Duke of Shomolu and his good problem at Gowon’s showcase.

*How Mudi saved the day at GOWON* We have a unique problem at Duke of Shomolu and it is dt of overflowIts a problem we are determined to solve with strategic intentYday, we suffered an overflow again and the reason is that unlike Bolanle Austen Peters we dont have the retail market share.What we have is what in Investment banking is called Institutional market and ill explainBolanle can do 10days none stop strictly funded by retail ticket sales and that is because she has market share.She also has some Institutional support but from my research-cos i study her intently, most of her funding would be retail market share.Now this allows for planing and a convenient approach to her showsWe on the other hand do not have retail market as we do not focus on that but have a very large share of the instructional marketThis is why you would see over 45 corporate sponsors and a huge catchment of High Networth Individuals who buy bulkWhile this is beautiful, it does not allow for planning as we are not in position to deyermine how they use their slots. So for example, a big sponsor gives u N5m for example and says give me 100 tickets, you knock off 100 seats from the available seats and on day of show three pple appear and you are left with empty seats which is not good for the opticsThis happened with Ladi Kwali when we had 79% empty hallThen again, some institutionals, will pay N5m and collect 100tickets and flood it with 200 attendeesNow if the show cathes fire, you will get calls from top echelon wanting tickets. How do you tell a consistent supporter you have no tickets.One sponsor who bought N2m worth of tickets came on Saturday with the booklet complete, tore her ticket and gave me back 24- Edgar give anybody you wish.If we had knocked off those seats we will have 24 empty seats in the hall.So we manage as best as we can. Our ticket selling platform sold only N400k and if you divide that by N20k Vip, you will get only 20 seats out of a possible 1,200 seats which confirms that we dont have the retail marjet share just yet.What we have is a stronghold on the wholesale market where we are doing far better than most.They buy and in turn push their staff, customers, stakeholders to come see the play.So yesterday, we had a lot of overflow from walk-in people who had heard of the beauty of the show and who came to buy at the gate who now cd not enterTo be honest, we also had some ticket holders who also cdnt enterThis could be explained. For fire risk, we cannot push in more than capacity.Another reason is big corporates who would have shared the tickets but suddenly get last minute requests from their stakeholders and other such critical people, -we cant refuse, will also lead to overflowSad thing is that the ogas who are usually very disciplined would come early while the younger ones holding bonafide tickets would saunter in 30minutes lateYday we had a lot of those, the ogas were comfortably seated at 4pm sharp and the staff and other such came at 4.30 when the show was already half way gonenkeading to an overflow in the first show which will def impact sexond show since they are holding bonafide tickets that we deliberately do not date and time mark. This brings us to another issue. We are a mostly VIP game and as such, we do not peg our tickets with timingsCos you are not going to limit a VIP who had given you 10m but cndt make it by 4pm or his 30 invitees who would call and say – ohh we are running late o and you say sorry.Next time, you wont get d support and Ariiyaticket will still be selling 10tickets and you are toastSo yday, as the crowds remained restive and locked out, Mudi came to meBro, you need to go talk to these people make that Warri thing no happen againThe warri thing was when the great Olu of Warri came and almost all Itsekiri in Lagos trouped out to see their ever popular kingApart from that, his carriage , good looks and regal nature was also a crowd puller and that is how we got a crowd like the ones at Onikan Stadium at the Muson and a little riot on our handsSo i say Mudi, i dey fear. I no go. He says Bro na your brand, you need to go talk to themI say I no go.. Last time I go dem nearly beat me. How do you tell someone who came all the way from Abuja like I learnt some did, that they cannot enter.How do you tell an Ngas man, Gowons tribe man that he cannot enter?I say Mudi no vex I no go. But he was insistent.. One thing a lot of people dont knw is that Mudi is a powerful strategist thats why he has achieved enduring longevity in his spaceHe was the first to do billboards and as such knws the power of a brand and the things that can bring down a brand.He called Yemi Shodimu into the talk and we all agreed that he was correct but nobody agreed to go out and face the crowdThen i saw Ifeanyi the hardworking Production manager. He is 6 feet and bulky, he can withstand blows and slaps and I decided to push himIfeanyi oya you are the PM go outside and meet those ppeIfeanyi, never one to run from challenges said oya and Mudi briefed himGently explain to them, that cos of fire hazard, we can no longer take more.Explain to them the cos of the overflow and ask them to register for a refund or complimentary tickets for KSAIfeanyi went and we dodged incase of a violent backlash. Mudi ran to the toilet, I ran backstage and Yemi went under the stageMiraculously, we saw the crowd form into a clean line to register and from there dispersedAghh I called ifeanyi and asked him what he told them. He said he offered to send the recordings to their email addresses, give them free tickets to KSA and Our Duke Has Gone Mad Again and also give them discounts on all plays going forward as they will form the new supporters club.A few waited to meet with me and Ifeanyi assured me that I woud not be slapped and I came out from hiding to go and hug and discuss with them.I informed them that we were consodering three shows per day for KSA and also adding one more day to our offerings so that we can accommodate every body I thank all supoorters, attendees and Mudi for his courage but most of all I thank the very beautiful people of the overflow who were very well behaved and trusting.They even hugged me when i came out and promised to come back next time, such nice peopleAnd like my sister from Heirs Holdings said to me – Edgar, this is a nice problem to have.I thank you all. *KSA and Our Duke Has Gone Mad Again with a parody of Gov Adeleke is showing this Dec. Get your* *tickets early.* Thank you *Duke of Shomolu*