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By Robyn Schon, CMD
It sounds a bit cliché, but every good marketer knows that you have to
analyze product placement, or market positioning, before you can find and
settle into your niche. In other words, you’ve got to “find yourself.”
Personally, as well as professionally, I don’t subscribe to the new age
directive of finding one’s self; I believe you create yourself.
Although nothing will ever replace the excitement and energy of live
entertainment, technology and the rising costs of ticket prices are changing
the landscape, and there’s very little any of us can do about it. If Al Gore
can invent the Internet, then there’s still hope that someone will come
along and shut it down.
The good news is that there are alternative ways of generating revenue,
avoiding dark days and adding to the cultural dimension of your community.
Challenges Arise
Last year, the Roanoke Civic Center lost two professional sports
teams: the Roanoke Valley Vipers hockey team (UHL), and the Roanoke Dazzle
basketball team (NBDL). If the beads on my abacus are correct, we were left
with 61 dates to fill. This means that the revenue budgeted for rent,
admissions tax, facility fees and concessions, among other line items, would
fall short and miss the mark. And they did. Hard.
As if losing our gravy weren’t enough, we had to put on our best face and
welcome our neighbors at the brand-spanking-new John Paul Jones Arena (JPJ),
located just two hours north of us in Charlottesville. It’s an
impressive-looking facility, and the folks I’ve had the opportunity to speak
with there are great.
It has come as no shock to us that promoters and customers alike are going
to be drawn to something newer, especially sitting right there in the middle
of a concert market (UVA) where a full-house is practically dropped into
your lap. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that they also offer 5,500
more seats than we do. But no hard feelings. Really. We’ll just keep buying
lottery tickets and see if we can’t fix that.
 Finding
Ourselves
All kidding aside, we like to think we’ve found some unexpected
opportunities in the challenges we’re facing to keep revenue up, expenses
down and business across the board. We pulled our management team together
and spent a couple of months developing what we call a “State of the
Industry Report.” A lot of research was conducted to determine where the
entertainment and sports industries are headed; how technology is affecting
and will affect our business; analysis of our competitors; and developing a
clearer definition of our position in the southwest Virginia market.
First and foremost we determined that we’re not a sports venue, obviously.
The Salem Civic Center, located just 10 miles south of us, does sports very
well. Their community is made of loyal fans and sports enthusiasts, and they
support everything that has a ball, bat or net.
Secondly, while we’re a fantastic venue for country artists and many rock
shows that can’t commit to filling the JPJ Arena, they’ll continue to get
the acts that we can’t accommodate. And that’s OK because we know where we
fit in, and it eases the stress of trying to compete for business.
Thinking Outside the Box Office
Now that we know what we’re not, it is easier to determine what we are. We
are a “civic” center. We are the place in our corner of the region where
people have fun and create memories. We’re a cultural hub, hosting Broadway
musicals, the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra and the Miss Virginia Pageant — and
we’re not stopping there.
By seeking more diverse events and tapping into the resources available in
our community, we’re adding color to what was once black and white, and I’m
not just talking color of skin. To draw on our strengths and create
ourselves has required us to not just step out of the box, but rather jump
out with minds wide open.
We didn’t spend nine months developing a Strategic Business Plan for
nothing. When it was completed, I wanted to spank it, give it a name, and
claim it on my taxes. We’ve tweaked it a time or two, but we believe that
we’ve come up with some ideas and alternatives that will help us reach our
goals and hopefully negate the idea of 61 dark days. We say, “Let there be
light!” And here’s how we’re doing it.
 A
New Face
We began by upgrading the appearance of the Coliseum concourse. It was a
dark corridor and it didn’t take a degree in architecture to identify the
decade in which we were built. To rid it of shadows and create an
environment that appears friendlier and safer, we replaced the old
fluorescent fixtures and complemented the new lights with a drop ceiling. I
swear you can see a person’s skeletal system when they’re on.
