Spectra has a new logo and Comcast Spectacor lost the hyphen in the rebranding effort.
Comcast Spectacor has announced that its three divisions – Global Spectrum, Ovations Food Services and Paciolan – will operate as Spectra, a singular brand.
Spectra’s three divisions now consist of Venue Management (formerly Global Spectrum), Food Services & Hospitality (formerly Ovations Food Services) and Ticketing & Fan Engagement (formerly Paciolan). Comcast Spectacor’s three primary businesses include the Philadelphia Flyers, the Wells Fargo Center and, now, Spectra. The company is comprised of more than 400 properties internationally and services approximately 300 clients.
“My goal going into this was to see if we could put an umbrella over all of our products and services to make it easier for clients to do business with us,” said Dave Scott, Comcast Spectacor’s president and COO. “Our clients want a unified and seamless approach, whether for a single product line or a bundle.”
It took a year to standardize best practices and processes across consistent platforms. The company also will consolidate its three separate accounting systems into one by the beginning of the next calendar year in an effort to more easily share financial data across all three divisions.
Spectra’s approach to modernizing the details involved in live event management has driven growth in bundled relationships with clients like the Palm Beach (Fla.) Convention Center, which is operated by Spectra Venue Management and supplied by Spectra Food Services & Hospitality. Bundled Spectra services are also supporting the PPLCenter in Allentown, Pa.; Alaska Airlines Arena in Anchorage; Crown Complex in Fayetteville, N.C.; Portland, Maine’s Cross Insurance Arena; and Florida State University’s Tucker Center.
“Even though all three entities operated as different companies in the past, here we still operated with the mentality [that they were one],” said Chris Connolly, general manager of Des Moines’ Iowa Events Center. “To now be able to verbalize that we are one strong brand responsible for all aspects of the facility makes all the sense in the world.”
The Iowa Events Center will be focusing on getting the message out to the community by communicating via e-mail as well as changing signatures, letterhead and uniforms over time.
“We don’t foresee staffing changes, but there will be even more collaboration [between the three divisions] now that we’re one company and one brand,” said Connolly. “The message I delivered to our staff locally is that this transition won’t be as difficult for us here because we’ve already been operating as if we are one entity.”
Connolly predicts the rebranding will be beneficial from a business development perspective.
“When we do business on the convention center or arena side now, it will be as one company, which is a big positive,” said Connolly.
Since the three Spectra divisions have been engaged at the Iowa Events Center, this bundled approach has resulted in a gross convention center revenue increase of up to 64 percent over nine years. Since 2012, the number of events held at the venue has increased 31 percent; online ticketing revenue grew 52 percent and total tickets sold rose 25 percent; and food and beverage revenue increased 63 percent in the arena and 18 percent in the convention center.
To assist with Comcast Spectacor’s employee education process, Philadelphia-based branding agency, 160over90, was brought on board in the early stages of the transition.
“The key was being inclusive from the beginning,” said Scott. “We started with a white board and involved as many people as possible, then continued to keep everyone in the loop, because there is no such thing as too much communication [with these types of changes].”
A two-day Brand Camp was recently held to educate approximately 35 employees from the three Spectra divisions.
“This camp ensured everyone is on the same page and speaking the same language,” said Phil Weinberg, Comcast Spectacor’s executive vice president. “This will provide consistency so we’re creating the feel of one company, which 160over90 is assisting us with.”
Comcast Spectacor also launched a new employee intranet site to better communicate across its three divisions.
“This site is stocked with tools and guidelines for employees to follow on the brand launch,” said Ike Richman, vice president, public relations, at Comcast Spectacor.
In addition, the company’s new SpectraExperiences.com website includes a revised company overview and expanded case studies.
“Venues will see new marketing programs to help customers understand the revenue-enhancing benefits of bundled services, such as more cross-selling and joint-selling of our services,” said Richman.
At press time, the company had begun incorporating two new logos, one each for Comcast Spectacor and Spectra. The Comcast Spectacor logo will remain the same with the exception of a font change on part of the name to better bridge with the Spectra brand.
“We’re being fiscally responsible in how we manage the rebranding and want to work through the inventories we have for a natural transition,” said Scott. “This is a marathon not a sprint, and the changes will take as long as 12 to 24 months to fully implement.”
Interviewed for this article: Chris Connolly, (515) 564-8017; Ike Richman, (215) 389-9552; Dave Scott, (215) 389-9530; Phil Weinberg, (215) 952-5217