Chicago’s Hidden Treasure: Mary Datcher

Chicago’s Hidden Treasure:

Mary Datcher

On the Street Promotions

And

Marketing

Last Thursday, I had the esteemed pleasure of acquiescing an honorary liaison position at Music Industry Workshop (MIW). I am a Grammy Nominated and Award-Winning Producer, Engineer, and Songwriter. MIW sponsored a workshop about street promotions and event planning. The guest speaker of the night was Chicago’s very own, Mary Datcher.

Mary has been crowned the “Queen of Hip Hop Promotions”. Datcher’s speech was exceptionally special to me, because she has sat in promotional meetings with one of my favorite mentors, Russell Simmons. So she had my full attention. The following words best describe her character and abilities.

Principal and founder of On the Street Promotions & Marketing and has 23+ years of experience in the music & entertainment industry.  After holding positions at WGCI FM (Chicago), BMG Distribution, UNI Distribution (Universal Music), Def Jam Music, and Georges Music Room. In 1992 she formed On the Street Promotions and Marketing.  OTSP specializes in executing field and event marketing programs with its primary focus on the music industry.  Within 17 years of the company duration, Ms. Datcher has worked with over 200+ companies, consulting and developing strong street marketing campaigns, producing national and local events, branding lifestyle concepts and music artist development.

In 2000, On the Street Promotions  & Marketing created and executed the Chicago DJ Summit conference that targeted over 500 DJs throughout the Midwest.  In 2004 she launched the successful Core DJ Retreat thus launching the successful Global Mixx Music Retreat every year in Chicago.  Ms. Datcher and her staff has produced several music driven events in the past that have including celebrated industry leaders such as Kanye West, Jaheim, Eve, Chingy, Faith Evans, DJ Tony Touch, KRS-One, Grammy-Award winning artists, Luther Vandross, Common, Naughty By Nature, NBA star Antoine Walker and the list goes on.  With the success of working with incredible talent, Ms. Datcher formed a management agency, Renegade Music Management which developed and assisted the careers of up & coming talent from which included popular on-air personality, DJ Pharris of Power 92 Radio, Frayne and Bobby Lewis (sons of Jazz legend, Ramsey Lewis), Bear Who? And R&B entertainer, Terisa Griffin.

Mary Datcher continues to raise the bar of urban marketing concepts to the next level through her unique & diverse knowledge on various campaigns which includes current clients, Roundtable Records, Author Winkk, Byron Stingily, Bear Who?, Cold City Music, My Naked Soul Productions and Better Love Yourself (NFP). Past clients have included, American Family Insurance, Tanqeray, Baileys, Nike, KBA Marketing/Draft Worldwide, Salem (RJ Reynolds), Seagram Americas, K Cider, Target, Cingular Wireless, UBO, Effen Vodka, Frontline Marketing, ICEE Inspirational and DreamWorks. On the Street Promotions & Marketing, Inc. is currently headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. (On the Street).

Datcher has a no nonsense approach in conducting business. The faint of heart may view her as a strict businesswoman. I have the upmost respect and admiration to her delivery.

Datcher enlightened the crowd with topics and tips:

·      On branding and promoting a company’s logo via various social network sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, Imeem, and Reverbnation.

·      The importance for an artist and its company to stay current with industry trends.

·      The importance of preparation and research.

·      Learn how to cross-market the brands (How to produce events and structure the event).

·      Learn how to deal with the promoters.

·      Understand your base and what your talents are.

·      Don’t waste money on someone else’s talent.

·      First thing is the date. It should not conflict with any other event or venue. It may work against with you

·      Consider the budget.  Venue rental fee, what’s included in that fee (whatever their overhead to cover their staff. Need sound. May have to do a la carte. How many people does venue hold? Start negotiating. (Roughly $1000-$1800). What time does venue close? How much is promo, graphic designers, flyers, and posters, stream team (map out a plan on what area to cover). Sponsor will give me $1000. What is the capacity when will you break even or will you catch a lost? Then what kind of event. That is how your marketing strategy will take place. What the market is looking like? Who is doing what? How do you reel in people with something new and fresh? How do you get in people? This is a dog eat dog world. Concert events are a lot bigger than smaller event. You have to know how to do smaller venues.

·      Know who your target audience is going to be. (DJ Host, Comedian) Then market to that particular crowd. (Secrets-removed-proprietary information). Don’t shoot your credibility. Have the right market team with similar tactics. You have to know your demographics. If you only did radio, you will go broke. Give incentives to your hottest places (hair salon, barber shops, boutique shops)

·      Set aside promos within your budget. Tickets/passes

·      There are 4 mistakes that can be made:   

       a. Timing is very important. (Know the weakest day-Dec 25th or Jan 2nd. Dec 31st is the hottest party day)

       b. Inexperience: not your demographic

       c. Overpaying for talent (the contract stipulates who is going to paid)

       d. Find out if that artist is burnt out in that market.

·      You may need to hire an actual consultant who does this for a living. This business is made up on whom you know. Hire for what you only need. Have budget in place before you bring anyone on.

These are just a few topics discussed. It’s one thing to get the information. Another is to actually organize and put into effect. She gave about a week’s worth of information in just a few hours. If you need additional services or information, please procure Ms. Datcher’s services at chicagocollabo@gmail.com.

References:

Music Industry Workshop. (August, 2011). Retrieved from http://www.miworkshop.com/home.html

On the Street Promotions & Marketing. (August, 2011). Retrieved from http://www.onthestreetpromo.com/principal#!__principal 


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