One way to combat the January and February blues is gift certificates. I know there are numerous logistical reasons why we can't implement the programs just yet, but I believe strongly when there is a will there is a way.
The holiday season is here... and people WILL BUY gift certificates to your show. Market it on your website, in your advertising and in theatre. I don't see the downside here especially during the holiday period.
Let's not even get into the breakage rate of potentially 40%.
It is a gold mine waiting to happen. If you need more evidence, Forrester Research expects holiday e-commerce to grow 25% this year.
From my understanding, I believe that Ticketmaster can implement them for individual shows but Telecharge can not. Please don't quote me on this.
I can assure you, we have been pushing for this initiative over the past year and believe we are coming closer to a solution that may make this a reality for all shows.