Timeless Marketing Ideas

Whether you are selling tickets, trying to grow membership, or striving to attract new sponsors, generating buzz in unique ways can help drive positive change. A great example of this was recently rolled out by a major league baseball franchise.

The Milwaukee Brewers, who have made the playoffs only once since 1982, have rolled out a new program to sell fans on their future. The Brewer’s “Timeless Ticket” is equal parts investment, souvenir and game experience. For $1,000, fans can purchase one of the limited edition tickets (the Brewers only issued one thousand of them) which come with the following benefits:

Each ticket is individually numbered, comes complete with a certificate of authenticity and is packaged in a specially-designed gift box.
Each ticket is authenticated by Major League Baseball and includes its own registered ID number under the MLB Authentication program.
Each order of the Timeless Ticket includes nine ticket vouchers. Each ticket voucher may be redeemed for one future Brewers regular season home game, excluding Opening Day, tiebreaker games and Postseason games.
The owner of the Timeless Ticket can attend one game of their choosing this season or any season in the future (including World Series games, playoffs, or opening day).

Take in that last bullet point for a moment….. The owner can pick ANY game in the future to attend. While the Brewers have not been a regular in the MLB playoffs, at some point in the future you have to assume they will make a run to the World Series. When that happens, as a Timeless Ticket owner you would have access to the game of your choice. In essence this is a futures bet of sorts. If you are a Brewers fan, when they do turn the corner you will be insured access to at least one big game.

This is a very creative concept, and its launch has been featured through several sports media outlets including ESPN. Additional major league teams are contemplating a similar program. If you are a team or organization that has ticket inventory, there are numerous benefits that the Timeless Ticket can offer. First, as a revenue generator, the issuing body gets to sit on the income generated by the sale until the various benefits are actually redeemed. Second, you can generate significant earned media through the marketing of a program like this. Lastly, and most important, you can use this program to strengthen ties to your fan base by offering your most dedicated supporters something new and also scarce.

To take a page from the Milwaukee Brewer’s book we should ask ourselves: What assets we have that our key customers hold dear? How can we offer them something unique that will also help our business at the same time? Can we grow our support base with a new offering of some kind? The Brewers thought about the future rather than the right now, and in the process they generated new revenues and grew their promotional footprint. And someday, maybe 1,000 people will cash in their Timeless Ticket for a World Series run.