McMenamins Fans Rewarded When They "Join The Band"

Throughout Oregon and Washington states, Portland-based McMenamins is known for its variety of places to enjoy with family and friends. Founded by brothers Mike and Brian, McMenamins began as a single neighborhood pub in 1983 and today includes seven Washington locations and 53 Oregon properties, 18 on the National Register of Historic Places. Included in the list of properties is the historic Crystal Ballroom, which can accommodate 1,500 music lovers, and the 250-person capacity Lola’s Room. Both are located in same building in Portland.

Challenge

While the ultimate goal was to generate more ticket sales, first and foremost McMenamins wanted to create a closer connection to the community. Rather than just sell fans tickets they wanted a deeper engagement with them that would bring the desired fan loyalty and, therefore, additional ticket sales. McMenamins also decided to focus on awarding points and giving rewards based on ticket purchases only. Therefore, a direct connection between Etix, their ticketing company, and the loyalty program platform provider was essential.

“When we set the goal of having a loyalty program for the Crystal Ballroom, we started the conversation with Etix, and they determined that integrating a third party partner made the most sense. After considering various loyalty vendors Etix concluded that LoyaltyMatch had the best platform for entertainment venues, then created the partnership with them that led to all of us working together. We have found that a technical integration between our ticketing company and a loyalty provider is an ideal framework, both for backend administration and for our customers’ experience. And on a development level, working with these two companies as a unified team makes everything from inception through rollout a much smoother process. As such, “Join The Band” has been an extraordinarily easy program to manage because of the responsiveness and commitment of Etix and LoyaltyMatch”
-- Mike Walker, Music Marketing Manager, McMenamins

Solution

Etix and LoyaltyMatch seamlessly integrated their two systems so that ticket buyers for shows at the Crystal Ballroom and Lola's Room can quickly become members of McMenamins Join The Band at the point of purchase online. Members earn points for all of their online ticket purchases and can redeem those points for admission to events, to score merchandise or to enjoy special in-venue experiences.

Result

Join The Band was launched in late 2014 and was an immediate success. The more than 10,000 members feel a closer connection to the venues and McMenamins and are rewarding themselves regularly from a catalogue that includes ongoing and one-off special prizes. The most often claimed reward? “To be escorted with early entrance to the show of their choice”. Proof that fans of the Crystal Ballroom and Lola’s Room are about more than free merchandise. They like to feel special. Join The Band, working with Etix and LoyaltyMatch gives them that chance.

If you would like to know more about how a loyalty program can help you increase revenue, contact us at sales@loyaltymatch.com for for a demo or check out our Venues demo site at Front & Center by LoyaltyMatch.

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