A Venue That Serves Everyone Keeps Drawing Crowds for Years

Pullman Yards is one of the most unique and dynamic event venues in the country. It has everything. 100 years of history, it is a beacon to the local community, and right now it's seeing close to 8,000 people per day for a balloon museum. Naki and Stephanie are there to make sure events and client experience are top-notch and particularly excited to test the venue out at full capacity for the upcoming 420 Fest. Hear their story and more on this week's episode of the Marketing MadMen. As a quick note, 420 Fest has switched to a free ticket model. So get online and get your tickets for free now. They say marketing is a madman's game. So now we turn it over to the Marketing MadMen with Nick Constantino and Trip Jobe.

Happy Saturday. Welcome to the Marketing MadMen, Trip Jobe and Nick Constantino here live from the Battery. And it is spring and it is festival season. I'm so excited.

One of my favorite things on Earth since I was 16 when I went to Woodstock, and it just was all downhill from there.

I think I'm going to do an age check here.

I was 16, about 17. I cannot tell you the con job that I had to pull my parents to have them allow me to go to Woodstock. And let me tell you, I thought I was a mature 16 year old. Holy crap. I was blown away by what the things that I saw at Woodstock.

First of all, I was like, '99? Scarred you for life?

Oh, it didn't scar me. It didn't scar me. But when the first thing you realize is that it is a 24-hour festival with Fatboy Slim doing a rave in any hour, there's not music going. It is. But anyway, let's transition. Yeah, so I think we're talking about two different things that I personally have passion for. One is event space. because that has drastically changed in events itself. And then also festivals. So how do those two come together? Well, we have Naki and Stephanie here from Pullman Yards who pretty much decided they were going to get in the festival game also and now have a co-collaborating on SweetWater 420 Fest. So how you guys doing?

We're doing great. Thanks for having us.

Yeah, thank you. Thank you for being here. Well, let's set the table for a lot of people who probably still haven't been to Pullman Yards yet. Set Pullman Yards up because it is quite a unique venue. I've had the pleasure of being there a couple of times and set up, let's start with what that part of town used to look like, because I think some context helps and then what it's morphed into and how Pullman plays into all that.

Sure. So Pullman Yards is a 27 acre historic district. We have nine different venue spaces all restored to historic accuracy. So what you get when you come to one of our events is something that you're not going to see anywhere else in the city. We host a variety of exhibits and experiences, concerts, festivals, anything from something like a two-day festival like SweetWater 420 or Highball to a high-end gala to a presidential visit. So really kind of, and at the same time, what's going on the other side of the site is a whole experience like the Balloon Museum or Stranger Things or Bridgerton Experience. So we're doing a lot of different things now. It started off as a manufacturing and a manufacturing company called Pratt Engineering. And they developed and patented a liquid carbonated gas that was then bought by the Coca-Cola Company. It turned into a train repair yard in the 1920s.

You still got some remnants of the tracks.

We have all the remnants. You know, all the train tracks are still there. A lot of times when we do concerts and shows, the guys are rigging off of the original cranes that used to pick up the train cars. And you see that throughout the entire site, just little glimpses of history at every visit.

I find it fascinating that time feels like it goes so quickly, and then you look back and it feels like it was so long ago, but you're talking what, 50 years ago, 60 years ago?

No, this is like 1900s is when it was first built. 1920s is when the Pullman company took over the site.

So they were using it 100 years ago. They were using this fully active. There was no city around that. You had to be relatively rural to have the ability to bring train tracks in and out. And then you fast forward now and it is the densely populated part of the urban area of the city. Yeah, it's just crazy to think. Yeah, it's only like 20 years before you went to Woodstock.

I wish I was there in the 60s, man. I wish to see Santana and Jimi Hendrix play on LSD in their little thing. But anyway, I digress. So now we're in the world where I was lucky. I was there for the opening of the Van Gogh exhibit, which was one of the earliest ones. I got to see.

The first.

Was it the first?

It was the first and it's the first time that the site was open to the public.

Oh, that's pretty cool. I was there the first day of the first time it was open. I didn't even know that. Look at that. And then some Fan Controlled Football stuff we did with our sister station, 680 The Fan. So talk about some of the different events you have. Let's go in a little bit more detail, just set up because again, the immersive experiences and some of those things are again, It's changed. Events aren't now just put a stage up in there. It's the lighting and the immersion and the 3D goggles and just set up what an event is like because I think it'll help set the stakes of what we're talking about.

Well, I think instead of 1 particular event, let's think about anything that could go on at Pullman Yards at any given day. Aside from event spaces, we also have a pickleball court that at times turns into a roller skating rink. We have three different restaurant concepts on site. We have a fire pit. We have a frozen lemonade machine. We've got roller skating truck where you can skates out, and that's just in the front part.

And I'm curious, was that?

