Marketing lessons from the [Grateful] Dead

Alert readers of this blog and my books will recall that I discuss the Grateful Dead as an example of an organization with great marketing. I'm a fan, having listened to the music since the first live show I went to as a teenager in 1979. I've managed to slip a Grateful Dead reference into each of my five books and usually manage a mention in my speeches.

Counter-culture marketing

The band is a big case study in contrarian marketing. Each of the band's many marketing innovations seems to be based on doing the opposite of what other bands (and record labels) are doing at the time. I really like how the band has cultivated their fan base and I think all organizations can learn from what they do.

Starting in the 1960s, the Grateful Dead encouraged concertgoers to record their live shows, establishing "taper sections" where fans' equipment could be set up for the best sound quality. When nearly every other band said "no" the Grateful Dead created a huge network of people who traded tapes in pre-Internet days. More than 4,000 shows from the band’s 44-year history have been taped.

The band was happy to have Deadheads trade tapes and make copies for friends. The cult of the Grateful Dead concert became a pre-Internet World Wide Rave, driving millions of fans to the band's live shows for over thirty years and generating hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue.

Of course, photography is also encouraged. Take a look at the tickets for other concerts and you’ll see "no cameras or recording equipment" printed on most of them.

The band in 2009

I watched with great interest when the Dead announced a 22-show tour, hitting the road for the first time in five years. (The band dropped the Grateful part of the name when Jerry Garcia died in 1995). What would they do this time?

Of course, I wanted to see the band. So I used the Grateful Dead's own ticketing as I have for nearly 20 years. When most other bands were happy to rely on promoters and the early electronic ticketing services like Ticketron (and later the oline Ticketmaster), the Grateful Dead sold the best seats directly to fans through their own ticketing service.

I got three tickets for the show in Worcester, MA (near my home in Boston) for Saturday night's show so my wife and teenage daughter could attend their first shows. With the band's ticketing service, we sat in the ninth row (I snapped this photo). At the show, I ran into my friends HubSpot CEO Brian Halligan and Overdrive CEO Harry Gold. (Brian and Harry, what is it about the Dead and marketing company CEOs?) I also went to last night’s show, but two nights in a row was too much for my family.

Free club gigs

But I'm getting ahead of myself. In late March, I was in New York City to open the NASDAQ Stock Market with GlobeNewswire when I got an email from the Dead ticketing office asking if I wanted to go to a free Dead show at the Roseland Ballroom in New York that night. Yes, please! The band handed out free tickets to the club gig (and two others the same day) for fans as a way to build buzz for the tour. And of course, I tweeted it. Free stuff sells product.

For the best quality, buy from the band

Even though the band encourages fans to photograph and record the music and trade with others, they record and sell themselves to guarantee fans the best quality.

You can get recordings of any of the tour's shows by buying from the official Dead site as a download or purchasing a CD at the show itself which is available just 15 minutes after the end of the show. The guy next to me said he buys the CD because he wants to re-listen to the show on his three-hour drive back to Vermont. I buy the band’s recordings too, because I appreciate the high quality and professional mixing.

Because each show is different, fans enjoy having dozens or even hundreds of show recordings. In the 2009 concerts, the band has drawn from some 150 songs they had rehearsed in the months leading to the tour. In fact, through the seventh show (that I saw at Worcester), they had yet to repeat a song in concert.

A new innovation on this tour is a partnership with Blurb to offer an official tour book for each show. At each stop on the tour, a collectible book featuring the photography of longtime Grateful Dead photographer Jay Blakesberg is available.

A few days after the show, you go to Blurb.com and place an order. The book will include photos from the show that you attended. You can choose softcover or hardcover and even upload your own cover image. I love it. Even though I snapped my own photos, I'll buy the book because it was my daughter's first show. I'll have a photo of my family taken at the show as the cover of my personal copy of the book.

I find the custom tour book innovative. Instead of producing one book for the entire tour (as most other bands do), the Dead allows fans to create their own custom book.

New fans

Even though many Dead fans are in our 40s like me, having found the band in the 1970s (or original fans from the 1960s who are in their 50s and 60s now), many younger fans are at the live shows. My daughter ran into to people from her High School at the show and learned of several others who went (via Facebook of course). After the show, she posted her own photos onto Facebook and will wear her concert T-shirt when she goes back to school on Monday.

What I learned from the Grateful Dead

1. I learned that even though most of the content in my last several books is available for free on this blog or as one of my free ebooks, people will still pay for premium packaging in the form of my print books.

2. I learned that the more people who know about me, the more live gigs I am asked to do.

3. I learned that it is critical to rehearse for live performances.

4. I learned that an audience wants to feel special and customization of each live performance is essential.

5. And I learned that your most passionate fans are also the best people to tell your stories and spread your ideas. Treat them with care and respect.

