Military air shows are unique and logistically complex events that draw large crowds eager to witness the best of aviation. To manage these massive undertakings, it may seem convenient to bundle ticketing into a Master Concessionaire Agreement (MCA), allowing one entity to oversee multiple aspects of the event. However, ticketing is a critical revenue stream and operational component that deserves dedicated attention. For the Air Force and Navy, separating ticketing from the MCA can dramatically enhance event success, improve communication, and maximize attendee satisfaction.
The Case for Separation of Ticketing from MCAs
Master concessionaires are skilled at managing food, beverage, and merchandise, but ticketing demands specialized expertise. Handling ticketing can stretch concessionaires’ resources thin, compromising the experience for both the air show and its attendees. Partnering with a dedicated ticketing provider like AttendStar keeps the focus on ticketing excellence, attendee communication, and logistical efficiency. These are areas where master concessionaires often fall short of meeting the same level of expertise and attention.
AttendStar’s Pitch: We provide ticketing services at zero cost to the air show, with all fees passed to the ticket buyer. This allows air shows to access top-tier ticketing solutions without financial strain while ensuring that experts, not concessionaires, handle this critical part of the event.
1. Master Concessionaires Aren’t Ticketing Experts
Master concessionaires specialize in food and hospitality, focusing on event logistics like food trucks, beverage services, and vendor management. Ticketing, however, requires a completely different set of skills—real-time monitoring, customer support, and data analysis. When a master concessionaire handles ticketing, these important aspects can be neglected.
A ticketing partner like AttendStar focuses exclusively on ticketing logistics. This means that every step is optimized from the moment a ticket is sold to the final attendee check-in. Ticketing partners ensure seamless integration with marketing efforts, helping air shows grow attendance through targeted campaigns.
2. Avoiding Conflicting Priorities
Concessionaires prioritize revenue from food and merchandise sales. When ticketing is bundled under their purview, the air show’s most important revenue stream—ticket sales—may be an afterthought. In contrast, AttendStar is a dedicated ticketing partner focuses on ticketing performance and maximizing attendance. This ensures that competing priorities do not compromise the success of the air show.
Furthermore, a ticketing partner offers customized solutions designed to boost revenue:
- Smooth customer experience: Optimizing ticket sales and the customer journey
- Maximizing ticket capacities: Proven strategies to increase per capita sales
- Targeted marketing: Enhancing event reach through data-driven campaigns
The result is a cohesive strategy that benefits both ticket sales and overall event performance rather than the potentially misaligned goals of a concessionaire.
3. Maximizing Event Revenue
Ticketing is attendees’ first and last touchpoint, making it a crucial element in the overall air show experience. With ticketing managed by a dedicated provider like AttendStar, air shows benefit from advanced revenue-boosting strategies such as dynamic pricing, upsells, and comprehensive marketing campaigns—all of which a master concessionaire may not be equipped to handle.
Additionally, AttendStar makes money through ticket sales, aligning our interests with the air show’s success. Our goal is to increase attendance and improve the attendee experience, which in turn drives more concession sales. Master concessionaires, on the other hand, are less motivated by ticket sales, often missing opportunities to optimize this critical revenue stream fully.
4. The Role of Communication and Your Ticketing Partner
Effective communication is critical to any air show, especially when unpredictable factors like weather can significantly impact logistics. Managing parking, safety measures, and day-of-event changes requires clear, timely updates to attendees. This can mean the difference between a smooth event and frustrated, confused crowds.
A reliable ticketing partner like AttendStar excels in real-time communication:
- Real-Time Updates: AttendStar provides immediate updates to attendees on schedule changes, parking adjustments, and safety protocols. We ensure attendees are always informed through SMS, email, and even a dedicated event phone line.
- Flexible Messaging: Our system allows for personalized messaging based on ticket type, parking location, or VIP status. This ensures the right information reaches the right people without overwhelming them.
- Day-of Support: AttendStar offers a dedicated phone number with an interactive voice response (IVR) system that provides critical information 24/7. This ensures that attendees can get updates immediately without the need for live operator support.
These advanced communication tools help minimize inconvenience, keep attendees informed, and enhance their overall experience, especially when plans change unexpectedly due to weather or other factors.
5. Technological Superiority
Military air shows present unique challenges, such as managing restricted areas, ensuring security compliance, and providing reliable connectivity in often remote locations. AttendStar’s ticketing solutions are specifically designed to handle these challenges:
- Security Integration: With Premium Seating, offering VIP Parking typically involves on-site parking, and depending on the base, it may be in a restricted area. One approach is to coordinate a Security Questionnaire for guests buying a specific ticket type that includes this amenity. Offering guests the ability to complete a security questionnaire and send it to the base security operations is a value-added service for both guests, the air show, and the security personnel.
