Nightclub Party Industry Trends: The VIP Trick

Every company's primary goal (or at least one of them) is to make a profit. It's just a given and accepted fact. How they go about it is a different story.

Given this universal need and also, the economical necessity to encourage general commerce and individually, generate sales, we as consumers are for the most part aware that companies all use different strategies to accomplish this financial goal, some of them, which are occasionally misleading to us, the consumers.

Some commercial business categories tend to mislead through such factors as false advertising, small print disclaimers and other such ways they've discovered to legally skirt around delivering us the straightforward truth.

One industry where this intent to mislead as a method to boost sales is extremely prevalent is in the Entertainment industry. As a professional Special Events Coordinator with several years of experience in and exposure to the most raw, gritty and glamorous alike ways of nightclub events in particular, I have witnessed many near unbelievable examples of this.

Despite mixed feelings about my indirect participation in these sneaky activities at times, I must admit that the actual execution of them and the resulting customer response can be quite amazing to watch.

One misleading sales strategy that seems to be quite common in the Entertainment and specifically event and party promotions world is the VIP Trick. The VIP Trick, as I have vaguely termed it, is a rather brilliant misleading sales strategy that uses nothing more than a little flattery to lure in hoards of enthusiastic customers.

The basics of the VIP Trick area s follows:

*(Note that while this VIP Trick is used widely across the entire spectrum of the Entertainment industry, in varying forms, the instances I am referring to in this context are the tactics used to draw in a crowd for nightclub parties and events. It should also be understood that times where the VIP Trick is employed, it is primarily the nightclub event affiliated independent promoters who orchestrate the whole thing, not the nightclub management or owners. They (the latter) just collect the money that is so swiftly generated.)

Nightclubs typically have different themes (Mardi Gras Tuesday) or "nights", as they are referred to, where a certain genre of music is played each week. For instance, Fridays may be Techno, Saturdays Eighties Night and Sunday, Latin Music Night. Each night has its own designated group of promoters who work for the club with the job of drawing in a crowd for their night(s).

You have more than likely seen the colorful advertisements in the form of fliers hung up around your city's commercial strip or downtown area. Or you maybe have been emailed a flier online.

As you might have noticed, often times these advertising promo fliers offer some sort of special VIP bonus if you fulfill a certain requirement. The special opportunity and contingencies around it obviously differ within each party or event but some of the common VIP specials include things like: VIP access to balcony if you arrive before 11pm; Or bring three people before 12am and get a free bottle of champagne; Or, bring this VIP flier to the door and get liquor shots for $1 each.

Do any of these types of VIP event features sound familiar to you? If they do you might be thinking the event you attended didn't use misleading sales tactics because you followed the requirements and got your VIP bonuses as promised.

Ah yes, and you very likely did. But here comes the catch. You see, you and your friends probably didn't notice this because you weren't at the door examining every bouncer-club goer transaction that went on the whole evening but I wouldn't be surprised if some of these VIP specials you were offered were available to anyone who attended the event, no matter what time they showed up.

The way this misleading sales strategy works so well is because by throwing the word VIP on their promo advertisements and fliers, they cater to that part of all of us that wants to be special. Unique. Exclusive. Great things are associated with the term VIP. Also, not only does the acronym leap off the page to your eyes at a first glance upon the promo flier, but it additionally renders the special event, whatever it may be, a more valuable option for club goers that are weighing their entertainment options for the evening.

Along with the subtle flattery this misleading sales strategy distributes, the VIP term gives the impression that you will be given something for that special event alone that not just anyone is permitted to have. It is so understandable why this move works if you just consider for a moment human nature.

Don't you love to be one of the important people in a crowd? Don't you love to feel like because of who you are or even just because you did something like come early or wear red, bring three people, etc you will be treated extra special. And finally, don't you love to be the person in your social network that not only knows about and has the access to this VIP status but also the power to let your other friends in on the deal as well? Of course you do, who wouldn't?

And for the record, there probably are undoubtedly clubs or special event venues where VIP status means delivering something different than general admission. But usually this case is easily marked by such obvious differences as higher entry fee or something like that. But speaking generally, and of course solely from my own experience in the nightclub promotions special event industry it is very often the case that the VIP flag upon the mass distributed promo fliers is nothing but an ingenious misleading sales strategy to further ensure that the event achieves a large turnout.

Consider this technique from a promoter's perspective. Okay so the promoter makes most of his or her money by how many people show up to the night and sometimes they even get paid by head count. So their objective is clear.

Now for a second think about another fact of human nature: The tendency, especially for the decisions that are not all that important in the entire scheme of their life to think very short term. This, in other words, a choice involving where to go out Friday evening can change almost momentarily between various options. The outcome of one group of party goers entire night can rely on influences as simple as feeling tired to as sudden as the access to new information.

A group of club goers could be on their very way out to given Club X for their night and perhaps then see a flyer for something better, more conveniently located, or for less money. Just like that, Club X is forgotten. And this happens, which promoters know. So if you were a promoter and your weekly income relied on the night's head count, what might you do to help guarantee a good one? Here's an idea:

Target your desired audience with promotional flyer ads, highlight the coolest features of the event, add the keyword VIP to the scenario to make those features a one time opportunity and then imply that those benefits are only available if they show up very early. (Note: Early as in, before they can change their mind). Even better, suggest each person show up with three guests to further increase the likelihood of their attendance.

This is just the pre-night part of it until the event starts. Then you will deliver the VIP features as promised, only instead of charging extra for club goers to get them, you slickly and silently offer those generous bonuses to all of the guests in attendance because nothing of what you are offering requires extra funds or labor. And since the average club goer does not know that, voila, there you have crowds flocking to your door feeling extra important and not just ready to live it up at this once in a lifetime VIP event hosted by your club but ready to do so early in the evening while they'll be there to spend more money. The bar does well, management is happy and you, the hotshot promoter go home with a giant wad of cash. Make sense?

Try this technique at your own moral risk. It really does work.