Just events, that's tourists, that's you know, people in Atlanta that, it's neighborhood too. You know, if all family comes in or someone comes in from out of town, where do I go? What I haven't done so far, right? I've done Centennial, you know, what else can I do?

Was it set up to be that way? Was like the vision like, oh, we want roller skating, or was it like, let's make a blank canvas and let it evolve and mature as we go?

Well, I think the vision was always to be an arts and entertainment cultural district. So I think, yes, all of those things are part, food is a part of culture, roller skating, there's a whole culture built around that. When you look at the different experiences that we bring in, they're very artistically done. They're all well done productions.

It's an urban center. You're in a big city. You need a cultural, you need this to be done the right way. We're not in some little small town. This is part of the cultural revolution of Atlanta. To be a part of that, you have to play with the big boys. It has to be part of that. So I'm curious. I have to imagine with all the permits and the all it took years to build this and plan this. I have to imagine that the decade or so when this started being planning, that area looked very different than it does now. The whole area around it is evolved. I mean, you drive down and how quickly it's changed I moved here 10 years ago and that was still right on the edge of the part town that you didn't want to go to and it was growing around it. But now, I mean, you walk down and it is literally like walking dogs down the street, picket fences, all the houses are redone. It's just crazy. So as that was being master planned and everything, I have to imagine the neighborhood kind of grew around it. And now you can really become part of the neighborhood.

Yeah. So I think that we are in a lot of ways growing with the neighborhood. Van Gogh was in 2020, 2021, I believe, and that was the first time it was really open to the site. The site was purchased in 2017. So yes, a lot of years to restore the buildings and the 1900s, 1920s, there's like some remediation things that have to happen before you can be open to the public. But I think at this point, as Kirkwood and the surrounding neighborhoods are growing, so is Pullman Yards. We just finished restoring the last building that can be used as a venue space or an event space in September of last year. So now as more and more buildings have become available, we've been able to expand the diversity of the events and the scale of the events that we can do, hence moving into festivals that can host 10, 20, 30,000 people.

So structurally, you're kind of built out?

That's pretty much it. All of the spaces that will be used for event spaces that exist on the site right now are done. I mean, there are some like future plans for things, but to be continued and maybe another show day.

What I love, again, why I ask about the community, because for these kind of venues to exceed, the community has to embrace it with open arms, right? One, the music's loud. Are they going to complain that the music's too loud? Like you have to be part of that community. And I think one of the cool things you guys built is it could be multiple things to multiple people. You could have a 30,000 person venue while you're still doing your arts and your entertainment and having somewhere for the locals. I think it's essential. You cannot open a venue like that and have the community be standoffish towards it. It just will never work that way. So I think that is one of the most important things. And I think based on what I've seen and what you're saying, you've done a good job of mending to both parts to the community that's going to be there and then bringing people from out of town because, you know, it's a tight area. It's not easy to park. There's not a lot of area for parking. All the people are [bleep] because that's that parking spot that they have every day for their house. And all of a sudden they don't get it because of an event. So, you know, talk a little bit about that.

Yeah, I think Stephanie, you know, as client experience director, I mean, how do you think about that? How do you, know, think about the location and making the most of it.

The interesting thing is I kind of have two different perspectives because as you and I were talking about earlier, I used to work for a company called Fever. And Fever is known, well, Fever started as a data company, but it's known for these very large immersive experiences they do with large partners like Netflix and Warner Brothers. So when we were looking at sites in and around Atlanta, Pullman really was known and is still known as the space to do immersive. You know, you made a comment earlier about how events have changed and you really have people are really craving experiences as their event. You want to bring them into a world. And the cool thing with Pullman is they've emerged as that space in Atlanta. Like that's really what they were known for. Now there's so many other things going on there. Naki has really started all of these great markets on weekends. So now they're known for these markets. They just did a chef's market and they do an Asian night market and Mercado. And so it's very culturally diverse and they really do speak to how Atlanta has evolved and how that neighborhood has evolved.

But that's the key you said, because the immersive gimmick wears off, right? If you're just leaning on that too much, it becomes very gimmicky. So the fact that you have this whole art and culture and food hub built around it means, again, it could be everything to everybody because not everybody cares for it to be immersive. So people are like, look, I've seen the real paintings. I don't need the immersion. So people just they think differently. So most people rest on their laurels. They do one thing and that becomes the gimmick. And it sounds like you've expanded out of that and you realize that it just takes more to be successful in this kind of town.

Well, and the interesting thing with Pullman too, when I was there with Fever, one of the things, aside from the fact that the spaces are beautiful, that really made me a fan of the venue is the owners, Adam and Maureen, have phenomenal vision. And that's really what they lead with. They really can look at the site and think about the surrounding area and the city and think about what can we do best with this site to help it embrace all the things that are happening. I mean, we have the balloon museum there now with, 7, 8,000 people coming through on a weekend.

And let's talk about that after the break. Those numbers are astonishing.

But then they had a chef's market also going on.