What can you learn from the Dead?

Comments

[Scott Clark]

What's perplexing is that the GD phenomenon is so proven yet few bothered to emulate it, thinking, I suppose that it was a "fluke" of some sort ("a bunch of hippies with nothing else to do".) The same attitude is prevalent in business (at least in my SMM work.) In presentations I may refer to ideas from other companies or hand them a copy of your book (or Groundswell) they still often think "well, that was the exception" or "yeah, that works for ____ but they have techies for customers."

Even with the Dead's sweet tunes all over, it's a real challenge getting people to listen to the music!

[Bob Williams]

Compelling post David. While most try to build boundaries and walls to protect their product and content, a few dare to share. Look at the rewards for those who embrace their customers rather than making them jump through hoops. That's true customer focus!

[Richard Reeve]

I've always been intrigued by the spin off culture that emerges in the parking lots and sidewalks around the band on the road. Again, while local zoning might have issue with what unfolds...the band let's it happen.

Something in their posture simply fosters creativity and a grass roots entrepreneurial spirit...they know how to loose control, effectively...

[Amanda]

Very interesting read. There are still 'jam bands' that tour with regularity, allowing taping and photos, but no one has done it like the GD did it. The closest two bands embracing this that I know of are Phish and Widespread Panic. I wish they could take us back to the days of sending in 'orders' for tickets directly to the band, instead of having to go through ticketing services. I have fond memories of decorating the envelopes so they would get 'noticed' and I would get a ticket. Seems like yesterday...

[David Meerman Scott]

Richard - I met a Worcester policeman at the "parking lot scene" last night. He couldn't have been nicer.

Now we're talking a parking lot where thousands of people are selling all kinds of wares in open, drinking is everywhere, there are clouds of sweet smelling smoke swirling around...

He said: "It's illegal to have alcohol in open canisters, it's illegal to sell on the street without a permit, and drugs are illegal. But what am I gonna do? Arrest everyone?"

[Jay Blakesberg]

Hey David,

Thanks for the mention. I wish I had known you were going to be worcester. I would have come by and said Hi.

Best,

Jay Blakesberg
tour photographer - The Dead

[Mike]

Damn fine post and the stuff marketing legends are made of.

Could you do a video, an audio and a t-shirt of the post for me ;-)

Seriously, how can you not love the way they maximize their interaction with their fans and their fans pocketbooks.

[The Divine Miss White]

Good point re. your passionate fans. If they know they are appreciated they will do anything for you.

[SpiritintheVillage]

Grate post David!

I'm always impressed by bands that open up their music. I've been to too many concerts where photos or recording weren't allowed and I've always felt slightly ripped off thinking I missed being able to have a photo or something that would allow me to remember the event.

[Mark Sherrick]

The Grateful Dead realized that people were going to do things that were beyond their control. Rather than stifle their community, they let it grow and support itself and evolve. The kid selling tie dyes in 1972 is probably a marketing officer at some huge corporation right now, using those same ideas to influence his business today. Were the Dead the first to do it? No, but they were and are among the most successful at doing it.

It just goes to show, you gotta step out of the box now and again.

[Rhishja Larson]

Hi David -

Love this post!

Hmm, maybe I'll write off the cost of my Shoreline tickets as "higher education." :)

(Just ordered 2 more of your books - can't wait to read them!!)

[David Meerman Scott]

Rhishia, Good idea. I suspect I may write off my Dead tickets...

[Carl Ribaudo]

I too have long studied their marketing success and have even used them as a case study in graduate marketing classes I have taught.

One interesting note, way before anyone else ever thought of it was the development of their database which was first used to sell tickets and later tickets and merchandising.

My four key elemnets to their marketing success:

1. Brand differentiation- no one had similar graphics and music.
2. Taper sections for mass distribution.
3. Focus on the shows vs. albums so as to provide a unique experience which we have all enjoyed.
4. The Database.

[Atul]

Everything revolves around their respect for the fan (customer)and of course their innovative moves.
Their innovations could have been copied by others but were not. That is a reflection of how stultified the industry was (or is?).

[Scott Brewitt]

I've written several papers on Dead marketing; was at the Worc. shows and interested to see new DSO guitarist at Radio City. [Ironically, old roommate is Phish keyboard player]

The Dead allowed people to be 'part of the whole show' rather than being 'marketed to.' Initially, they let people tapes the show because 'music was free. You can't bottle it and say, This is mine.' [B.Weir] The true marketing genius behind the Dead was its palpable authenticity. Jerry said he did not appear at the Hall of Fame Awards show because; "I wasn't in this to compete for anything." Of course there is speculation whether he could appear but the point is the same.

[David Meerman Scott]

Thanks for your perspective Scott. Are your papers available online?