Your Team Wants to Believe in Something Bigger Than Them
The memo I sent my team at Ticketmaster 7 years ago still rings true today.
Context: The following is part of a memo I sent my team at Ticketmaster the week after I took over the product organization in 2016. We were about to undergo a process of transformation that required deciding who we wanted to become as a company and who our primary customers were.
Why we do what we do
“If you’re working on something exciting that you really care about, you don’t have to be pushed. The vision pulls you.” — Steve Jobs
There are two types of companies in this world: business-driven and purpose-driven.
Business-driven companies define themselves by the business they’re in. They innovate incrementally within that vertical, and for the most part, they’re not known to inspire their customers.
On the other hand, purpose-driven companies align themselves with a higher purpose — a vision that transcends financial success. They disrupt other business verticals through innovation. They’re risk-takers with a strong emotional connection to their customers.
The reason I bring this up is that I truly believe that how we choose to define ourselves has a direct impact on how we innovate, grow, and remain relevant. Most importantly, it sets the tone for how we’ll delight and inspire our customers — the fans.
We have a choice to make. We can let the prevailing perception of our company define who we are, or we can define ourselves by something far more inspiring and transcendent.
Take Pepsi, for example.
Pepsi has been a leading soft drink company for many years. They’re in the business of making and selling soft drinks and snacks. That’s the only thing they do. That’s how they define themselves.
Pepsi has innovated in that particular vertical for years — from caffeine-free and diet drinks to non-carbonated beverages. Through acquisitions and mergers, they’ve gone to great lengths to create ecosystems that support and grow their core business.
This type of sustaining innovation is great for incremental growth. Pepsi has done very well for so long, but the company’s growth has slowed down considerably in recent years, with a YoY growth rate of less than 4%. Pepsi is a business-driven company that’s maxing out its potential.
Then there’s Red Bull.
Red Bull might be widely known as an energy drink company, but it’s far more than that. Red Bull has successfully created several companies outside the energy drink space, each with its own business model and P&L.
Red Bull has its very own Formula 1 team that’s been recently sponsored by Infiniti for millions of dollars. It also founded Air Race and Media House, both of which are successful companies in their own right. Red Bull holds its own sports events, focusing on extreme sports like surfing and snowboarding. The company is worth $7.5 billion and was named one of Forbes Magazine’s Most Valuable Brands.
Red Bull was founded in 1987. Pepsi was founded in 1898.
Is Red Bull an energy drink company? Yes. Is Red Bull an action sports company? Yes. Is Red Bull a media company? Yes! So what business is Red Bull in? Red Bull is in the business of helping all of us live our lives to the absolute extreme.
Everything Red Bull does is designed to drive and support its purpose of helping all of us live our lives to the absolute extreme. Red Bull is a purpose-driven company with endless opportunities for growth.
What does that mean for us?
We, too, have a choice to make. We can choose to remain a business-driven company focused just on ticketing. Or we can choose to be a purpose-driven company and focus on a transcendent vision.
I don’t know about you, but I truly believe we can be an inspiring purpose-driven company. We need a calling that gives each and every one of us a reason to wake up in the morning and come to work.
If you ask me if Ticketmaster is a ticketing company, I’d say of course it is. Is Ticketmaster a media company? Yes. Is Ticketmaster a data company? Yes. Is Ticketmaster a tech company? Yes!
So what business is Ticketmaster in? Ticketmaster is in the business of unlocking moments of joy for fans through unforgettable experiences.
From the palpable anticipation that overtakes fans when their favorite artist announces a new tour to the confluence of emotions they feel at the venue when the lights dim and the crowd roars to the afterglow of the experience, these are all moments of joy. These collective moments are what we call the fan journey (click below to enlarge), and they’re all made possible by us.
We don’t build products for fans. We create experiences that delight and inspire them. And to do that successfully, we’ll need our tech, media, data, and ticketing capabilities to work together to drive our purpose forward globally. As we focus on driving toward our purpose, the trappings of success will follow.
My hope is that with this clear and aspirational purpose, you feel inspired to come to work every day like I do, knowing why you’re here and what you’re working towards on a daily basis.
How we do it
“All men can see these tactics whereby I conquer, but what none can see is the strategy out of which victory is evolved.” — Sun Tzu
Our purpose might seem daunting, but it doesn’t have to be. Rome was not built in a day. But with our destination clearly defined, we need to articulate which route will get us there fastest but be adaptable on our the way there.
The first step toward achieving our purpose is knowing our customers better than anyone else. To do so, we need to talk to them. Talk to the fans. Outside our offices. Out on the streets. At the venues. Understand their needs. Their challenges. We need to develop a fan-first mindset rooted in empathy and learning and commit to it.
Everything we do, every decision we make, and every feature we implement has to answer one fundamental question: how does this delight and inspire fans? We’ll need to educate our clients, sponsors, and partners on the power of purpose and help them see that when fans are happy, they win.
Our Strategy
Fan-first mindset: Learn as much as possible about the fans we want to delight and inspire. Understand the target personas, engage them, and measure their NPS. Test new concepts regularly with them through fan-powered events. Empathize with them.
Focus on experience quality: When fans use our products and run into cryptic error messages, dead-ends, or an odd flow that makes no sense, they end up having an unforgettable experience but one of frustration and disappointment. Remember Maya Angelou’s quote, “People will forget what you said and how you said it, but they’ll never forget how you made them feel.” Frustrating experiences trigger emotional reactions that leave an indelible mark in our memory. Quality matters.
Drive internal and external innovation: There are so many exciting opportunities that we can’t possibly deliver on alone. We must actively tap into the incredible creativity and entrepreneurial initiative many external talents have. At every devjam we’ve held, we’ve seen one or two concepts that have the potential to unlock moments of joy for fans along the entire spectrum of their journey. We must leverage this channel better to drive our purpose forward.
With clarity on strategy, we can define what we’re going to do in the short-term and long-term to deliver on our promise. Some of those tactics might not pan out, which is OK. We will evolve and adapt our tactics as we measure and learn along the way. That’s going to be part of our evolution as a learning organization.
Our Rubric
Focus on learning fast through iteration. Perfect is the enemy.
Value experience quality over feature richness.
Let the data inform the way over lead the way.
Design for global and optimize for local.
What we do
“Every little detail plays a part. Having just a vision’s no solution. Everything depends on execution. Putting it together. That’s what counts.” — Stephen Sondheim
This is where the rubber meets the road. With an aspirational purpose and a clear strategy, this should be easier than it has been in the past.
Over the next couple of weeks, we will finalize our short-term tactics and things that need to be done this year, understanding that they will be changing based on what we learn about our fans, what works, and what doesn’t along the way.
I do realize that all of this means change, which is never easy. As exciting as it is, it will also be challenging, and at times, really hard. But if we take care of each other, help one another succeed, and operate as one team–one global team–we will conquer all.
I couldn’t be more stoked to venture onto this new journey with all of you for the fan in all of us. ❤️🚀🎉
Ismail
Epilogue: Four years after that memo went out, the company launched several innovations, including Verified Fan, Smart Queue, The Harry Potter ticketing experience in the US, and many more. Purpose and customer focus pay off in the end.