Fever’s sales guru on preparing for Caitlin Clark, using data and AI to win over fans

The IBJ Podcast

The Indiana Fever's 2024 season has been transformational for the team on the court, in the box office and in the revenue column, in particular with the advent of two major difference-makers. One, of course, is all-star rookie Caitlin Clark, and the other is the rapidly advancing technology that the sales and marketing teams use to entertain—and retain—ticket holders from the Fever’s sold-out games in Gainbridge Fieldhouse.

Todd Taylor, president of business operations for Pacers Sports & Entertainment, joins the IBJ Podcast this week to detail how the Pacers and Fever are using artificial intelligence and customer data to make potent connections with fans, as well as how the teams expect to be able to use those elements in the future. They can gather data to build customer profiles about attendees and what they enjoy about the experience; customize the communication they receive and when they receive it; and provide personalized offers. In the future, the teams hope to be able recognize where fans are in the fieldhouse at any given time and interact with them digitally. Taylor also explains how PS&E adjusted to the explosion in demand for tickets, how his staff calibrates ticket pricing for a vastly expanded array of options, and how its content creators are feeding the marketing beast.

At the beginning of the conversation, Taylor takes us back to early 2024 as the sales and marketing teams began preparing for the very likely possibility that the Fever would draft Clark. It wasn’t a foregone conclusion, however, and the department needed to consider other scenarios. Of course, ticket demand eventually skyrocketed, leading to three straight weeks of fielding requests for ticket packages. Staffers must remain flexible as the playoffs progress. For example, they won’t know whether there will even be a first-round game in Indy until Wednesday night.

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