- Parking Pass Management: We offer robust parking and access control solutions, allowing seamless entry into air shows and parking areas and reducing the burden on security personnel and volunteers.
- Reliable Connectivity: Unlike master concessionaires, who often lack technical infrastructure, AttendStar provides advanced solutions using private 5G networks and redundant connectivity. This ensures that ticketing operations remain online, even in challenging environments where consumer-grade WiFi or cellular connections may fail.
6. Preserving Accountability and Oversight
By separating ticketing from the Master Concessionaire Agreement, military air shows retain control over one of their most critical operations. With AttendStar, you maintain direct oversight over ticketing, marketing, and data management. This ensures that decisions are made based on the best interest of the event, not the convenience of a master concessionaire.
The post-event analysis is a crucial component of our approach. By analyzing data from ticketing and marketing efforts, event organizers can identify areas for improvement and optimize future events. This data-driven approach helps ensure that each event is more successful than the last. AttendStar’s post-event analysis includes:
- Revenue analysis: Understanding ticket sales, revenue generation, and overall profitability.
- Marketing campaign effectiveness: Evaluating the performance of different marketing channels and strategies.
- Attendee satisfaction: Analyzing feedback from surveys and other sources to gauge attendee satisfaction.
- Data insights: Leveraging data to gain valuable insights into attendee preferences and behaviors.
- Communication channel analysis: Analyzing phone calls, help desk tickets, and SMS data to understand attendee inquiries, issues, and support needs.
By conducting comprehensive post-event analysis, AttendStar helps event organizers make informed decisions and optimize future events for maximum success.
While master concessionaires are food and vendor management experts, they may not have the specialized tools and resources necessary for in-depth post-event analysis. This is particularly true when it comes to analyzing data from ticketing systems, marketing campaigns, and customer interactions. AttendStar, as a dedicated ticketing partner, offers transparency in ticketing and marketing, allowing you to make data-driven decisions and conduct comprehensive post-event analysis for more successful air shows.
7. Best Practices Backed by Decades of Expertise
AttendStar’s team brings decades of event management, marketing, and logistics experience to the table. We have seen firsthand the impact of effective strategies—and the consequences of poorly executed plans—at air shows across the country. Our expertise allows us to anticipate challenges, recommend proven solutions, and adapt quickly when unexpected issues arise.
This depth of experience sets us apart from master concessionaires, who may not have the same level of expertise in managing ticketing and communication for large-scale events like air shows.
Conclusion: A Path Forward for Military Air Shows
For military air shows to thrive, ticketing must be handled by specialists who understand its complexities. Separating ticketing from a Master Concessionaire Agreement ensures specialized attention, maximized revenue, and superior communication. These elements are vital for the success of your air show.
AttendStar’s zero-cost model, combined with our decades of experience and cutting-edge technology, makes us the ideal ticketing partner for military air shows. We bring the expertise, tools, and support to ensure your event runs smoothly despite unexpected challenges. By partnering with a dedicated ticketing provider like AttendStar, the Air Force and Navy can fully control their air shows and guarantee the best possible outcomes for attendees and organizers.
Option 1: One Vendor Handling It All (Master Concessionaire Managing Ticketing, Concessions, and Logistics)
Pros:
1. Simplicity in Management:
Having one point of contact can streamline communication and reduce the number of vendors an air show organizer has to deal with, theoretically simplifying logistics.
2. Contract Efficiency:
Bundling everything into one contract can reduce legal and administrative overhead.
3. Consolidated Vendor Relationships:
Easier coordination across all event operations, as there’s only one entity responsible for managing everything from ticketing to food to parking.
Cons:
1. Diluted Expertise:
Master concessionaires typically specialize in food and beverage, not in the intricate details of ticketing or marketing. This could lead to subpar performance in areas like ticket sales optimization, real-time communication, and customer support.
2. Conflicting Priorities:
When ticketing is part of a broader package, ticketing might receive less attention than it deserves, as the concessionaire’s primary goal is to maximize sales through food, merchandise, and other vendor relationships. This can result in less focus on improving the customer journey or growing ticket revenue.
3. Limited Flexibility and Innovation:
Master concessionaires often use a one-size-fits-all approach. This means they are less likely to implement cutting-edge technologies like dynamic pricing and advanced marketing. These technologies can maximize attendance and enhance the attendee experience.
4. Poor Response to Real-Time Issues:
With so many responsibilities, the master concessionaire may struggle to handle unexpected logistical challenges like weather changes when it comes to real-time communication with attendees via ticketing platforms.
