Miami Nights

Gerry Kelly now works for Karu & Y

I think the all caps method is effective.

Lol ya emphasis huh? Keep in mind the blockquoted is copied directly, I dont edit what was posted by community members.

Well, you wouldn't want to lose the original context, would you?

I'm new to Miami.. Been in Asia for 5 years and missed the growth of the "promoter" (or I was never hip enough to figure it out to begin with). I've asked around and have been thus far unable to determine what exactly a "promoter" is, the source of their compensation and function. Is their task to bring in wealthy clients to indulge in 'bottle service' or do they play a role in the actual design, marketing and business plan of an establishment? Would somebody please elaborate?

In Miami, most clubs are, sadly, driven by promoters. A club itself will do little marketing, or an insignificant share of marketing, and expect anywhere from one to hundreds (300+) promoters to fill the space.

Though promoters are often casually involved in the concept stages of a club, or asked for their input, I am not aware of any promoters that have taken a formal role in the development of a club. The reason is that promoters are a separate business entity, and many jump ship continuously between different venues. Promoters do often give input on the format of a particular night, such as "hey, why don't we do a Tuesday morning afterhours hip hop party with 20% fewer knife fights."

Promoters are paid in a variety of ways. Sometimes, all promoters will split 20% of the bar profits. Other times they are paid a fixed fee, or paid by the head count at the door (which is why they often say "say my name at the door!"). Sometimes the payment is cash, other times its drink tickets or free bottles (this is what a club does to take advantage of dumb people that don't realize that a "$400" bottle is actually $40, so a free bottle is really worth less than three drink tickets, or less if you consider the mandatory tip). Some clubs even have sophisticated life cycle tracking of how much their regular VIPs spend, and the promoter is based on that, like a referral program.

The sad long term impact of this arrangement is that clubs will go from being great to being terrible in four weeks, and the club itself may have little control over that. Powerful but unseemly promoters can trash a club's rep without too much worry for their own, while the club itself will have a hard time clawing back. Promoters, always looking for a newer spot or better deal, give an unending "A.D.D." effect to Miami nightlife. That said, they do their job, and the clubs do usually make a lot of money off of their work.

Interestingly, I've heard that in other cities, the clubs themselves define the nights and handle most of the promotion. Not sure why that never happened in Miami. This "paternalistic" approach makes more sense to me: with promoters, you are endlessly renting out your venue (and, more importantly, your reputation) to a changing stream of uninvested parties.

Thanks for the long and detailed reply!

So, the promoter is the source of the business for a club? The club is like an empty apartment and the promoter like an estate agent bringing clients around? How do promoters become promoters? What is the criteria for such a position?

Also, what the hell is with bottle service? Ok, I'm exceptionally conservative financially but I see all these young'ish individuals spending 3-400$ on a bottle that you rightly point out is worth 30-40$. Why do this? Is it a "look at me" thing or is there an actual utility to this? In truth, most people I've met in Miami who are regular patrons of these establishments aren't what I would consider to be in a financial position to spend that kind of money on an evening out. Is this a credit card driven industry, and if so, we can assume it will evaporate as the financial and economic crises moves on?

Lastly (really, I promise) if one were to try and avoid the bottle service, promoters and the rest but still wants to have a fun, friendly and affordable night out on Miami Beach, where should he go?

The club, of course, will get its own customers without the promoter doing anything. But for whatever reason, Miami nightlife is "tuned" in such a way that people listen more to promoters than the club. It's insane, if you think about it. So you'll have one guy who brings 15 girls and 7 guys and gets a bottle or two for him and his friends. Multiply that by 150, 250, 300, and you have a packed club. Of course there are often single promoters who bring massive crowds too, like Fabian, the SMAC team and Sean Ford's ONS team. Promoters often rely on word of mouth, association ("I worked with so and so at this club, but I'm leaving because..") or some kind of numerical reporting, though the latter is sadly not standardized or even reliable.

The idea behind bottle service is that a 1L bottle of liquor has 32 drinks in it (at one ounce of liquor per drink), so if you split the bottle with a few friends, you would all get really trashed for about $100 each or less. Plus being able to skip the door, have somewhere to sit and chill, waitress to bring you shit, etc. But I think we all know that one bottle really lasts for five to ten drinks (because people pour very liberally when there's a bottle involved).. Also, some percentage bottles that you see people drinking at the club are given away for free because it's cheaper for the club to give away $30 in shitty rotgut liquor at one time and impress the receiver, rather than a dozen drink tickets that could be used for expensive martinis and taking up the bartenders time.

I'm not sure what affect the economy is having on the bottle service business. I would assume that it is going to get pretty rough to sell bottles like that, but last time I went to Set it seemed as busy as ever. I guess someone else would be more able to answer that. I mostly go out downtown where bottle service isn't as important.

My best bets on the beach for a fun, chic, non-bottle service night would be Aerobar, Rokbar, and Bella Rose on Sundays. All of them will charge $10 - $14 per drink, unfortunately, with Bella being on the lower end of the scale. Of course if you want cheap drinks and don't care about kanoodling with models, I'd suggest Purdy Lounge, Zeke, Buck15 and all the other random unique spots you can find on the beach.

-t

Thanks for the long reply, again. Much appreciated.

I've been to a few of those places that you mentioned and Buck15 is actually my favorite place thus far. Very, very fun place.

Thanks again!

impressive feedback, some of you guys actually have the science down packed. Promoters are marketers and hosts in the Miami club scene. Yes we do have a lot of input and in some cases the "power" to make or break a club. Regardless, my goal in this business is to make my guests and bottle clients feel welcomed, taken care of, and most of all to have fun hasslefree.

Once again, I do thank you all for the support that you have given to my venues.

Fabian

Information about Finance, mortgage finace, auto finace, finance corp, promoter, finance careers, finance information, finance job, company finance, finance companies, investment finance etc.

Thanks

Finance promoter

http://www.financepromoters.com/