10 Questions with ... Marcie Allen

BRIEF CAREER SYNOPSIS:

Marcie Allen is President of Nashville-based sponsorship and fulfillment agency MAC Presents. Allen leverages her fifteen years of music industry experience to negotiate high profile sponsorships between the world's leading brands and artists. Emerging as a leader in the world of music sponsorship, Allen was the first ever recipient of the Billboard Magazine Concert Marketing and Promotion Award, for her work on Jeep's sponsorship of Tim McGraw and Faith Hill's Soul2Soul Tour in 2007. MAC Presents coordinated sponsorship fulfillment on the 2008 Tim McGraw "Live Your Voice" tour, sponsored by KC Masterpiece and Kingsford Charcoal, and the 2007 and 2008 BlackBerry Presents John Mayer tour, which netted Allen her second straight Billboard nomination. MAC has produced numerous events across the country, including Vanderbilt's Rites of Spring and Homecoming, the BlackBerry Storm Launch Party with Foo Fighters & Queens of the Stone Age, the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition Launch Party with John Legend, and Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds for Microsoft SAS convention. Most recently, MAC was hired to be the entertainment agency representing Kingsford & KC Masterpiece on their 2009 sponsorship of the Keith Urban tour, which netted Allen her second Billboard Concert Marketing and Promotion Award.

Prior to starting MAC, Allen owned and operated MAD Booking & Events, which booked and produced numerous festivals. Allen's shows included Nashville's Dancin' in the District, Atlanta's On The Bricks, Washington's DC Sessions, and the Memphis Jam. Allen also booked talent for Voodoo Music Festival, which was nominated in 2001 as Pollstar Magazine's Festival of the Year, from 1999 to 2001.

1) You are the third generation of your family to work in entertainment, following your grandfather DJ "Hossman" Bill Allen and your aunt Bebe Evans. Can you tell us about their contributions and how did they inspire you to follow in their footsteps?

Growing up in a family so heavily involved in the music industry had a huge impact on my career. My grandfather was always a hero of mine, and following his career instilled a love of music in me, especially in high school. Though he passed away, I still look to his career for inspiration, and keep a picture of him working at WLAC in my office. My aunt Bebe Evans, touring manager for the Charlie Daniels Band, taught me so much about what it's really like to work in the music industry. She helped me get my first job at Cellar Door in Washington, D.C. That she was able to break into such a male-dominated industry always gave me hope that I would be able to do the same. Having such a supportive and involved family helped me get where I am today.

2) What exactly is MAC Presents and what motivated you to launch the company?

MAC Presents is a sponsorship and fulfillment agency. We work to bring the world's largest brands and music artists together to create one-of-a-kind campaigns that increase brand visibility and drive consumer passion for our clients' products. I founded MAC Presents, which is the second company I started myself, when I realized the then untapped power of integrated artist/brand partnerships. There was a profound niche for music sponsorship within the music industry, but no one had filled it, so I saw my opportunity to be ahead of the curve within this space and MAC was born. I've always had an entrepreneurial spirit and knew this was an opportunity I had to seize.

3) It seems like sponsorships and endorsement deals have become much more popular in recent years. What do you attribute this growth to and do you think there is a saturation point?

Sponsorships, especially among music artists, have definitely grown in popularity in the last five years. IEG Sponsorship Report recently predicted that music sponsorship spending for 2010 would increase by 4.2% from 2009, reaching $1.09 billion in dollars spent, an especially notable feat given both the recession and the current state of the music industry. Personally, I attribute this growth to the realization made by brands that in order to continue to sell products during such a tough economic time and to develop a higher level of brand loyalty, they need to connect with consumers on a more personal level. Because of this, brands are decreasing their spending on traditional advertising. As there are few things people are more passionate about than music, there are also few things better suited for igniting consumer passion.

I don't think there will necessarily be a saturation point. Truly integrated brand/artist partnerships, as opposed to more traditional campaigns that involve little more than a logo on a tour bus, are still relatively new. With new developments in technology and social media on what seems like a daily basis, the sources from which partnerships can draw innovation are endless. Passion for music will also never wane, making it the perfect avenue to connect with a large audience of consumers for any brand.

4) Jeep's sponsorship of Tim McGraw and Faith Hill's Soul2Soul Tour in 2007 seemed like a great match. How did the partnership come about?

The partnership between Tim, Faith and Jeep is such a great story. A MAC employee saw Tim and Faith on Oprah, where they expressed their love for the brand. We pitched the idea to their agency and were able to secure a deal in less than a month for presenting sponsorship of their 2007 tour. Since both Tim and Faith were already avid Jeep fans and had a personal history with the brand, the fit was just very natural and we built the partnership around their story. We were able to use this story in many of our on-site activation elements for the tour, which made it an unusually special experience for concert-goers. The end result was a partnership that really resonated and connected with consumers.

