CAB prepares for big band blowout

by Andrew Goodell

As the Oct. 17 Nintendo Fusion Tour date draws near, CAB isexperiencing the challenge of promoting an event of its size.

“Any time you go into this size of venture, you’ll have a lot oflittle bumps in the road,” said CAB Director Rich Ramos.

Ramos said there have been no unexpected problems in securingthe Nintendo Fusion Tour’s stop in Indianola. However, there hasbeen considerably more paperwork and phone contacts involved.According to Ramos, there are between 50 and 60 people travelingwith the Nintendo Fusion Tour in addition to the police andparamedic personnel involved.

“Its not the same as CAB putting a band in the gallery,” Ramossaid. “Its not as easy as picking up the phone and saying ‘Hey, doyou want to come play here?’ It just doesn’t work that way.”

The way it does work involves a variety of promotional tactics.CAB placed advertisements for the Nintendo Fusion Tour in theDatebook, Cityview and The Record Herald.

A second way that CAB is actively promoting the upcoming concertis by distributing flyers to Iowa colleges including Central, whohosted the MTV2/Fuse Tour last month.

CAB has also arranged for radio advertisements to air during theweek of Oct. 11 on Des Moines radio stations. CAB chose KKDM “Kiss”107.5 and KAZR “Lazer” 103.3 because the bands set to perform “fallwithin the two genres of those radio stations,” according toRamos.

In the process of placing these radio advertisements, CAB hashad to deal with Clear Channel Media. Ramos said that the largecorporation is playing the role of a middleman when it comes toSimpson’s promotion of the Nintendo Fusion Tour on local radiostations.

Ramos said Clear Channel wasn’t taking a more active role in thepromotion because CAB is more knowledgeable about how to promote acollege concert at Simpson.

“We know the market better than they do,” Ramos said.

Clear Channel has also remained in the background of thepromotion process because Simpson College paid for the radioadvertisements without outside assistance.

According to Ramos, the total cost of promoting and arrangingthe Nintendo Fusion Tour’s performance at Simpson’s Cowles FieldHouse is “a significant amount.” Ramos added, “the amount of moneythe bands are making is their business.”

Ramos said ticket sales were satisfactory two weeks before theshow, despite the fact that the event had not sold out at thattime.

“We’re selling tickets every day,” Ramos said. “We’re movingtickets and that’s a good thing.”

CAB’s involvement with the Nintendo Fusion Tour has been anexercise in its event-planning skills. This type of opportunitydoesn’t present itself often, but the event can earn CAB members awealth of knowledge and experience.