How Does It Feel to Solve Problems For A GLOBAL COMPANY?
Do you remember what your high school was like?
You wake up early in the morning and go to school, get good grades, learn, talk about girls lol, etc. These things are important, but I personally don’t like to play the game of normal high school.
I’ve realized that I could do more than that.
In my senior year, I’d often skip school in the afternoon and take the 1:13 pm Eastbound train to New York City, and that’s where I hustled for all kinds of opportunities — business conferences, hackathons, and tech events. Most importantly, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to impact the business of a BILLION DOLLAR company as a business consultant.
A Quick Summary
Building a 40-slide recommendation deck for the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY has had the greatest impact upon my approach to tackling problems as a team. With a group of four, our goal was to increase ticket sales and revenue by driving more fans to live events. I reached out and interviewed people ranging from artists, designers, and fans to experts in banking, blockchain, and sports management. By doing data mining, interviewing, and case studies, we’ve developed a subscription-based business model and points-based award program for both concerts and sporting events exclusively at the Barclays Center.
Before we dive into my project, you might be thinking at this point: “what does this guy know? Why should I read his article?” So allow me to introduce myself.
I’m Wilson Huang, an 18-year-old serial entrepreneur.
I am blessed with the opportunity to pursue a mix of professional interests as I strive to become better — as a serial entrepreneur, CEO, and film producer. I started my first business — ‘Chef Wil’ at the age of 15. ‘Chef Wil’ is designed to promote goodwill through the use of food. The project hopes to achieve this by strengthening, respecting, and appreciating both people and their cultures around the world. The idea for this project originates from the need to reconnect teenagers with each other and less with gadgets and technology. As the program grew, I’ve fundraised two thousand dollars through different platforms and marketed my program in different regions. Many of my friends are inspired by this and have started to cook during their spare time, becoming a hot topic of discussion amongst their family and friends.
Two years ago, I co-founded a media production company TD Studio and developed a unique and cost-effective model that helps the individual learner to achieve efficiencies in learning by aggregating, filtering, and organizing existing online resources into study plans that best fit the learning patterns of learners. In the end, we were able to help by donating all our profit — over $3000 — to a local middle school in the rural area of Southern China.
Currently, I am researching Brain-Computer Interfaces and its impact on healthcare and human intelligence. I co-founded Mindset with Sabeeh Hassany in which we aim to increase human capacity through Brain-Computer Interfaces technology. Our startup was incubated from The Knowledge Society, a youth accelerator that is an Olympic training ground for the next generation of CEOs.
Additionally, I have received certificates and awards from MIT LaunchX, Babson College, and Microsoft. I am fortunate to be encouraged to take risks and get my crazy ideas out into the world and start testing it. Nine times out of ten, it won’t work. I fail all the time. The things I could never have imagined would go wrong, will most certainly go wrong. I deeply believe that everybody is an expert in something, and I strongly encourage everyone to “be different, not just be better”. Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. You somehow already know what you truly want to become. So explore, try different things, take risks, be ambitious, and you’ll figure it out!
Now, back to my project with the Barclays Center!
About BSE Global:
BSE Global develops and operates state-of-the-art venues and manages premier sports franchises, delivering dynamic content and experiences for audiences. BSE Global manages and operates Barclays Center, the Brooklyn Nets, its NBA G League team, the Long Island Nets, and its NBA 2K League affiliate, NetsGC. The company also includes the WNBA’s New York Liberty. Through programming, marketing, sales, and operations, BSE delivers dynamic content and experiences for audiences. Barclays Center hosts hundreds of events each year, and inevitably there are some that don’t sell out. Selling that unsold inventory is an opportunity, along with increasing the average turnout of fans for Nets games and attracting big-nake artists for live shows.
Joseph C Tsai (蔡崇信) purchased a 49% stake in the Nets from Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov. In September 2019, he officially became the owner of the Brooklyn Nets and chairman of Barclays Center. Mr. Tsai is a Taiwanese-born billionaire businessman and philanthropist who is the co-founder and executive vice-chairman of Alibaba Group.
Problems:
In an increasingly digital world, venues face the challenge of incentivizing fans to attend live events. Now, they have an opportunity to leverage emerging technologies to market to their target audiences, maximize efficiency, and reduce waste.
Before we could come up with an innovative solution, we had to determine the root causes of their problem.
Three Key Obstacles:
- Marketing
How can the Barclays Center improve its marketing ROAs by selling more tickets to their events through more efficient channels? What are some of the new strategies that might use technology to improve marketing?
2. Fan Experience
Many fans are watching events from home rather than attending in-person. BSE can only change that by improving the fan experience before, during, and after the live events to make sure that fans have a memorable experience and are incentivized to return.
3. Competition
Barclays competes with 3 venues and the 4th opening in 2021. The Nets compete for the attention of fans surrounded by name-brand sports teams. Barclays needs to become NYC’s go-to arena for concerts and sports games.
Challenge: HOW CAN BSE INCREASE TICKET SALES AND REVENUE BY DRIVING MORE FANS TO LIVE EVENTS?
With a group of four, our task was to provide a recommendation deck on how BSE can increase ticket sales and revenue by driving more fans to live events. We’ve classified the problems into two parts: poor customer loyalty program and high ticket prices. By creating a people-oriented program, we will build up the Barclays community by introducing incentive and loyalty programs with AI and Blockchain technologies.
