Live Entertainment Budgets for Resorts, Theme Parks and Cruise Lines

Let’s face it, your success depends on how well you manage your live entertainment budgets. Efficient spending requires experience and knowledge.

When you are given the task of designing entertainment, first you look at physical assets, venues, demographics, and lastly the budget. Putting the budget first would kill creativity. Once you have killer ideas then you make sure the money you have is enough to cover your wild ideas.

There is a good chance you can succeed with the budget you are given if you watch out for below listed potential situations:

Not understanding the audience:

Not understanding your audience can cost you a lot of money. You need to be in sync with your audience. You have to bring fresh entertainment options and these new ideas sometimes work and sometimes don’t. It does not matter how many years of experience you have, sometimes you will fail in capturing audiences’ expectations. Studying your audience’s reactions to your already established entertainment offerings is a good way to start analyzing.

Not understanding the target audience:

Sometimes you have an audience but it’s not necessarily the right audience for your company’s long-term goals. If your company is going through a change of branding they will ask you to adjust your offerings for the new target audience. It will be painful to change the habits of old demographics but eventually, it will work out. I worked for organizations where we had mostly retired guests but corporate wanted to shift their brand to a more hip and younger audience. You need to spend your money accordingly and have a long-term vision.

Overspending or working with the wrong vendor:

If you do not have in house production teams you rely on outside production companies and vendors. If you are not familiar with the market sometimes you could end up with high costs. Also, on the contrary, you could find a cheaper vendor who does not understand your request and wastes your time and budget. A good relationship with the right vendor is absolutely vital.

 Working with pre-approved vendors and turning down better more qualified vendors:

In some companies, red tape is the word and complicated procedures limit your possibilities. Once a vendor is approved procurement department is hesitant to allow new vendors to come in and bid. The lengthy approval process adds to the production timeline and you end up working with the only approved vendor who is sometimes underqualified or too busy to deliver. In many cases, these approved vendors go straight to the actual vendors you wanted to work with.

Change of creative direction:

This is inevitable and you need to be flexible as long as it does not affect quality. It is ok to change the direction of the creative concept and you need to allow your creative teams to adjust the shows as long as it does not break the bank.

Not detailing out the brief and keeping the contract vague:

Your contract with vendors needs to be very detailed. Communication needs to be in official emails and every detail of the approval process needs to be outlined. Failure in doing so will cause your company to lose money and also your reputation will be on the line. It is for both parties’ best interest to specify every single deliverable down to the smallest details.

Not enough research prior to the launch of large scale entertainment offerings:

You need a lot for research and data when you are about to spend a large amount on one single entertainment offering. Usually, your contract has to be approved months in advance. These major concerts and high-caliber shows can be very risky as I have seen last-minute cancellations resulting in the loss of millions. Finding the right artist for your demographics is crucial. Looking at the fan base on social media is always a good indication of helping you decide if a particular artist will work with your audience or not.

Frequent senior leadership change:

Every leadership change comes in with small shifts in brand positioning. You could be working months on a single project and after all the approvals and money spent a new senior executive could come in and change it all over.

Bumped up production costs:

Sometimes vendor anticipates a margin of negotiations and adds to the quote. You need to ask for a detailed quotation to understand exactly what you are paying for.

How to spend wisely:

Understand demographics and design your entertainment offerings accordingly:

Whether it’s an event calendar, a concert, a major production show, or a street show, design it right!

Research industry and stay at the forefront of innovation:

Entertainment is changing and with today’s social media your audience can see what your competition is offering. You need to match and surpass your competition. If your competition has a higher budget you need to clearly differentiate yourself from the pack with creative works and style.

Stay away from cliché easy shortcuts:

Go for the big bang. Don’t waste your time and money on safe options. Push your creative teams and let them bring new ideas. Sometimes no show is better than a bad show.

Go straight to talent through one agency and cut multiple managers and agencies:

Finding your talent through agencies is an industry-standard and it’s perfectly fine. The problem starts when you are paying to multiple agencies and actual talent is making very little of that money. Cutting down on the number of agencies involved will reduce your cost.

Hire the best talent and remember it’s not about quantity it’s about quality:

I recently watched a show with over 200 performers on the stage but none of them could properly dance or act. Using performers as statues just to fill the stage as set pieces are a total waste. It’s a waste of talent and also a waste of years of education for these performers.

Go for punch! Effective entertainment is what you need:

Don’t waste your budget on soft! Get the most out of your talent. Get the most out of your event. Get your marketing team to use every moment to bring the flow to your casino, to your theme park through your entertainment offerings. Use social media and go for instagrammeable moments.

Plan your budget right:

Accept the fact that there is no such thing as the perfect budget. Sometimes you have leftovers and sometimes you go over your budget. Sometimes in the middle of the year, your allocated budget is cut because of another department’s needs. These scenarios are happening to all of us. Having a detailed, well-planned budget can help you deliver great entertainment regardless of any unexpected situations.

My 2 cents’ worth:

In my early days, I made many mistakes in budget management and each mistake taught me lessons on budget management. Budget requires many years of experience and strong industry knowledge. Sometimes you visit a theme park or a resort and you can spot wasted money on wrong entertainment offerings. This comes in as costumes, lights, sound equipment, manpower, wrong talent, or simply as a bad show.

Don’t spend your budget on ineffective entertainment offerings. If it’s a concert go for bang, If it’s a production show go for the most innovative, if it’s a street show in a theme park go for the punchiest option. Your audience is much smarter than you think and they can see shortcuts. They won’t be fooled by expected entertainment. They want the most out of their ticket and they will compare you to your competition. In the long run, inefficient entertainment will cost you loss of ticket sales and loss of revenue. As an entertainment leader, you need to put your eggs in the right basket.

Find the right vendors to work with. Make sure your vendor understands your vision and choose the most innovative production company. You want to work with dreamers. Sometimes most experienced is not the most innovative. Give a chance to new upcoming vendors/production companies and open their way.

 Use your budget right!

Also by Sinan Ulucay:

What Is So Great about Pre-Openings?

Brand Activation through Live Entertainment Experiences

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