than one social network, they are making sure their information regarding releases, tour dates etc. reach a larger and perhaps more varied audience.

ASWELL...

Nero use Twitter as a form of marketing, they announced their tour dates on here as well. Some of their tweets contain links to enable those following to download their music via iTunes. The tweets from Nero on here are much more personal and 'chatty' for example one tweet was 'Driving back to london, I Wanna Dance With Somebody turned up as loud as the car will allow. RIP Whitney.' Some of these types of tweets encourage interaction from followers i.e. Retweets

Click for the link to official Nero UK Twitter page

According to Mintel:

'As well as ticketing, increasing internet penetration has also created a lot more opportunities for bands and promoters to ensure that people are aware of their events taking place. Artists use their websites and MySpace/Facebook profiles to publicise forthcoming concerts or tours'

I shall look into what the Crufts feature on their facebook page and see if it is similar in anyway as obviously both of these events are very different so it will be interesting to see whether or not they use the same strategies.

References:

http://www.facebook.com/nerouk

http://academic.mintel.com/sinatra/oxygen_academic/search_results/show&/display/id=479850/display/id=544044?select_section=544045

Tour announcement

Nero's Tour was seen announced on the BBC's website under the Music section on NEWSBEAT on 30th November 2011. This is obviously big news as it features on and those who are likely to be interested would actively seek this section on this web page.

It was also announced over many other music pages such as; Music.co.uk, Gigwise.com and NME.com

Nero 'Second Reality' Tour

After choosing the Skrillex Tour to compare with Crufts, I noticed that there was barely any marketing/ promotion that I could find other than small amounts on web pages, it seems that the fan base are largely reliant on the internet for updates for this particular artist and due to many dates selling out, the need for further promotion may not be completely necessary.

I decided on choosing Nero's 'Second Reality' UK Tour that is happening between 11th February- 2nd June 2012 instead as this seems to be more widely covered and hopefully will be covered within music magazines, featured on posters etc. 

Nero are an electronic music act from London and have become a big name in both the Drum and Bass and Dubstep scenes, often fusing both styles of music in their DJ sets. Dan and Joe's tracks have caused a stir and have had great success with singles such as 'Me and You', 'Act like you know' and 'Promises'.
This is their official fan webpage: http://www.thisisnero.com/

Image: http://blog.nu-soulmag.com/?p=2027

Tour dates are as follows:

Thursday 8th March – Newcastle O2 Academy

Friday 9th March - Leeds O2 Academy

Saturday 10th March - Liverpool University

Tuesday 13th March – Bristol Motion

Thursday 15th March - Leicester O2 Academy

Friday 16th March – Manchester Academy

Saturday 17th March – Southampton Guildhall

Sunday 18th March - Birmingham HMV Institute

Monday 19th March - Glasgow ABC

Wednesday 21st March – Dublin O2 Academy

Thursday 22nd March - Cardiff University Great Hall

Friday 23rd March - Norwich UEA

Saturday 24th March - London Brixton O2 Academy

References: 

[Anon].(2009) Nero Tour Dates & Tickets [Online]. Available from: http://www.ents24.com/web/artist/128624/Nero.html [Accessed 9th Jan 2012].

Crufts 2012 Website

This is the Crufts main webpage. This page for the event loads quite quickly which is definitely a bonus. Navigating around the webpage is fairly easy. There are loads of links to click on that will take you to certain other information pages about the event. Under the 'interact' tab, there is an option to access podcasts, Crufts TV, audio interviews, photos and video which obviously is for those enthusiasts out there enjoying the build up to the event. 


Each of the tabs are named the following:
 Home,Ticket Office, What's On, Show Info, Interact, Sponsors and Trade Exhibitors, Dog Exhibitors, and Press Centre, when you click on each tab, each show a drop down menu with further options. This makes it very easy to find the information you're after very quickly and therefore it is very useful for gaining further information regarding the event. 

The theme of the webpage is in keeping with the Crufts logo which is green, in keeping with the logo and gives it quite a tidy look.

The slogan featured on the webpage is:

'Crufts tail wagging fun for all the family!'

This implies it to be an event to be enjoyed by everyone, therefore promoting it to a wide audience, making it seem lighthearted and good fun. It states at the top of the page that under 8s get in for free so this obviously promotes it as a family orientated event. This may be an attempt to break the preconceptions that Crufts is only for those serious about showing and breeding dogs.