The country music market is alive and well in America,  prospering and inspiring patriotism in a time when it seems as though every kid’s toy has foreign ancestry
and every American car manufacturer is in a virtual battle against Japan and Germany. The fans of country music are loyal, and it manifests into more than a few tickets stubs and souvenir T-shirt. The genre, much like Hip Hop, has influenced the fashion, consumer buying decisions and, yes, even the spirit consumption of its devoted. Set to open its 11th location soon, the Midnight Rodeo and the affiliated/similar Wild West venues are spread like tumbleweeds across the flat expanse of Texas –– but they are far from idly tumbling along. With locations including but not limited to Austin, San Antonio, Lubbock and Houston, the company has been profiting from the urban cowboy since way back in 1981.

Care To Dance?
    Stopping in for a night of Texas-styled entertainment, a guest would find each city’s Midnight Rodeo or Wild West to look about the same. Amidst the throngs of Wrangler jeans and cowboy hats, there is a rough-hewn décor style and rustic atmosphere.
    “That’s the comment we get the most,” says Marketing Director for Associated
Club Management, Mark Easterling, “is that our competitors are somewhat sterile or warehouse in their design, and we feel as though you just walked into a friend’s
living room.”
    The cozy aspect prevails amidst one shocking design element, however. While almost every club in America can boast a signature drink, in each location, this
chain has a registered, signature dance floor. With five bars, four surrounding and one in the center, a Midnight Rodeo dance floor is similar to a NASCAR track, in
form and function. The action is centralized, and the profits are good.
    “The normal layout is approximately 20,000 square feet or larger,” Easterling
says of each space. “It varies on the location, but our capacity is usually in the neighborhood of 1,500. We say something in our commercials. In Houston, we say
it is an eighth of mile around our space. That may be a Texas-sized exaggeration,
but not by much.”

A Bartender’s Dozen
    With 12 bartenders running each packed night, a Midnight Rodeo location works as a team player for the whole company, which manages to move upwards of 100,000 cases of beer annually. The venues stock about a dozen bottled beer brands, but draft is not a large mover with this crowd.
    “Being country, longnecks are still the preference,” Easterling says. “However, in the last few years, we have noticed the trend that what was once 65 to 70 percent longneck beer sales are now down 50 to 50. We are not trendy, so we sort of ride
the wave. If Jäger is what they want, then that is what we will serve. We work with all of the beer manufacturers to keep their percentages as high as possible, but we
also work with companies like Red Bull.”

Prize Potential
    While the patronage is drinking, that is not the only aspect of a Midnight Rodeo
or Wild West they are pulling in to experience. The venues rely on a country format for 70 percent of their live and DJ-driven music selection, but concerning planned promotions, Easterling says the company’s philosophy is cyclical.
    “Our theory is we cycle to keep them fresh, so a contest might run seven to eight weeks, and then we bring in a new one, and we try to schedule six to nine months in advance.”
    Marketing is a smart mix. In the same vein as many large multi-venue operations, Easterling says they rely heavily on radio advertising, but they have found success
in coupling it with other media.
    “If you consider e-mailing and e-blasts grassroots, then I would say in this day in age it has to be a combination for us. You can’t depend on radio like you used to
five years ago.
    “If you don’t do grassroots, you miss a big portion of what you want in there, which is that 18-to-25 age range. They are not going to hear radio if they have XM or Sirius radio –– or their iPod glued to their hip.”                      NCB