Any artist can announce their tour on Facebook or via a press release from their label. But right now only Miley Cyrus has the zeitgeist juice to do an unannounced walk-on during the "Saturday Night Live" monologue to let fans know that she's hitting the road to promote her "Bangerz" album.
The 38-date North American tour kicks off on Valentine's Day (Feb. 14) at Vancouver's Pepsi Live @ Rogers Arena, bringing the "Wrecking Ball" singer back to U.S. and Canadian stages for the first time since her 2009 Wonder World tour. The "Bangerz" outing will also include stops at the Tacoma Dome, Anaheim's Honda Center, the SAP Center in San Jose and Allstate Arena in Chicago.
After making her name as a child star with her Hannah Montana character, Cyrus has taken things in a decidedly more adult direction with "Bangerz," whose promotion has included her raunchy, instantly famous performance at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards and a series of headlines for her barely-there outfits and onstage antics.
So, how do you market a tour from an artist who has graduated from tween cutie to twerk queen?" It's definitely about trying to get the right media mix," said Michelle St. John, SVP of National Marketing for tour promoter Live Nation. "She's got 34 million friends on her Facebook page, and her Twitter is through the roof. She's talking directly to those younger people, but there are more than just young people on a Facebook page with that many followers."
St. John pointed to the cross-format success of the emotional ballad "Wrecking Ball" as the key to Cyrus' wide demographic appeal. "That song took it to a whole other level," she said. "Women who are up to 40 love it and are interested and maybe they're taking their young daughters [to the show] or going with their girlfriends."
In order to get the word out, St. John said LN is hitting a variety of radio formats that are playing "Ball," as well as a mix of TV shows and networks that appeal to the singer's wide demo, from the "Real Housewives" franchise to MTV, "Good Morning America," "The Today Show" and "The View."
"You have to hit moms who are getting kids ready for school," she said. In the digital age, LN is bypassing print ads almost entirely, focusing instead on real-time Facebook buys that target people coming to the company's page looking for Cyrus information. "We follow that person and start feeding them ads and showing them the amazing promotional videos Miley did for the tour."
Tickets for the tour went on sale on Nov. 16, with American Express card members getting an early shot on Nov. 12. Prices range from $41.50-$91.50, with a variety of VIP packages that include reserved seats along the catwalk, photo ops, preshow drinks in the Bangerz Ballroom and gift bags.
One way to get early buy-in was through a series of Facebook events that allowed fans who signed up to get preferred access to tickets for the tour. While the practice is pretty standard for LN tours, Miley's over 100,000 RSVPs, St. John said, was "by far" the most they've ever received. Part of the reason was because the hands-on singer got very involved in the tour roll out.
"She really worked well with us," St. John said. "When she was on 'SNL' and announced the tour that was the first time an artist has ever done that and it came two weeks after she was the host and musical performer. When she went back and did that walk-on it was awesome. As a concert promoter that's a dream come true." The surprise tour announce was hooked up through Cyrus' management team and LN was prepared for the deluge of interest once it happened.
"Her social team and mine were watching it happen and the second she said the words I texted them and we immediately popped up the Facebook RSVP page on our Live Nation site and on her Facebook," she said of the coordinated strike, which also included tweets from Cyrus about the RSVP code for presale tickets.
The tour will play 10,000-13,000-capacity arenas and St. John is expecting sell-out or near sell-out business across the line for what she predicted would be one of LN's most successful tours in 2014. When it hits Washington's Tacoma Dome for its second date on Feb. 16, booking manager Tom Alexander said his building will be ready for whatever Cyrus brings.
"We are very excited that she's starting up here and, being the Tacoma Dome, we have the ability to expand capacity as the show builds so we can maximize everyone's gross," he said, anticipating that final sales will come in at north of 16,000 for the 21,000-seat venue.
"She's got several hot singles right now… and talent beyond the initial media blast," said Alexander. "And, because of the size of our building and our rigging grid we can give them plenty of options that early in the tour to work with the production. They can work out any kinks in our building." The Tacoma Dome's versatile front-to-back grid can handle well above 140,000 pounds, which Alexander said would allow Cyrus' production designers to try things out on the second date and make adjustments as needed.
While LN is handling the marketing of the show, the Tacoma Dome will keep the word out there on the street, literally, but continually plugging the gig on the huge digital marquee on the side of the building that faces Interstate 5.
Though St. John didn't yet have the specs on what Miley's staging would look like, she said to expect multiple levels and a production that extends beyond the performance space. "She talked about making her shows an experience from the second you walk in," she said. "You can expect things to be happening in the lobbies and concourses that you don't normally see."
Whatever that is, you can assume Cyrus was heavily involved in its execution. St. John said in all her years in the business, Miley is one of the most involved artists she's worked with, drilling down to details like the look of the print ads, the creative on the radio spots and storyboarding and filming the three promotional TV ads herself with her director.
As for how you sell tickets to an act that used to appeal to tween girls and now makes headlines by smoking pot on stage and humping fellow pop stars, St. John said you don't hunt the past. "No one is chasing after the Hannah Montana kids," she said. "Those were her fans and either they still are or they're not. The success she's had on this new album and the buzz and what's going on socially on her channels shows she still has fans in addition to those who are with her now."
LN will keep those new and old fans engaged by taking its database of RSVPs and Cyrus' social database and encouraging engagement in phases following the on-sale. "We'll evaluate sales at that point and then in markets where we might need more attention we'll work with her for special promotions, flyways, cool meet and greets and day of show experiences that we can work on with local radio and TV stations."
Contacted for this story: Michelle St. John, (713) 693-2925; Tom Alexander, (818) 929-3497