Hey there,

I am after a few ideas on crowd interaction... completely new at it, and have no idea what to say or do. Want to try introduce it into the Hamilton, NZ clubbing scene, as there is hardly any around that do crowd interaction, and I think this might pull some more patrons?

Also, what are other inventive ways of promoting a club, we currently have all the generic ways, fliers, posters, website, radio advertising, mail drops etc... I am sort of after orignal ideas, something that grabs the patrons attention rather then recieving a flier and throwing it out 10 seconds later...

OK, we have a new club in town, that are competing with us, and doing a mighty fine job at it too... but they are being very sly, and basically bag as in thier fliers as , much as they can, and also doing the sly drink price drop... we can match them at all times no matter what they do because we are so well established... but we dont want to keep playing the game of who can do better deals... I want ideas of how to get peoples attention and maken them want to come to our club... I dont know maybe ideas of competitions or something?

Cheers

Chris

The best way is also the most simple way, but probably at the same time also the most expensive ;-)

Just book well known & high quality DJ's & the crowd will know where to go ;-)

I don't know your club, I don't know what DJ's are playing there... But it's the best advice I guess.

But if that isn't an option you can do stuff like free gadgets, ladies entree free before 12 '0' clock or something. The more ladies you get in your club, the better... Women simply attract people :-)

IMO -

The "deals" are not ever going to make or break the crowd. The place is either happening or it's not. Drink specials are put in place to encourage sales from those already in the club, as well as to encourage the speed at the bar, using a particular couple of products. (Quicker to make 1000 slippery nipples than 20 of each of 50 different drinks, etc) Be glad you are running even and haven't lost out to the sway (when everyone goes to one place leaving the other completely out)

Jug is 100% right on the women stipulation. Gear any and all adds, flyers, promos towards the ladies.

But, as an established place, I wouldn't think booking well known players is as important as just maintaining, and spicing up what you already have established. Obviously, a weak DJ will be a bad thing, and I would send spies regularly to compare crowd responses with the competition. I am personally not a fan of the participation nonsense. I think at a club the only thing the dj should say is "last call", and in certain circumstances, "where are all my bisexual ladies" (or some variation). But certainly not running around hollering on the mic all night. The club is a meeting place for most, and a sanctuary for others. There is obviously a reaction when someone goes all crazy with the crowd interaction, but it eventually gets old and annoying.

If it's a hip-hop club, or you play 30% or more hip-hop, a nightly (fri/sat) flow contest is the best thing i've done to hype the crowd. This is because hip-hop is more of an interacting vibe, IMO. You will need to know the "in-crowd" and do the research ahead of time to pull this off. There are plenty of talented MC's around. Avoid the "battle" situation where they go back and forth, as this appeals to the boys more, and can get ugly. Just give each MC up to a minute or so to do their thing (make sure you get a couple ladies up there. Play current instrumentals, and get security beefed up at the "stage" area, as this usually gets downright crazy with a decent crowd. 50-100$ is a good prize, it's more about the pride anyway.

House/Electro crowds do not have this flow phenomena. It's a more isolated thing. E(unfortunately) & Redbull are best complimented with raised dance platforms, and the craziest light show available. I'm a big fan of live video projection, of the actual crowd (not music videos).

I guess just cater well to the crowd you have and just get as many ladies in the door before 11 that you possibly can. Like the pied piper, the men will follow like sheep.

Traditional forms of advertising and deals (flyers and drinks promo's, etc) come a poor second place to getting the basics right, IMHO.

Play good music, don't charge the earth for admission or drinks, have a relaxed door team - but don't let just anybody in. Create the right atmosphere for the right people and the best advertising and promotional device of all time will win the day for you - Word of mouth.

Best of luck.

quote:

Originally posted by Cheebatone:
Traditional forms of advertising and deals (flyers and drinks promo's, etc) come a poor second place to getting the basics right, IMHO.

Play good music, don't charge the earth for admission or drinks, have a relaxed door team - but don't let just anybody in. Create the right atmosphere for the right people and the best advertising and promotional device of all time will win the day for you - Word of mouth.

Best of luck.

Totally agree with you mate.

The only way to fill your club (or any club) to capacity is to fly in Pulse to do his SPIKE-MAN show:

It's true - I do know how to please a crowd.

With Hamilton (and NZ for that matter) being such a small place and living costs rapidly increasing, you could try forming an "alliance" with the competing bar i.e. running events on alternate nights to the other bar, running joint ventures between both bars e.g. one entry for both bars etc.

Alot of promotors/bars/clubs in auckland are doing similar things up here and it seems to be working well.

Of course alot of this depends on both bars target markets e.g. age, music policy, door policy etc. Ladies free and/or a free glass of bubbles for the ladies never goes astray either.

One thing that I have not seen alot of in NZ is video mixing/djing, I can count on one hand the amount of clubs with video mixing facilities...

Leave the crowd interaction to DnB gigs with MCs, I personally find it annoying when a DJ starts blabbering over your favourite track.

quote:

Originally posted by Lyly:
I personally find it annoying when a DJ starts blabbering over your favourite track.

Rule One: NEVER talk over a tune!

I dont know if your club allows theme nights, but they have helped us in the past. Bring back old ideas depending on the age group crowd you are dealing with. Foam parties. White parties, people wearing certain things get in for free. With the economy where it is now, specials are on everyones minds.

As far as national dj acts or guest DJ's, at least here its not really noticed, people just want good mixing, good song choices, and a DJ that has the ability to not play what he wants to hear but rather matches the clubs energy. In other words if they are singing along to every word, your next song shouldnt be a brand new top 40 song no one knows yet, itll kill the flow.

And prize give-aways always get a crowd going. If you can get your most popular on air DJ from your radio station to come down and really get the crowd goin with giveaways, it helps keep your club in the minds of a fun place to go. Its worked for my venue more than a few times.

quote:

Originally posted by Lyly:
With Hamilton (and NZ for that matter) being such a small place and living costs rapidly increasing, you could try forming an "alliance" with the competing bar i.e. running events on alternate nights to the other bar, running joint ventures between both bars e.g. one entry for both bars etc.

Alot of promotors/bars/clubs in auckland are doing similar things up here and it seems to be working well.

Of course alot of this depends on both bars target markets e.g. age, music policy, door policy etc. Ladies free and/or a free glass of bubbles for the ladies never goes astray either.

One thing that I have not seen alot of in NZ is video mixing/djing, I can count on one hand the amount of clubs with video mixing facilities...

Leave the crowd interaction to DnB gigs with MCs, I personally find it annoying when a DJ starts blabbering over your favourite track.

Yep yep thats a great idea, only thing is forming an alliance is pretty hard, the owners hate each other haha... but yea thats a sweet idea.

Im trying to get video into the club, but persueding the owners to get DVJ's is like persuading your nana to come nightclubbing... I do work for a mobile company as well, and we mix full video etc, just waiting patiently on the SVM, currently using V4's...

Regarding live crowd camera on TV's they love it, have since installed a few cameras around the place and yea absolutely love it... Thinking about a hat cam soon enough...

Theme nights, we do every Thursday, checkout www.outback.co.nz to check it out!!!