Next, we boldly decided to cover the concrete floor, breezeways and
entrances with carpet tiles. I know more about carpet now than I ever wanted
to know, but out of the many flooring options available today, this one
seems to be our best choice — and so far we’re glad we did it. Our
Performing Arts Theatre also got new seats (goodbye, continental) and a new
dimmer system, bringing the method of lighting our stage into the 21st
century. We’re now focused on improving sound and lights throughout the
house.
We continue to improve the aesthetics inside and out of the facility. At
first the idea seemed like we were trying to put lipstick on a pig, but now
it’s more like we’ve given the entire facility a laser peel and a shot of
Botox. We have literally shaved off a decade, an early ’70s one to be exact,
by making improvements as funds become available.
 Creating
Our Niche
When searching for your niche, the important thing is to decide well in
advance how you want to present your venue, focus on it, and move forward
with plans that make sense. We’re not trying to make the Roanoke Civic
Center look like a Frank Gehry design; we’re just updating a great building
and breathing some new life into it. Ask yourself what age 35 means to you
and you’ll understand.
As many venues may be finding out the hard way, there are lots of bands
touring now, particularly the indies, who will draw between 3,000 and 5,000
people. That’s too many for our Theatre, and would be a blow to the artists’
ego playing to a halfempty room in the Coliseum. We needed to diversify by
purchasing a half-house curtain to accommodate those midsize acts. Now we’re
focusing on attracting bands that will feel right at home in an intimate
setting, and we’re confident that we’ll realize a good return on this
investment.
Now, for the business of filling dates. Concerts will still come and the
occasional sports event will bring in the spectators, but we’re creating new
business. One of our greatest assets is that we can make ice, albeit for
hockey ghosts. However, the closing of the Ice Station last year, the area’s
only ice rink, meant that lots of hockey players and figure skaters were
without a place to put their blades. We wondered if it would be economically
feasible to make and maintain ice, but we did and we’re glad.
Not only did we attract a steady stream of amateur teams, but we also became
the place for Virginia Tech and Radford University to practice and play.
Tech recently played an ACC game here and pleasantly surprised everyone when
they drew over 5,000 fans. Now they’re hoping to bring the entire ACC
Tournament here next year. To capitalize on this further, public skating was
reborn and provided several thousand people a great amount of fun. When all
was said and done, we made money, filled some dates and added to the quality
of life in our community. After the ice melts, we will have netted a warm
$50,000.
Filling the Seats
With the basketball and hockey teams gone, that left us with half of a new
office building sitting empty. The Annex, as we call it, was initially built
to serve as offices for our professional sports teams. We were approached by
WSET-13, the area’s ABC affiliate, about leasing the space. After the terms
were hashed out, the deal equates to $36,000 annually for us, a source of
revenue we didn’t have in the past.
Next month, we’ll open a brand new 46,000 square feet Special Events Center
(SEC), where we hope to relocate trade and consumer shows from the Coliseum,
freeing it up for more lucrative business, such as a good rock concert now
and then. Ground broke on the construction 22 months ago, and we’re anxious
to open the doors and make money.
 In
addition to the traditional events that have come here for years (boat show,
gun show, car show, etc.), we are internally creating events specifically
for this facility. Expanding on the fall craft show was a start, followed by
aggressively going after new business, all of which gives us hope that the
SEC’s inaugural year will be a success.
So there you have it. We are putting the “civic” in Civic Center and giving
our community what they want and support, while at the same time keeping the
lights on and the doors open. We’re taking a nontraditional approach and
creating unique events to fill in the empty spots on our calendar. We’re
taking vacant space and changing it into something useful. We’re taking our
Strategic Business Plan off life support and breathing new life into it. The
industry might change, but so will we. And for the record, we didn’t find
our niche; we’re creating it.
Robyn Schon, CMD, is
assistant director of civic facilities for the Roanoke Civic Center in
Roanoke, Va. |
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