So, and there's a film crew filming in one of the buildings in the back.

We're about to go to break, but let's talk about that, because it's just those numbers are astounding to me. Just how many people and how, because you have to be an efficient venue. I mean, I've seen, you've seen concert venues, 3, 4,000 be a capacity and be a disaster, getting in and out of doing 8,000 people for balloons is crazy.

Yeah, so what, you know, just maybe last year, what were the total number of visitors that you had?

I'm not sure exact number of last year, but I know beginning of last year we were like at over 2 million. So take into account that we were doing Stranger Things last year. We did multiple events that brought 5,000 people out.

And you have so many things going on at the same time. You're just double that too.

And there are movies that film there too. TV shows.

A lot going on. When we come back from the break, I do want to kind of dive into that because there's so many event spaces that really just want to have a niche and that's all they want to do. And I think it's unique that you're taking that broader approach. So when we come back, we'll dive into that. And we're speaking with Naki and Stephanie at Pullman Yards. And you're listening to the Marketing MadMen on Xtra 106.3. We'll be right back.

Now back to the Marketing MadMen on Xtra 106.3 FM.

Welcome back to the Marketing MadMen. Trip Jobe and Nick Constantino here with our guests, Naki and Stephanie from Pullman Yards. And right before the break, we were talking, you've brought 2 million people already through.

Yeah, over 2 million at this point, for sure. Yeah.

You're doing some just really neat things. So I mean, how do you think about that? What's the, you know, we're talking about the balloon museum. Give us a, you know, a view of the capacity, what you're seeing, and how that may be different from other parts of your experiences.

Yeah, so I mean, the Balloon Museum is wildly popular. We didn't even anticipate it.

The look of surprise on your face for a second there.

I was very surprised when we got the notice on, you know, I think it was like a Thursday, you know, before the weekend that they opened. that it was like 4,000 and then all of a sudden it was at 8,000 people plus on the first day that they were open. We were like, oh, okay. And we anticipated, week by week, maybe this would go down, but it hasn't. It hasn't gone down. And oddly enough, we were able to have the finale of So You Think You Can Dance with Natasha Bedingfield there, film in the back of the site. at the same time that we had a very high profile event going on the other side of the site while the balloon museum was going on, while the restaurants were operating. And somehow we have really pulled it off and we're very proud of that.

How do you work out about marketing?

Oh, Steph, I'm gonna let you take this one.

I mean, honestly, so that experience is owned by a company called Luxe Holdings. We don't really have insight deeply into their marketing plan. Obviously, they're doing a ton of social because I even get hit with those ads on social. The interesting thing, though, in terms of their strategy, they start out of the gate with, you can sign up for a wait list, which a lot of people do, but if you sign up for their wait list, you get 50% off tickets. So it's a really great way, especially in Atlanta, where people kind of wait to see if people like it, especially for these types of immersive experiences. You're attracting people from outside the perimeter, from what I like to call drive markets within two and three hours of the city. They're not familiar. They don't know where they're going. But if you offer this great deal, they're going to take their family and come to Atlanta for the day, for the weekend. And I think that's really, no pun intended, paid off for them.

Does the community around you, does the city of Atlanta, realize that that's happening because everyone wants commerce and people coming in and you are sparking that commerce and people coming in and tax dollars because no one's coming in and leaving. You just drove 2 hours, you're not leaving. You know, you're going down to some of the areas around it and Kirkwood and Old Fourth Ward and all these places to go eat and enjoy, which is just great for the city. So do you feel that the community around you realizes that that's happening now and did they at first or is it's kind of a gradual thing that they're starting to realize that?

I mean, I think anytime that you have a business like this and you're growing and the community's growing, it's, you're constantly, the relationships are constantly evolving. So it's constantly working with the neighborhood. I mean, the venue Pullman has really good relationships with the city, constant communication with the city, with APD. So, you know, none of it's secret. They always know ahead of time what's going on. And we're always working with them on street plans and, you know, parking plans and all that stuff.

The police on your side when you're driving such commerce, right? It's a little easier to get the city on your side when you're like, Oh, look at our numbers. All of a sudden, you got thousands of people coming in from out of town for this attraction.

Yeah, well, we also have a good, like, our head of security is an APD homicide detective at this point. He's grad, you know, moved up. So, and he's been with us since, like, the beginning. Before I, Stephanie and I, you know, started working with them. So I think it's a very important part of our business.

And so, they want to be involved to make sure it's the best it can be as it grows and that it works well for the city and the neighborhood.

It's one thing to do a balloon museum and have 8,000 people come in on day one. It's a different thing to have those 8,000 people move in and out easily when they spend hard-earned money to be in there, have a good experience, park, all those things, and then continually sell it out with good reviews, which leads me to believe that the logistics are set up correctly and that these things have been thought through. And it's probably been a process, right, as you go. But it's a good segue to talking about now you're getting in the event, the co-producing event space. And the first event, SweetWater 420, is a great example. So I have to imagine, because you have such sound logistics for these events and you're doing 8,000 people, that you're much more confident to take on some of these bigger things and these festivals. And there's a lot of moving parts of any kind of festival.