5) You represent brands instead of artists. Why do you choose to make that switch?

As I mentioned before, when I first started my business I was looking to hit an untapped area of the market. I made that same choice when deciding to work directly with brands as opposed to representing artists. There were very few people reaching out to brands and offering to help them navigate the increasingly important music space, so that's what I set out to do. With the MAC team's 40 years of combined music industry experience, we know the ins and outs of the business and can use that knowledge to guide brands who may not have much (or any) experience in the music space. This gives us a unique advantage when it comes to acquiring clients and building partnerships.

6) What do you think the keys to a successful sponsorship partnership are? How do you ensure that both sides are satisfied?

The key to a successful sponsorship is an authentic, natural connection based on a story that needs to be told. If you have an artist representing a product that they've never actually used or don't have a strong connection with, the consumer is going to sense it and your campaign is not going to be effective. When you pair an artist with a brand they know and love, however, the connection and the passion are obvious, and that's how you're able to translate that passion to the consumer. When you have a consumer thinking, "Hey, my favorite artist really loves this product, maybe I should check it out, too," that's the mark of a successful deal, and that's when the relationship transcends being a mere sponsorship to become a true, two-sided partnership. I've also found that both sides of a sponsorship are much more likely to be satisfied with this type of deal: the brand gets the increased visibility and consumer interaction it wants, and the artist is able to promote a brand he/she cares about in a genuine manner. It's about understanding what the brand and the artist each need and devising a partnership that will deliver.

7) You chose to base your company, which works with every genre of music, in Nashville. How do you feel this decision has benefitted your company? Does it bring any challenges? And why did you recently relocate to New York City?

Nashville is an incredible city for music, and not just Country music. Nashville actually has the highest concentration of music industry companies and employees of any city in the country, so the possibilities for making connections are virtually endless. By developing close relationships with agents, managers, artists, and others involved in the industry, we've been able to pitch artists to brand clients that agencies outside of Nashville might not have such direct access to. The incredible number of artists touring through Nashville has also given us an edge at discovering upcoming acts and keeping up with those already established. The only challenge being located in Nashville has brought is that most brands with which we work are headquartered elsewhere, but we've learned how to get past location barriers and have still been able to work with brands all across the country.

I relocated to New York City to be closer to these brands. I spent so much time traveling between New York City and Nashville that it seemed logical to stay in NYC for a while. Now I'm able to take many more meetings with a lot more brands and have expanded MAC's network of current and potential clients.

8) MAC also produces events across the country, including Vanderbilt's Rites of Spring and homecoming show. Please tell us about a couple of your favorite events you have produced over the years.

• Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds for Microsoft SAS Conference 2008
• BlackBerry Storm Launch Party with Foo Fighters and Queens of the Stone Age in 2009
• Chrysler Financial's Country Cares Benefit featuring Carrie Underwood, Martina McBride and LeAnn Rimes in 2005. This one meant a lot to me because we were raising money for the people of New Orleans.

Rites of Spring is also always a fun one for us. Since we began producing the festival a few years back, we've had the opportunity to expand the festival and bring in incredible artists for both Vanderbilt and the city of Nashville to enjoy. The Jay-Z show we booked at Vanderbilt in November 2009, which was voted "Best Concert" by MetroMix readers for 2009, was also a show I consider a huge success.

9) What is the best advice you would give to this year's graduates looking to get their start in Nashville?

Network, network, network. The more people you know, the more likely you are to land that dream job (but understand you might not get that dream job right off the bat- it's baby steps). Go to industry events, go to industry parties, and go to as many shows as possible-you never know who you'll meet there, and the broader your knowledge of artists playing Nashville, the better. Though it's harder to get an internship after you've graduated college, look around anyway. There are more companies out there than you'd think that are willing to take paid interns. Real-world experience, like internships, is the best way to not only figure out what you really want to do, but also to get your name out there and meet more established members of the industry who can help push your career further. Everything you learn along the way will better prepare you for your career down the road.

10) As the President of MAC Presents, I'm sure every work day is different. Can you tell us what you enjoy the most about your career?

At the end of the day, what makes me happiest in my job is knowing that I've helped build authentic partnerships that truly benefit brands and artists. Having brands tell me that a partnership has increased their involvement with consumers is incredibly important to me, as is hearing from an artist manager that a tour we worked on made a difference in that artist's career. I also love being able to produce events that music fans enjoy and talk about months after attending. Times are tough, and music is such a strong emotional outlet for so many people. I'm grateful that I can be a part of keeping that outlet alive. Finally, I have a great team of people working at MAC, and getting to know and work with them is something I really value.

1) What was the first concert you ever attended?

The Jackson 5 Victory Tour in 1984

2) What is the most played song on your iPod right now?

Phoenix's "1901"

3) What is your favorite place to travel and what should we see there?

Kruger National Park in South Africa