Friday, May 9, 2008

Coldplay's Deceptive "Free" Concert in Madison Square Garden: Only 3,500 Winners Get A Pair of Tickets.



So...at 4:30 this afternoon I got an email where Coldplay announced the opening of the contest for their "free" concert in Madison Square Garden in New York where ALL the tickets are free. I'm really bothered by how Coldplay handled this announcement. It was certainly easy enough to enter the contest and that went well. UNTIL I READ THE FINE PRINT. Remember I'm an ad guy so I read the fine print. The Madison Square Garden concert only has 7,000 WINNERS (even less, actually, since they're distributed as 3,500 pairs). Shame on you Coldplay. What was originally billed as a "free" concert" (which certainly seemed like all the Garden seats would be given away) has become a show where about a third of the total tickets or so are free (with a 20,000 plus concert capacity). Not a good way to build credibility with your fan base. Would have been like Radiohead (the gold standard of free) saying "name your price" but restricting the pay what you want program for "In Rainbows" to the first 5,000 people. A great chance for terrific communication blown. Wonder how many people will see this, and will it be publicized? Or...is the fine print just an inadvertent error? Or are they only filling 7,000 Garden seats? Brixton doesn't have the same clause? Weigh in Coldplay fans.