And you're not just tiptoeing in.

Well, that's not tiptoeing in. Whenever you're dealing with a festival like that and I'm throwing air quotes out like that, where people's operational capacity is impaired, let's leave it at that. You have to be engaging in it. So talk about how that partnership came about and how instead of just hosting it, now you're co-producing it because I think the delineation is important.

Well, basically SweetWater came to us and was looking for a space to host the festival. And that's kind of like where, like that was ground zero for this all. And then we've just continued to talk through hosting the event over months.

Yeah, I mean, so it's an iconic event in Atlanta and Pullman was really happy to host an event of that scale, especially since previously they had hosted Highball and that was really well received. And so certainly there was an interest in potentially hosting some more festivals moving forward. So when the SweetWater conversation happened, I think it was really perfect timing in terms of exactly what we were talking about. Like how do we continue to expand culturally and from an arts perspective to really kind of fit in with all the things that are happening in Atlanta? And for SweetWater, you know, they had stopped the festival during the pandemic. And we're kind of looking for a way to not rebrand it, but kind of get it back to the scope and scale that it had been before.

Yeah, so that's a great time. Let's talk about some headliners here because let's, because I think it's easier to set up who's coming when you announce or to say who the headliners are, who the bands are. So give us an idea of who's coming and then how much people, how many people you expect to have over the two days.

I mean, so our headliners Slightly Stoopid and Beck, really Slightly Stoopid's that iconic like 420 SweetWater band. And then Beck is just something to kind of like broaden the scope of like the people that we are reaching in the demographic and just kind of keep everything fresh. And I think that was one of the big goals for this year's festival is to kind of expand and create more diversity,

But diversity also coming in the band. I remember Black Pumas, you said.

I love Black Pumas.

You have a diversity of artists, and I think that also represents Atlanta, right? I mean, when the diversity of what the city has changed so much and what it's known for has changed so much, and I think one of the things for people listening that are not from here when they come to Atlanta, like, Oh my goodness, like they say Buford Highway, like that's not what I was expecting. I get it all the time, because you know I'm a Yankee. They think nothing anywhere else in the world exists. They're like, oh, it's outside New York. Oh, there's no one there. There's no diversity there. And then you come and you're like, no, this is as diverse of a place as you could possibly imagine in the world and the cuisine and, you know, large populations of different ethnic groups and everything. So I think, again, that's matching the community in which you're at. How many people are you guys expecting over the two days?

I mean, you know. We can guess. It's okay.

Yeah. that's the right number too. You don't want to get too big. I think that's your sweet spot where it still feels small enough to be enjoyable, but not big enough where it feels like it's $62 hot dog day and you have to wait in the bathrooms and they're destroyed. And speaking as a former Live Nation employee, I think I'm allowed to say that. So all right.

So from your perspective, I would assume that diversity then for Pullman Yards perspective, it helps bring people that might not have come otherwise?

Yeah, totally. both sides of the spectrum, people who are consumers, but also businesses like, hey, I want to do my thing here. I never even thought about this.

Yeah, and the great thing too is, you know, sweet and obviously I don't work for SweetWater, but SweetWater started 420s Fest started for them to really support and embrace the things that were important to them, which was, you know, the environment, beer and music and entertainment. So it still checks off those boxes. But to your point, it's just sort of expanding that footprint and helping them grow the festival, not just from a size, from a demographic and a musical taste perspective. Yeah.

And now all of a sudden, when you're doing ticketing, you have access to data and you see who's coming in, where they're coming from. And I'm sure you guys are living in that world, that zero party and first party data world where you're making your predictions based on these things. And you probably have AI running on what kind of events will work. That being said, did either of you think that a balloon museum would do as many people as it did? So AI can't be exactly right every time. There's some level of human interaction that you need.

Yeah, it's really fascinating though to see what people respond to, right?

Yeah.

And what's really grabbing their attention because as we all know, everyone's attention span is so much shorter now. So to see, to not point, not just the 8,000 people come through the first day. It's happening over and over and over and over. It's pretty fun.

I think as someone who's been in live music, I think that's why you're doing it on social media. That tie to that experiential and that FOMO and all those things are literally leading an entire industry right now. That's why people are paying they might take their 16-year-old daughter to see Taylor Swift, but they've sold their four-year-old daughter to get the money to be able to do that because that's the only way that you're going to these concerts. And it's wild to watch what has happened. But it is that experience that you have to have now. It has to be tied to that experience. So social media is the place to advertise, right? Because if they see it and then all of a sudden in their feed, they saw that their friend took some money, then they want to be there. So the industry is fueled completely by that social media and that experiential thing. So take advantage if it while it's there, who knows? But the good news is you're also positioned, if it was to go more acoustic or small revenue, you have the capacity for all that also. You're not locked in, you know, immersive. Do we remember when you had to go to a movie and you had to have 3D glasses on? How'd that go? It was like 2 movies of 3D, everyone's like, I don't want to wear these stupid things. So who knows the trends are, but it sounds like the venue is built. So why don't you give us some other upcoming events, what you have going on? Give the sizzle, because I think we were talking just the diversity for to go from 420 Fest to potentially. more classical music and stuff. It's just awesome. Give a little rundown of what's going on.