5. Lack of Expertise in Ticketing:
Master concessionaires specialize in food, beverage, and merchandise, but ticketing requires expertise in logistics, technology, and real-time customer communication. The concessionaire may not have the knowledge to maximize ticketing operations or revenue.
6. Minimal Accountability in Ticketing:
With ticketing bundled in the Master Concessionaire Agreement, event organizers lose direct oversight over ticketing operations and customer data, leading to less control over how ticketing is managed and marketed.
7. Limited Technological Capability:
Most concessionaires lack advanced ticketing infrastructure, such as private 5G connectivity, robust access control, and customizable communication systems. This can lead to potential delays or system failures during critical moments.
Option 2: Dedicated Ticketing Partner + Master Concessionaire with Clearly Defined Responsibilities
Pros:
1. Specialized Expertise:
Each vendor focuses on what they do best: the master concessionaire handles food and merchandise, while the dedicated ticketing provider focuses on ticket sales, customer communication, and access control. This ensures that ticketing gets the specialized attention it needs.
A ticketing provider like AttendStar focuses solely on maximizing ticket revenue, optimizing customer experience, and handling real-time communication challenges. This ensures that experts with the proper tools manage each area and focus on doing the job well.
2. Maximized Revenue:
A dedicated ticketing provider can implement advanced strategies to maximize ticket sales and revenue, such as dynamic pricing, upsells, and targeted marketing campaigns. The ticketing provider is incentivized to increase ticket sales since their revenue is tied to ticketing success.
3. Clear Division of Labor:
Separating ticketing and concessions avoids conflicting priorities. The ticketing partner can concentrate on revenue growth through ticket sales and marketing. At the same time, the concessionaire focuses on food, beverages, and merchandise.
4. Technological Superiority:
A dedicated ticketing provider is more likely to offer advanced solutions like dynamic pricing, targeted email campaigns, private 5G connectivity, and robust real-time communication for event updates.
5. Improved Attendee Communication:
Real-time SMS, email updates, and customizable messaging based on ticket types (e.g., VIPs, general admission) create a more personalized experience and reduce confusion during the event. A dedicated ticketing partner can respond faster to changes like weather or parking adjustments.
6. Enhanced Accountability:
Separating ticketing allows for better oversight and data tracking, ensuring accountability in revenue reporting, customer data management, and marketing analysis. This enables better decision-making for future events.
Cons:
1. More Vendor Coordination:
While responsibilities are clearer, air show organizers will need to coordinate between two separate vendors: ticketing provider and concessionaire. This may require more oversight and communication.
2. Potential for Miscommunication:
Without proper alignment and collaboration, the ticketing provider and concessionaire risk miscommunicating, especially if each focuses solely on their own domain.
However, AttendStar takes a different approach by working closely with master concessionaires to maximize impact. Rather than adding complexity or duplicating efforts, AttendStar integrates its ticketing solutions into the more significant event strategy. This collaboration ensures that everything from ticket sales to on-site operations runs smoothly. This allows master concessionaires to focus on their core responsibilities like food, beverage, and merchandise. By bridging the gap between ticketing and other essential event functions, AttendStar enhances efficiency and attendee satisfaction—something other ticketing partners often fail to do.
3. Slightly Higher Administrative Overhead:
Managing contracts and communications between two entities may introduce slightly more complexity compared to bundling everything with one vendor.
Choosing the Right Approach
One Vendor (Master Concessionaire) Handling Everything works best for events where simplicity is essential, and the focus on ticketing isn’t as critical. However, for military air shows, where ticketing is a significant revenue stream, this approach risks underperformance in critical areas like ticket sales, customer communication, and logistical management.
Collaborative Approach with Both a Master Concessionaire and a Dedicated Ticketing Provider offers the advantage of specialization, ensuring that both vendors can focus on their respective areas of expertise. While this requires more coordination, the benefits in terms of ticketing efficiency, technological superiority, and maximizing revenue make this the ideal model for large, complex events like air shows.
Choosing between these two options largely depends on your event’s priorities. If simplicity is the main goal and you’re comfortable with a generalist approach, a single vendor may suffice. However, for military air shows ticketing, attendee communication, and revenue maximization are critical. Splitting responsibilities between a specialized ticketing partner and a concessionaire ensures both areas receive the attention and expertise they need. Clearly defining each party’s role guarantees expertise and focus are applied where necessary.
The collaborative approach allows for greater flexibility, technological innovation, and enhanced attendee experience. This is particularly true in areas directly impacting revenue, such as ticket sales and real-time communications during weather-related changes. Ultimately, the slight increase in coordination is offset by the benefits of having true specialists focused on their respective areas.