“95% of survey participants said that an incentive program would influence them to buy more tickets and attend more games.
(The data is generated from surveying people at the game)
Season Tickets vs. Subscription
Season Tickets are Costly
Season Ticket prices are seen as unaffordable as they average from $55 to $85 per game, which totals out to thousands of dollars for all of the games in the season.
“Nets Ticket prices alone have gone up 32% during the 2019–2020 preseason period, which affects the average ticket price per game for season tickets.
On the other hand, the subscription program offers rewards for an annual fee that is more affordable, and beneficial to all fans alike.
Point-Based System
#1 Purchasing the Subscription Package
The customer pays for the package of their choice and instantly gains access to the point system, including all the benefits associated with their package.
#2 Purchases Generate Points
By linking their credit card to the Barclays App, all purchases made within the Barclays Center, including all ticket purchases, generate points for the customer automatically.
#3 Points = Rewards
Customers can use points to gain discounts on all of their Barclays related purchases, in turn giving them greater incentive to attend live events.
Spending Nets Points
#1 Concession Stands and Merchandise
Nets Points can be used at concession stands to purchase food, drinks, merchandise, and more, allowing customers to save money on expensive food.
#2 Discounts for Tickets
Nets Points can be used to partially or fully pay for tickets, giving customers a greater incentive to return to Barclays for live events.
#3 Two Cents Per Point
When using points to pay for a ticket, each point equates to a two-cent discount on the ticket.
#4 Three Cents Per Point
When using points to pay for food and merchandise at Barclays, each point equates to a three-cent discount on the price.
Silver Package ($100 annual fee)
Benefits for the silver package include the first stage of the point-based system, offering the customer the normal amount of points per purchase made in regards to the Barclays Center. Silver package members have a chance at seat upgrades, and a chance to have access to the Loyalty Section (a section of the Barclays Center will be dedicated to Loyalty members. This allows die-hard fans to come together and socialize, making the overall experience more memorable).
Gold Package ($250 annual fee)
Benefits for the Gold Package include an instant 2500 points and a 2x multiplier to the point-based system. Gold members have a higher chance at seat upgrades as well as a higher chance of obtaining access to the Loyalty Section. A MetroCard pass is also provided on the day of the game the customer is attending.
Diamond Package ($500 annual fee)
Benefits for the Diamond Package include an instant 5000 points and the opportunity to make 3x more points than normal. Diamond members also gain exclusive access to the Loyalty Lounge, a specified seating area at the Barclays Stadium. The Diamond Package also grants priority customer service along with the highest chance for seat upgrades. An exclusive reward of the Diamond Package involves using the Blockchain algorithm to directly connect the user to their personalized preferences of teams and artists alike. Additionally, a MetroCard pass comes along with the Diamond Package on the day of the game the customer is attending in order to maximize the customer experience.
Using AI to Determine Prices
Customers can have custom season ticket plans based on their preference of events. After answering a short questionnaire, our machine learning model suggests different season ticket packages at various prices to best satisfy the customer. Once the customer subscribes to their preferred package, a seat is secured in advance at all the included events for that customer.
Using Blockchain to Collect Data
- Users are asked to give permission to scan their phones.
- Information is collected from target locations in their phones
- The data is automatically analyzed by the built-in algorithm.
Why is Blockchain better than AWS?
AWS, while being efficient in data gathering and organization, centralizes all data to a server, allowing data to potentially be stolen without the knowledge of the user
Blockchain does not centralize the data and only gives the cumulative consensus of the data to the company instead of the data of each specific user.
Using Blockchain to Connect Artists with Their Fans Directly
ArtNation allowed artists to create their own tokens and reward them to their most loyal fans. These tokens can then be exchanged for exclusive content, tickets to live shows, and merchandise. The additional possibility of these tokens is the ability to give fans a share of royalties in songs or albums, therefore, turning fans into promoters!
Takeaways:
I have worked on several projects with my peers. In the process, I have learned to appreciate the effort that is required to achieve a collective objective, regardless of the outcome. Lessons learned include an understanding that sometimes motivation is not enough, and that the more challenging the project, the greater the difficulty in engaging each player to work as one well-coordinated team. In the process, each member grows through the need to overcome obstacles in communication, dealing with crises, and building trust.
As an elder member with experience in marketing, I took on the role of a project manager. To achieve unity in purpose, it was important to achieve consensus on the value of teamwork more than winning the competition for the best project. In sharing my values and experiences with them, they became more aligned and recognized that their biggest enemy or competitor is always themselves; the more you compare yourself to other people, the more you outsource your thinking to someone else by using their analogies, conventions, and possibilities. (Check out First Principles) Our more collaborative experience has reinforced my understanding of the importance of encouragement and empowerment as a group leader. It has also shaped my belief that sometimes mental alignment is more important than “physical alignment” or the pairing of team member skills. The spirit of collaboration will foster healthy competition.
This pivotal collaborative experience has better equipped me to deal with crises, either personal or circumstantial and to negotiate consensus on process and objectives. In the end, we were able to originate and develop a subscription-based business model and a points-based award program for both concerts and sporting events exclusively at the Barclays Center. Building relationships with others through encouragement and empowerment has been a successful strategy, allowing us to appreciate everything that goes into a group project.
Contact Me
In case you want to contact me for any reason (questions, comments, business inquiries, or just to get in touch), feel free to send me a message via wilsonhuang@mindsetcorp.tech or my LinkedIn.