Yeah, I mean, just. This weekend, we're doing Asian Night Market Friday. On Saturday, we have our weekly Chef's Market starting at 1 P.m. And then in the evening, we have a private event with the Paideia School. Next weekend, we have Chef's Market and we are hosting Jack Daniel's Art Beats and Lyrics. And then we get gearing up for SweetWater 420 Fest on the weekend of April 20th and 21st. Following that, we're doing a podcast festival with another.

We didn't get invited.

I don't think they put business podcasts.

And then the weekend after that, we are doing a small business conference

Yeah, you don't get much more diverse than that. So you go music, podcast, business, just in the month of April.

That's part of your strategy, it sounds like. You're not trying to just be, you know, one thing. You're not trying to, and I know you've done some of these, but you're not trying to be a wedding reception venue, right? And there are places that that's really what they want to do.

There's good money in wedding receptions.

No, I know, and I've had friends in there.

Have you seen these Indian weddings?

There are certain places that that's all they want to do. And it doesn't sound like that's your focus.

Yeah, and I think it's sort of that interesting middle space, which they do very well. They're also not trying to be all things to all people, right? There are these very distinct buildings and it seems to attract sort of a very interesting taste in terms of what people are trying to accomplish.

It's an urban thing. It is a city goer urban concept of what it is, right? Like you just those spaces don't exist in the suburbs, not the same buildings. It's not as much of an arts focus. So it fits the cultural hub of Atlanta and what it means to be.

And it's an absolute labor of love. You know, the amount of work that has gone.

I got to see when Fan Controlled Football, I did a hard hat tour when they were building it out. And I was walking through and I was like, this is going to be ready by when? And they're like, four days. And I go, I mean, it was, I, for the first time, usually when I do the hard hat tours, I'm like, oh, give me this stupid thing. But I was like, no, let me have this hat on. I tied it. I'm walking through like this. And they did it. And it was really cool to see. And unfortunately, they had their financial troubles like every league after, but to see they built this arena in the middle of the city with people looking in. And because it's modular, you really, there was a practice field. It was crazy. And there's lights and you're flying across and there's these cameras that are following people. It was wild to see. But if you can do that, you can really do anything. And that's the thing is the technology has changed that allows these modular units to be built. And you can turn that place over. I have to imagine two days you're turning that place over.

I mean, again, we had So You Think You Can Dance just filmed the most recent season there. And just watching that space evolve into, because they usually do it sort of in a theater or evolve into that studio with the stage. And now I've watched a couple of the episodes and the buildings look beautiful, but it's really fascinating even just to watch that process.

Yeah.

I think there was an event, there was a weekend where one night it was like a 5,000 person, like Turnpike Troubadours concert the night before. It was a high, like a corporate event for Compass Realty, like totally built out, totally furnished, tore all of it down, did a rock show the next day.

So what are some things that you guys have realized? So let's talk about each individual thing, because I'm curious, I think people, so what are some observations you have from watching all these corporate events? What are things that you see when these go on? What advice do you have for people for when they throw their own corporate events? Let's slip this the other side. Talk about just what you see, because let's talk about concerts and all these different things. What are you guys seeing? Because you're in the fire. I mean, you're seeing this all happen.

Well, I think kind of going back to the experiential thing, I think what I'm seeing a lot of is these business more conferences and even like theatrical things. They're trying to build in that immersive piece to whatever it is that they're doing to kind of open up their brand and expose their brand and create a little deeper of a connection with whoever is coming to visit. So that's something that I've seen trending.

So you're saying like a brand interacting with a consumer. That's what they're doing this for.

Yeah, And wouldn't you say that, from my experience doing these, That initial, that first couple of minutes is so important, right? If you're gonna really go all in.

Oh, Trip, cool people don't show up on time.

Cool people don't show up on time, cool people nonchalantly walk in late. But your experience is in that first four or five minutes, whether you're like Nick and you're 25 minutes late all the time or whatever, the first few minutes, that is so important with those.

It is, and it kind of goes back to what you were talking about before with logistics of the venue and all that stuff. Really for us, we look at it the same way. So it's the first time you drive in, that's when the relationship starts. So that whole process needs to be really thought out, well thought out and efficient, especially considering we have a lot of people coming who have never been to the venue, never been to that part of the land.

You walk in grumpy. What's it going to be?

Right. So we want it to be a great experience as soon as they drive down the street and turn into the property.

