Gardner, W., Week 3

As we have made it over half-way through the term, we have taken looks into a variety of industries that fall under the entertainment, media, and sports categories. With each trip and learning experience, I find myself becoming more sure that this is an industry I want to get into after college. The trips during Week 3 were both experiences that I will never forget and am looking forward to our remaining trips.
Last Friday, we visited the Clemens Center in Elmira, which hosts a variety of events in the arts. The variety of plays, musicals, and dance performances this venue holds allows for market segmentation based on the target audiences for each performance. I really enjoyed this trip and hearing about the role market research plays in reaching potential ticket-buyers for the events held in the Clemens Center each year. This was also my first time at the Clemens Center, so getting to finally see the inside of this historic building was great.

This week's speaker, Professor John Kelly, did a great job of diving into deeper details regarding marketing the entertainment arts such as theatre and musicals.

This Tuesday, we traveled to Rochester, NY and visited with Tipping Point Communications, a marketing agency that primarily works with companies in the greater-Buffalo and Rochester areas. This was a great experience, not just because of the free Red Bull, but because this was one of my first looks inside a real marketing agency and how they utilize technology to record and analyze metrics. Everyone we spoke with was very knowledgable and informative, which made the experience that much better.

Later that day, we traveled further West to Buffalo, NY to the KeyBank Center, where we met with Pegula Sports & Entertainment. This has easily been my favorite trip thus far because as a Western New Yorker, I have been a fan of Buffalo sports teams for as long as I can remember. While I have been to this arena many times in my life under the many names it has had over the years, this was my first time getting the exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the venue. It was breathtaking to be able to go into the locker rooms as well as down where the team benches would be on the ice. Everyone was very informative and I will never forget this experience. This experience reminded me that I might not have to move across the country to get into the sports and entertainment industry like I have been thinking in recent years and that I might just have to move an hour North from my hometown.