Rich Lehrfeld
VP Of Global Sponsorship Marketing And Access
American Express
POWER MOVE: Up to 40% of AmEx’s 102 million members have indicated they attend concerts or engage in music; it sold 1.3 million tickets last year.
THE RUNDOWN: American Express sold more than 1.3 million concert tickets in 2012 through deals with Ticketmaster, AEG, the Bowery Presents and other venue partners. While that figure might pale in comparison to rival Citi, it’s just one piece of the much larger music portfolio managed by AmEx’s Rich Lehrfeld.
“Unstaged,” the company’s long-running concert initiative with video site Vevo, had 22 million views in 2012, with fans streaming exclusive live concerts from Usher, Kenny Chesney, Jack White and the Killers. Tallying viewer averages of 26 minutes per person for the entire campaign, the latter three shows also helped the acts sell a combined 10,000 albums through iTunes links on their “Unstaged” pages. This year, a new pact with Brooklyn’s Barclays Center should further boost AmEx’s share of ticketing. There’s still plenty of room for growth — among AmEx’s 102 million card members, 40% have indicated that they attend concerts or otherwise engage in music, giving Lehrfeld an audience of 40 million fans to reach through various distribution outlets (email blasts, mobile apps, social media and a recently launched interactive TV channel in 55 million homes).
“When we sit down with artists, the conversation is, ‘How can we help your business?'” Lehrfeld says. “We want to work with managers and promoters to find new ways to target consumers and find people interested in the artist, as opposed to just mass-blasting certain publications or radio. Digital, social and mobile allows for new ways to target.”