Marketing, Branding, Advertising, Consumer Insight, Digital, Marketing, Public Relations, Design, Media – Michael Cloke

Video Summary

Live Nation was once the biggest concert promoter in the country. But Live Nation today plays a much bigger role in the music industry as a whole. This company now resembles a fully integrated one-stop shop, providing services to musicians that include production and distribution of new albums, concert promotion, ticket vending, and merchandising.

Questions and Answers

1. What is Live Nation’s mission?
Jackie Wilgar is very to the point in this. The Live Nation’s mission is: To connect fans and artists. The nature of this mission is very important. Students should recognize (or instructors should help to point out) that this is a company that is not boxed in by a narrow definition of a market offering. It isn’t a company that is out to “sell more tickets than anyone else” or “be the biggest concert promoter.” The nature of “connecting fans with artists” is very defining, but broad enough that it basically has no limits in terms of how Live Nation might accomplish that task. It incorporates all the businesses that Live Nation now engages in (concert promotion, ticket sales, merchandise sales, music production, etc.) and allows for other activities in the future that have not yet been developed or even thought of.

One other element of Live Nation’s mission statement that is important is that it fits the textbooks definition for a market-oriented mission statement. It is defined in terms of customer needs.

Ms. Wilgar also points out that Live Nation’s mission leads to a vision of creating music experiences.

2. Based on the product/market expansion grid, provide support for the strategy that Live Nation is pursuing.
According to Jackie Wilgar, Live Nation started as a promoter of live concerts and shows. It had one type of product. This product, of course, came in all different varieties (different artists, different types of music) thereby appealing to a wide range of customer segments.

But in fulfilling its mission to connect fans with artists, Live Nation began to expand. They looked for new ways to get fans access to their favorite artists. The means of expansion, as noted in the video, became things like merchandise, buying music online, through the purchase of music venues (Live Nation now owns House of Blues as well as other individual venues such as the legendary Wiltern in Los Angeles), festivals and events, ticket sales, and the online link, Livenation.com.

This is a clear example of “new product/existing markets” and fits into the “Product Development” strategy. There may be some argument that as Live Nation has expanded, it certainly has reach out to new types of customers. While this is a possibility, it seems more evident from Jackie Wilgar’s explanation of the pursuit of Live Nation’s mission that the nature of the customer has not changed. Live Nation is simply finding new ways to reach that customer.

3. How does Live Nation’s strategy provide better value for customers?
The issue of customer value is based on “the difference between all the benefits and costs of a market offering relative to those of a competing offering.” As far as the benefit side, the individual elements that Live Nation provides have already been listed. Add to these the broader benefits of things like “a greatly enhanced music experience,” “a more emotional bond with a band or artist,” and you have a strong set of benefits.

On the cost side, one of the greatest “savings” is in time and effort on the part of the consumer. The one-stop-shop approach makes it possible for a music consumer to go to one location to get music, tickets, merchandise, and information. This saves them from having to hunt and browse around. The nature of this cost savings is one that straddles the line between cost and benefit. The one-stop-shop aspect also brings features to the customer that they may have not thought to look for. One other cost savings may be in the area of actual money saved. Jackie Wilgar talks about ticket pricing and promotions, and ways that they make it possible for music fans of all budgets to get access to their bands.

Learning Ideas
This case is so mission-focused that it is a great illustration to start the chapter. This video could be shown first to introduce the concept of market-oriented mission statements and to generate discussion. Students will certainly have experienced live shows and may have even attended shows sponsored by Live Nation. This discussion can be made very “real” to students by asking them questions that would prompt them to share experiences. By showing the video first, it can be used as a continual example of other concepts in the chapter.

Source: Principles of Marketing Kotler/Armstrong

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