Yeah, because if you're coming on a weekday, you sat in traffic. Let's just say no matter what. And then you're down in a really tight area with lots of cars parked in the street and everywhere. So I think you're right, Trip, grabbing their attention at first. But I also think because you've had so many events, you get to see so many best practices that you're like, oh, well, you know what? This is a concert, but maybe this would apply to the business side and you get to go both ways. which has got to be cool, because like Trip said, if you're just a one-trick pony, then all you see is that one thing. But because of the diversity, like, the Van Gogh exhibit is a great example. Well, what if it's pictures of them that are immersed over the wall? Like, yeah, that's a pretty cool experience for a wedding to see something like that. And the capabilities exist and you've seen it. So what about, so other venues, like you said, so you think you can dance, right? What are they, how did they set that up? What were you surprised by seeing that be set up?

I mean, it was a full-on, it was a sound stage. We have a space that's called Porter Hall. It's 38,000 square feet. They turned it into their soundstage for their challenge rounds and their finale and just like that for the final contestants that made it through auditions. So I mean, it was a pretty massive setup.

Are you guys getting love? Are you guys getting love while that's happening? It's not my show. I don't watch it. But were they saying we're in Atlanta at Pullman Yards or were you just just there?

I mean, they did so many drone shots. And when I watched this first episode, there's a building on the property that says Pullman. I mean, it was constantly shown.

You can tell when it's alluding to. They're not definitely saying it, but you can blatantly tell, which is a great thing.

For sure.

Yeah.

And do you see spikes in web traffic? Are you watching that stuff? Like if someone was to go in, would you see a spike in searching for Pullman Yards? do you guys look at that stuff? I have to imagine, right? You would imagine if your name's all over our TV with a couple million people.

I would assume so. I mean, I'm not on the web part of the things, but I would assume that. I mean, we have a pretty healthy, newsletter subscriber list. Like, we're doing a good job on our marketing side with Instagram and everything else. But it would be interesting to know, like, air date and time, if there's a spike in.

Yeah, certainly inquiries for the corporate events, right? Do you see any type of pattern with the inquiries that you get? And are they related to when? Like, when So You Think You Can Dance airs or things of that nature? I mean, I think if it's..

Yeah, it certainly helps the sales team that's selling it.

Everything that we do exposes ourselves to a new market. So there's like the one pattern that I do find is if we do a certain type of event, all of a sudden there's going to be 10 to 20 more events coming in asking to do something similar.

So which isn't always a good thing. That's such an Atlanta thing, right? Like there was no Neapolitan pizza place and then there was one, there were 40 the next day. There was like 1 ramen place and then next day 52 ramen places. Like I wonder why we didn't succeed. Well, we needed 8, not 52. But it's such an Atlanta thing. You do one event and it's like everyone's rushing to do that thing also. But sometimes it's just because.

It also works for us in a lot of ways too. You do one like really solid corporate event and then people are like getting the word out there because I mean we can do everything from just like we can do a gala, we can do an after party, but we can also do the whole conference.

Isn't it odd for such a big city that it's such a small city that it feels so small?

Everybody knows everyone. Stephanie knew everybody in the station.

Yeah, everybody knows Mikey. Mikey's been a promotions director.

But there was even somebody, we were doing a client walkthrough, was it two weeks ago? And the person handling, is he handling their power?

With the production guy. I looked at him and I was like, Wait, I've known you since like 15 years ago when I was with Concerts Southern. So yeah.

This is a more curiosity question. Do you ever ask any of the corporate clients that you're doing if they actually have to work in the office? or not, or whether they're just doing an event where they bring everyone into the city. But I bet there's probably more and more where you've got work from home and yet then you go do an event and no one has a problem. Obviously, coming down to an event.

Just the vicinity to the airport, how big of an airport, how many flights are coming in. This is where you'd want to do it. Especially right now, it's March, right? It's great here, but it can be snowing in anywhere else in the country. So where are you going to do it? You do it here.

Atlanta is a great city to put on an event and to put on a business event if you're going to bring people in either nationally or even internationally, and we get a lot of.

Local organizations and corporations even just doing staff parties there, or so that's a good mix.

It's a cool town.

And I assume with those type of things it's.. beginning to end, logistics through food, catering, drink, entertainment. You take care of everything for them.

Yeah, we absolutely can.

Yeah, which is exhausting. But at the same time, that's what people want, right? And that's what makes the experience what it is. It's got to be.

A lot easier having one source to do everything versus having to have four and five different contractors, so to speak.

Yeah, and we have a lot of those vendor relationships, so it makes it much easier for them when they come in. They're not having to scramble to try to figure out who they should use.

And when you look at like production companies and rigging and those kind of things, their HVAC bathrooms, the logistical parts of it, a lot of these people have been doing this with us and have been here for multiple events. And they know our buildings, and so it makes us feel a lot better too, because we know that they're going to take care.

