Case Study:
A Better Trip Comedy Tour
with Shane Mauss
94 Cities – 80% Sell Out Rate
Overview
The Client: Shane Mauss is an award-winning comedian with 15+ years of headlining experience. His specials can be found on Prime, Showtime, and Netflix – and his science podcast “Here We Are” is available on all streaming platforms.
The Challenge: Shane developed a psychedelic-themed stand up show called “A Better Trip” featuring live visuals by VJ Michael Strauss displayed on a giant screen to punctuate his material. He commissioned BuzzHub to drive ticket sales with a running budget of $3 - $5 dollars per seat to get the job done.
Deliverables:
Pixel Installation & Conversion Event Setup
Conversion API Integration
Landing Page Design (w/ ongoing Converstion Rate Optimization)
Attention-Grabbing Creative (Images, Video, and Copy)
The Result: An 80% Sell-Out rate across 94 cities in 12 months.
Campaign Results
Tickets Sold by City
Key Performance Indicators
12 Months | 94 Cities
80% Sell Out Rate
23,744 Tickets Sold
6.21X ROAS
Top Performing Creative
Sizzle Reel - Vertical Video
Creative Strategy
We knew the best way to move tickets for the event would be to use footage from an actual show to best help people visualize the live show experience. We developed & tested several “Sizzle Reel” videos over the course of the tour, and this was a top performer.
Originally successful on FB/IG feeds as a square video, we adapted this vertical version to run on FB/IG Reels and Tik Tok.
Comedy Central Clip - Vertical Video
Creative Strategy
Our top performing creative for the duration of the tour was simply this animated version of the show poster. Visually, it immediately resonates with psychedelic-friendly audiences – coupled with strong ad copy – driving plenty of qualified traffic to our high-converting Landing Page (see Appendix below).
Notice how the video’s graphic text cycles from CITY to DATE to VENUE … just enough information to make it clear that this is a live event coming soon to a city near you.
Animated Poster - Square Video
Creative Strategy
To ward off ad fatigue, we also leaned into some psychedelic-themed Comedy Central appearances featuring Shane on a show called “Tales From the Trip.” The animated scenes of Shane’s storytelling paired nicely with the theme of his live show.
The vertical adaptation we designed for TikTok & FB/IG Reels utilizes a still-image of Shane’s avatar from the Tour Poster, with graphic text of show info flashing under the main video. It turned out to be a consistent performer in various Tour markets in lieu of having a proper vertical version of the Comedy Central clips.
Appendix
Landing Page Design
LP Strategy
After months of tweaking to improve conversion rates, this was the top performing Landing Page layout.
Above the Fold
City & Date. Without fail, we always found that leading with the City was the most effective way to drive & sustain engagement.
Button Placement
While we experimented several times with placing a “Buy Tickets” button above the fold … we learned that placing it further down below the show description & video trailer actually yielded the best results. Our guess as to why is that it forced a bit more engagement & consideration on LP visitors – which in turn informed the ad delivery algorithm to find more people who converted based on curiosity and discovery.
Additional Content & Press Reviews
Below the fold, we enlisted a few other tactics to pave the runway from consideration to purchase. Shane’s full comedy central videos were embedded to showcase more of his psychedelic-themed storytelling. We also added some pull quotes from various press/media outlets to “prove” the national caliber of the show.
Subscriber Form
For some extra gravy, we included a form to join Shane’s email list – which we employed for both email messaging and custom/lookalike audiences across multiple platforms.
