Well, aren’t ticket exchanges a hot topic!

First I posted this post-Xmas blog about Broadway return policies (or lack thereof), and how I’m a proponent of having our policies be a bit more forgiving (for a price).

Then, I got an email from a Disney exec. about their new policy which inspired this post.

And wouldn’t you know it?  After that, I got a few other emails from VIPs around the industry talking about other more flexible return policies, including Jersey Boys, which offers a winter weather guarantee.  They are smart enough to know that a lot of their audience comes from . . . uh . . . Jersey, so should winter weather get in a ticket holder’s way, it’s no problem . . . free exchange.  They even did a press release announcing it.

A few other shows like Mamma Mia!, Cinderella and Rock of Ages have similar policies, but they are little more hush hush about it.

It seems like we’re on the verge . . . and I’m once again saying let’s jump off the cliff already.

And here’s my idea:

For the last decade or so, there has been an advertising agency that has sponsored a winter sales initiative called Season of Savings.  And this year, it didn’t happen.

What if next year, in November, right before the holiday shopping period began, and two months before the slow, sh!tty winter, the industry got behind a very public exchange campaign?  We’ve done “Tuesdays at 7” campaigns and “Kids Night” campaigns, now it’s time to go out big with a “Broadway does exchanges” campaign.  I bet we could get buy in from at least 20 shows.

Parting with $150 (including service fees) PER TICKET is a scary proposition.  Our job is to make it less so . . . and to make it easier for that potential customer to make that purchase.  And letting them know that their $150 (did I say including service fees) PER TICKET is safe if their babysitter doesn’t show, or they get snowed in, or they get the flu might be just what the audience ordered.

And hey – maybe a Broadway-wide exchange campaign just might encourage full price sales instead of discounts.

Now wouldn’t that be something?

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