Every brand I've worked for has been the only one of its kind.
Jaki Ellenby Chief Commercial Officer, ABBA Voyage
Interviewed by Justin Cooke
Published
Jaki Ellenby is Chief Commercial Officer at ABBA Voyage, the technically pioneering concert experience in London that has injected over £2 billion into the UK economy and where 50% of the audience streaming the music in the last year was Gen Z. Her career spans more than three decades across marketing, brand strategy, and commercial leadership in three continents, with brands including Disney (her first marketing role, before Disneyland Paris opened), Cirque du Soleil, Dubai Mall, Yas Island theme parks in Abu Dhabi, and Pampers (Procter & Gamble). She studied international finance and marketing at university and chose the lower-paid but more enjoyable path. In this conversation she sets out the I sell tickets clarity at the heart of her role; the unique, not best differentiation principle Disney taught her; the experience is the story principle for entertainment brands; the fundamentals haven't changed, only the tools have observation on marketing technology; the brand strategy as the only mall that can offer XYZ anti-comparison play she ran at Dubai Mall; the word of mouth amplified by social model for live experience; the don't put things in boxes discipline; the push agencies to push the boundaries discipline learnt at Disney; the we don't tell stories, we create experiences people take stories out of principle; the front-liners are the hardest thing to influence in entertainment observation; and the ask why mentoring instinct her team had printed onto a sign for her.
Unique, not best: the Disney differentiation principle
On what powerful brands do.
I've been fortunate to work for brands that aren't about being the best brand or the best product. They've been the only one. Having a very differentiated offering is the most important thing.
Amusement parks are in a constant contest for the fastest roller-coaster or the highest drop tower. Disney didn't enter the contest. Disney doesn't talk about how fast attractions go; Disney talks about the story. The problem with biggest and fastest: someone else can make it faster or bigger and you're constantly fighting competitors. If you're the only Disney park, you don't have to enter that race.
On the Dubai Mall worked example.
Dubai Mall marketed itself as the largest mall in the world (which it isn't). We started saying we don't want to be the largest mall in the world; we want to be the only mall that can offer XYZ. We brought in brands and concepts that were in no other mall, so we could say only at Dubai Mall. A different way of thinking, rather than comparing ourselves to the mall down the road.
Marketing experiences versus marketing nappies
On the contrast.
If it's all going well and you're selling lots of tickets, it's because the experience is fantastic. If it's not, it's marketing's fault. More seriously: experiences have a built-in story and legacy. You don't have to layer in storytelling so much.
With ABBA Voyage we are one piece of a bigger pie; what we do affects everything else. People are nervous of that responsibility.
On the P&G discipline.
At Procter & Gamble with Pampers (a commodity, nappies), they brought together doctors and specialists, created incredible content, and targeted parents before the baby was born. By the time the baby arrived, the connection was already built. Hard work, requiring a great insight.
Marketing hasn't changed, only the tools have
On the technology change.
The joy of working in experiences: marketing fundamentally hasn't changed. The tools have. Word of mouth might now be called viral, but it's still word of mouth. In experience marketing, word of mouth is the most important piece of the toolbox. New technology gives different ways of getting word of mouth out or amplifying it. People are still the same.
On the agency principle.
At Disney we were always fighting our agencies a little, saying push the boundaries. They didn't, because they were terrified of getting it wrong. Disney is famously protective of its brand. You have to be conscious of that and make sure agencies feel empowered to push the boundaries despite the strength of the brand you're working with.
Experiences that people can get into and take stories out of
On storytelling in entertainment.
Disney is a master storyteller. With Disney, Cirque du Soleil, and ABBA Voyage, you don't layer in the storytelling. The experience is the story.
In entertainment, the emotions are already there. What you do is layer in what other people are feeling. Distil those emotions and play them back.
On the responsibility.
When you're in entertainment, what people give you isn't just money. It's time. 60% of people who come to London to see ABBA Voyage are coming for ABBA Voyage. Picking up, getting on a train or a plane, coming. They're giving you an inordinate amount of time.
People don't share features. They share stories. I brought my daughter to the show, it was her first concert, the sparks in her eyes were amazing. Entertainment brands don't tell stories; we create experiences that people can get into and take stories out of.
Marketing is sales, and the front-liner principle
On the alignment.
My role spans ticketing, partnerships, marketing, and brand strategy. To me it's the same thing. A really good marketing professor drummed it into us: marketing is sales. When someone asks me what I do, I say I sell tickets, because that's what I do.
Marketing and sales have to be in lockstep. Not coordinating between the two; it's the same thing.
On the dancing usher.
The hardest thing to influence in entertainment is the front-liners. Last week, an usher in the corridor was dancing away. He's been there since the beginning. Almost four years of being at the concert every night, having fun, loving it. That makes the story.
The question for the board
If unique beats best, what share of our marketing communicates the dimension nobody else can match versus competes on comparison?