So much more. Like, if it's a beer festival, everyone's going to have to do pee pee more. So you need more potties. You need more potties for everybody to make pee pee. So you got to think, you got to think of those things.

Lucky for us, we have those relationships.

You've got to think of those things.

Can you even handle talent? I mean, if corporations are doing an event at all, do you?

Yeah.

Again, that's another area. I did a lot of those during my career and it's just one less person you have to do.

Yeah, we even have a building, Porter Hall, that Naki mentioned before, that has built-in green rooms. So yeah.

Yeah, that's cool.

Sometimes it depends what company is. Sometimes if you're in a certain company, whoever's running that conference, that's the only celebrity that's allowed. God forbid we upstage whoever's throwing that conference. That's what Trip used to do, actually. He's like, no, celebrities. I'm it. This is me. And then no one else is coming. Dress me up. Get my makeup ready. No one else is coming.

I had a low bar. If you're not, I don't think we're considered celebrities, especially since we didn't get invited for the podcast festival, but you know, maybe next year we'll change that. No, this has been fun. I think when we come back from the break, maybe we'll talk about some of the just fun things that you see at festivals and some of the other fun things you can do at Pullman Yards. So you're listening to the Marketing MadMen on Xtra 106.3 and we'll be right back.

Now back to the Marketing MadMen on Xtra 106.3 FM.

Welcome back to the Marketing MadMen on Xtra 106.3. Nick Constantino and Trip Jobe here with Naki and Stephanie from Pullman Yards. And let's talk about some fun moments. So I will set the stage with my fun moment. as Fan Controlled Football was doing their advertising campaign. And it's kind of something you have to see to believe, right? Like because one, they're just playing football. But I also got to know the founder and it's like they're paid as actors because of just how the commissioning works in Georgia and like you're controlling them like a video game, do this play. So amidst halfway through the season, they went out and signed Terrell Owens. Okay. Terrell Owens is 50 years old and Terrell Owens was playing football. And let me tell you the difference between professional athletes. He was the best player out there at 50 years old. It wasn't even close. So I was in a suite overlooking, hanging over the edge with drones flying around, and I got to see T.O. catch a ball, step over somebody, and flex over him, and he's 50, and he looks like a monster. And I got to see that live at Pullman Yards in the corner, and it was the oddest.

Nick's little Swiftie moment.

I never even really cared for T.O., but to see a 50-year-old man want to be playing football, to play football, and to do that in such an environment where people are picking plays, it was just one of those things that, like, eight-year-old No way you saw that. And I got to see it all in real time. And it was just a cool experience. It was just a goofy, cool experience. So I think, talk about some other things that you've seen that you really enjoyed, whether it be Stranger Things and just the fanfare that follows these things. Just talk about some fun you guys have had.

I mean, yeah, I'd say for me, again, when I worked for Fever, we did Stranger Things. There'd be two things that just stick in my mind. One was, and this is just the nerdy side of me, watching that space transform, like literally overnight, which I know you had talked about before. I was standing in there one day and you could see all four walls straight through. And then I came in the next day and had no idea where I was because this whole world had been built and I had no idea how to get out of the building. So that's fun. But also just watching people experience it is pretty phenomenal. You know, usually for these immersive experiences, they end. For Stranger Things, there was this whole sort of food court experience and people thought they were done. I wish we had a camera when they came through because then they walk into this whole space that's just like Stranger Things with the food court and their faces were just amazed. So I mean, that's what draws me to this industry in general is just creating those experiences for people. Not as good of a moment as yours, but that's.

The other thing about times have changed, right? Like you think about it and what was the equivalent in like the coffee shop in Friends or like the diner in Seinfeld? Like, but they weren't making those. That was not the world didn't work that way. Now you get to walk out immersive experiences that are based on this intellectual property. And again, it's why people spend invest so much. It's not just making stranger things. It's the intellectual property that follows it. And that tour is going all over the country and fandom. And they're like, yeah, why would we make a show every year? We'll wait three years for the next episode to let milk this thing for all it's worth. So I think that's also how television and entertainment and production have changed. I'm waiting.

I've put the waders on and the jackets and all for Deadliest Catch and have ice cold water thrown on me or something like that.

I mean, if the fish is fresh, I'd go anywhere. But Naki, what about you?

I think one of the things that continues to stick out of my mind is from my perspective, we're working a lot of times with these events kind of like behind the scenes and with the staff and what's going on and kind of like the relationships we've built with people over time. So we hosted this show called The Empire Strips Back. It came from New York City to Atlanta. We brought it here. It was Star Wars burlesque parody. Phenomenal show, really great production. But their cast members would stick around after they were done with the show for the night and hang out and have drinks and have food with So You Think You Can Dance. Cat Deeley was kind of hanging around and came to like fishmonger and alcohol for their wrap party. So I really like to see when we have people there, especially ones that are there for a long time, how they enjoy the rest of the space besides the one that they are lending themselves.

