By Natasha T. Brown
Inauguration weekend brings lots of people to the city and several parties to choose from. In the party spirit, this week I took a look at the nightlife industry, which would be nothing without promoters who are dedicated to attracting paying crowds, week after week in an oftentimes dog-eat-dog industry where winning is a must. The average person who only sees the final product, a packed or empty club, may not realize the thought process and ingredients promoters put into winning.
There are rewards to promoting, which include the overwhelming high of being architects of an entire city’s entertainment – knowing the smiles seen in Facebook albums, on Instagram after a party, and in Twitter avatars, are the result of your great work and superb promotions.
The challenges, and grimy parts of the promoting business are the obstacles that are thrown in the way of those who are winning to hinder their success. Oftentimes, it comes from within when two or more promotional companies collaborate on events – and one party doesn’t do their part, but still wants the pay-off. People’s dedication and skills don’t always match up.
Everyone wants to win, but not everyone has figured out the winning ingredients to profit in an oversaturated industry where the originators and newcomers battle for the same crowds night after night.
Winning Ingredient #1 – Consistency/Name Recognition
“I can promote anything. I am a people mobilizer; I can do a bar mitzvah,” said Dre All Day in the Paint, with just a tad bit of sarcasm.
If you know entertainment in the DMV, you know Promoter and Host Dre All Day in the Paint of Allday Ent. He is credited with creating the term “DMV” to describe the rap-entertainment industry, helped build the bridge between underground rap artists and mainstream nightlife, mainly by proving that clubs and promoters could get paid by attaching recording artists to their events. He has attracted large crowds to a variety of events since the mid ‘90s. Dre may host a national act such as Pastor Troy or Nicki Minaj on a Saturday night, an open mic on a Monday, The Stadium Club on a Tuesday – then rock a go-go the following day. Dre All Day has been affiliated with go-go and the Backyard Band for two decades, has dabbled in radio and promotes music. He also ensures that his face is seen at events all around the city each night.
Winning ingredients? Dre All Day’s consistency keeps him relevant.
Winning Ingredient #2 – Creating a Niche
“I always wanted to do something different other than the weekly promoter… to be a trendsetter, with different concepts. I'm not afraid to go against the grain to try something new, to see if it will work.”
-Wylie Kynard (The WK&F Group, formerly Wylie K. & Friends)
This DMV-based events and promotions company has figured out how to get their audience to travel with them.
The WK& F Group is best known for its annual Miami Takeover (MTO) event, which attracts hundreds of DMV residents to Miami each July. The success of the event can be told by its retention rate, which averages 60 percent from year-to-year.
“Our niche is group travel entertainment. We do a good job at out of town events, as well as unique events,” Kynard said referring to MTO, events at NBA All-star Weekend, the CIAA Basketball tournament, Redskins season kick-off group travel programs, and more.
The WK&F Group builds their seasonal events for several months in advance through targeted messages, email marketing, and by ensuring that they always facilitate fun and memorable experiences. Because of their travel niche, the group has been able to separate themselves from the growing community of weekly promoters, and thus create a lasting impression with their audience.
Winning Ingredient #3 – An Accountable Team
“We’ve had the most successful shows out of any of the other promoters,” said DJ Daisy Dukes, who operates The Republic promotional group with her fiancé Darnell Walcott. “He is the operations person – and I’m operational in the sense that I make all the decisions. I do the interviews, decision-making and decide where we’re going. Darnell moves forth with the marketing plan, and we work with my cousin Kay Carter, who handles the street team.”
The Republic runs consistent international nights at Fur Nightclub on Thursdays and Fridays and also at Ibiza. Walcott is a promotions manager at Ibiza Nightclub. DJ Daisy Dukes, who is a model and member of the world’s largest DJ network, Core DJs, spins at M.I.A. Lounge on Sundays.
“Darnell already had a foundation here and was working for another company and I was traveling as a DJ. Him working so hard for other people and being the ‘work horse’ made us want to start our own company,” she added.
No one person within The Republic does something that is in the next person’s department. By remaining true to this team structure, the group says that it’s able to sell various services to clubs, from deluxe packages that encompasse managing the entire entertainment and promotional aspects of a particular night or A la carte packages for DJing, social media/street team promoting.
Winning Ingredient #4 – Getting the Money Right
From bottles, to tables, door pricing, talent fees, happy hour specials, security, and more – if you are a true promoter who actually makes 100% on each dollar spent such as those previously mentioned, and you oversee multiple levels of the entertainment experience such as The WK&F Group, YOU MUST KNOW HOW TO MAKE MONEY.
“You outlay all of your expenses first and see what your budget is. Every club, bottle, table is different. You have to put it in a spreadsheet to see what your budget is for a venue, entertainment and security,” Kynard said. “Then you say, ‘I need 400 people at this price and 100 people at this price to make it a profitable event.’ Put it this way—you can't put Keith Sweat in a venue that can only hold 100 people. Your capacity numbers have to match with your budget.”
Winning Ingredient #5 – Maturation
Once you’ve been in the promotional game for a while, to remain winning, you have to grow with your client base and the ever-changing climate of nightlife and factors that drive promotions – such as audience interests, change in venue management, costs for services and products and the evolution of marketing via social media.
“I’ve seen nightlife evolve with age, because people aren’t going to do the same things that they did when they were 18 as they do when they’re 21 and 25,” said DJ Daisy Dukes who has worked in promotions for 10 years. “You get people going from wanting to get in the clubs for free to party (at 18) to people who want to buy tables and pop bottles. I’ve seen my team mature with time [and our audience’s] age and income.”
Dre All Day who started out in the go-go and indie rap worlds, says he’s seen those demographics start from a position of having virtually no organized rap opportunities in clubs besides those provided by hip-hop purists such DJ RBI and Enoch 7th Prophet, to rappers now having opportunities in major DC clubs.
“Now rappers hosting and performing at clubs has become more acceptable. It took a long time, but when other promoters saw that they could make money off of it, they tried to get into it as well,” he added.
As for his own maturation, Dre has a new venture – 780 Marketing, which will provide marketing, branding, promotion, management, public relations for artists. He too has a team and combined with his niche expertise, they will work to take artists from the DMV to main stage.
The next time you attend a party or event, consider the promotions team behind it and if you have a great experience, support the folks who put the event together. A promoter can never have too much support!
Follow the promoters: @AllDayinDaPaint @WylieK, @DJDaisyDukes, @DarnellMVP, @Kay_Carter on Twitter.
Natasha Brown is a writer and founding communications strategist of Think Brown INK, a creative think tank and strategic communications agency in the Washington area. Follow her on Twitter @NBrownINK or @TBINatasha or her company @ThinkBrownINK.