• Problem solving, bands and an ugly brown van

    Posted on March 31st, 2010 by and currently 2 commenting.

    Todd Hansen and Scott Miller of Better Than The Van

    The amount of noise marketers confront the public with is astounding – thousands of messages per day – and now, in any flavor of media you can imagine. It seems that we’ve somehow created more problems than we knew we had and the products to provide a solution for each of them.

    And I think that’s why it’s so refreshing to see creative people meet real marketplace needs in innovative ways.

    Enter Todd Hansen, Scott Miller, basic economics, an ugly brown van and a so-simple-it’s-brilliant idea.

    Todd and Scott are both musicians with lots of experience on the road. They’ve been in bands and on tour, so they know the ins-and-outs of gigs, venues, travel and trying to fit sleep somewhere into the low-budget tangle of town-to-town live music.

    The number one thing prohibiting bands from going on tour is the cost of lodging, and securing lodging. You can always make enough at the door and at the merch table to cover gas and a couple burgers on the way, but if you’re in the middle of no-where and the only thing there is a Motel 6 and it’s kind of creepy to be sleeping in your van, you have to pony-up $50 [for a hotel room]. If you do that 2 or 3 nights, or have to do it every night, you’re out a hundred, two hundred bucks pretty quick. — Todd and Scott

    It is very common for bands on a budget to stay with people they might know (or even fans) while they’re on tour, especially in close-by cities. Lots of music fans are open to bands crashing at their place. Many times, though, as Todd says, when playing in new places, “a lot of bands do find a Wal-Mart parking lot and sleep in the van.” Which, as you know if you’ve ever slept in your car before, get’s pretty old after 10 minutes. Imagine two-weeks in a van.

    So, instead of bearing under the basic economic barriers to band lodging, they decided to fight it – not just for themselves – but for any struggling band wanting to take their live show beyond the borders of their home town.

    The result of their effort? Better Than The Van (BTTV). A website where music lovers, fans, etc. can sign up as hosts for bands playing in their city. Bands sign up to connect with hosts and secure free places to stay along their tour.

    In marketer-blog-speak, Todd and Scott added ‘aggregated structure to an already organically occurring process.’ They took a common, incredibly helpful activity and made it available and easy for any band, in any city where there’s a BTTV host.

    And bands aren’t the only ones who benefit.

    You can eliminate the cost of lodging from the tour and that can be a perk for booking agents or band managers who have a limited budget per band but want to secure a good six-week tour. –Scott

    We LOVE simple, creative problem solving like BTTV that meets real needs in the marketplace. What’s more, Todd and Scott are true kindred spirits, taking the online connections that betterthanthevan.com fosters offline, where users can meet each other face-to-face.

    We’re doing a happy-hour every six-weeks, which helps take the online connection offline, where people are actually getting together and meeting BTTV users, Better Than The Van hosts, and giving them a forum where they can meet in person, and also get to see some really cool live, local music. (The latest offline effort included giving away an ugly brown van packed with gear to a lucky winner attending SXSW.) –Scott

    Apparently we’re not the only ones who love them, either. They’ve gotten looks from Wired, ABC News and the New York Times Freakonomics blog, along with a slot on a panel at SXSW Music.

    Long live simple, creative innovation. Hats off, Todd and Scott.

  • http://www.abundatrade.com Tracy

    Not only were fans already hosting bands on their own but there are already sites that allow travelers to connect with strangers willing to host them. (couchsurfing.org and hospitalityclub.org, among others.)

    But BTTV narrowed the focus one step further, which gives them much better leverage for offering their advertisers a niche market. And that’s what makes the difference between successful entrepreneurs and us mere mortal working stiffs ;-)

  • http://brainsonfire.com Eric

    Tracy –

    Great point. I’ve had several friends use couchsurfing.org and have loved it’s utility. Also, wonderful point about narrowed focus – BTTV definitely made a forum for connection that was for a specific type of traveler. Like you said, advertisers and sponsors alike love a narrowly focused group – and it’s a more streamlined experience for users because it caters to their specific need.

    Thanks for the thoughts! (I’m heading back to mere mortal-dom with you…)