And that's comfortability. You feel comfortable. If you're not comfortable, you want to get out of there as quickly as possible. And I think it's that desire to look around that historic helps the fact that again, like when you see it, you're in big city with huge property around big city. Like that doesn't happen anywhere, right? Those places, so you feel like, one, I don't need to go anywhere. I'm going to stay here. Two, this is cool. Let me go explore. And you kind of find yourself wandering. I remember when I was at Fan Controlled Football, I kind of just wandered. Because there's little stuff everywhere. Well, you just kind of wonder, like, what the heck was that doing there? Like, what did this?

So much history.

That's cool though. Yeah, for sure. So we talk about seeing it. How can people see Pullman Yards? Tell us how to find you.

So they can go online to pullmanyards.com. And then for SweetWater 420 Fest, it's literally sweetwater420fest.com. We like to make it easy.

Yeah, I hear you have a promo code for listeners also. Maybe get some tickets. What you got?

For your listeners only. Yeah. And this will expire on 4/20.

And it's for 20% off.

Wonderful. Hear that, guys? 20% off. Go get them now. It's going to be great. If you have not seen Beck, he is awesome in concert. It is just such an eclectic weirdo show of, you know, old hits, Devil's Haircut and Loser, and he'll do modern songs. And his album, I think, just came out. So he's got a new influx of fans coming in. And he's done a pretty good job of keeping up with the times.

Well, Black Pumas, you got me intrigued there too.

Yeah, they're sultry.

Sultry is my word. That is sultry music, man. That is some good stuff. What do you guys think the future holds? So I think it's a really a conversation I like to always ask. You've seen the immersive space now. Okay, where are we going? What is the next five years? How do you think you'll evolve and fans will evolve? And if it is too much of A question, I'd like to throw people off with that. What do you see? Personally, I think one of the things I think people are, and not 10,000 people, but 40,000, I think people are festivaled out. I think we need to make a turn more about the music and instrumental and more just community-based because we've gone so far the other way. There's a festival on every corner and since Live Nation takes them all over, they triple in price somehow and the hot dogs are $45 at Coachella. But I feel like we're going to get more music follows these patterns and we're going to get more to more acoustic bass and quiet. And I think that fits the vibe of the artsy. What do you guys think? What do you think future of just the industry and the space?

And that's really an interesting perspective, too, because it's almost going back to, you know, what we experienced before. And those were some of the things I loved about live music was, you know, you see a band, but boy, if they could also pull off an acoustic set.

That was the 90s, man. In the 90s to mid-2000s, if you weren't doing acoustic, you. Were not an entire rock band.

People are talented. and I remember back in the day when people, a lot of bands would do tour dates and they'll do practice dates in smaller venues. And we had a lot of those coming through Atlanta, Foo Fighters, Justin Timberlake. And to your point, it's a smaller, more intimate experience. And I do think community is key, especially post-pandemic. You know, people want a connection.

And I think the artists sometimes will try things that way too, right? And that's sometimes that's the beauty. Of course, we all want to hear the hits. But sometimes when they try something a little bit different, right?

Yeah.

And I think you're right, it's a test of how good an artist is. Because it's really easy with modulation to hit a guitar, but to play acoustic with just a guitar playing into a microphone and singing, especially if one guy's doing both. That is not easy. Dave Grohl did Everlong with playing the guitar and singing, and I was like, oh, okay, I thought this was Nirvana's drummer, not his own talented musician in that.

I remember seeing Chris Cornell do that, you know, it's just astounding.

Well, still, one of our favorite, I mean, when you and I were there was at the Braves Country podcast when Ed Roland came up and the world that I know acoustically just with a guitar. I mean, it was freaking.

I'm going to budge the poor lady's name. Do you remember who the three artists that were there?

Oh, Michelle Malone.

Oh, Michelle Malone. She was a doll. Okay, so she played and I was like, wow, she's awesome. And then Kevin Kinney played. I go, wow, he's awesome. Yeah. And then Ed Roland played. I go, okay, that's a different.

It was someone else's guitar. He just grabbed someone else's

Guitar off the stage and did the world I know, and he was plucking the guitar to sound like a bass at the same time. while he was singing. And I was like, okay, and again, Michelle Malone was amazing. And Kevin Kinney is known and amazing. But then you see like why these guys are superstars. And first of all, I mean, Roland was like in the crowd, like biting his nails, just like a typical musician would. And then he just pops up out of nowhere. He's like, hey, But man, I think we'll go back that way. I do.

I think so too. Absolutely. Well, this has been fantastic. I can't wait to get down. I think I've been to Pullman Yards very early on, but I want to come and see it and encourage other people to get out as well, whether it's for SweetWater 420 or just another weekend.

Use that promo code 20% off. All right.

Well, you've been listening to the Marketing MadMen on Xtra 106.3 and Nick and I will be back next week.