It was a miserable year for Hollywood at the box office, but Broadway ticket sales have never been higher. Tony-winning producer Ken Davenport joins Cheddar to discuss his innovative marketing tactics that have led to consistently high profits. His latest move is introducing Broadway's first ever best-price guarantee.
Davenport reveals why he decided to deploy the tactic on his new production, a revival of the musical "Once on This Island." He speaks to why it's taken the theater world so long to implement the strategy. Davenport is known for thinking outside the box; he once offered free tickets to virgins for a show called "The First Time."
Davenport says it's a particularly good time to invest in Broadway. He points to Hollywood taking cues from the world of musicals on both the big and small screens. The producer says the success of "La La Land" and "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend" prove theater is "cool again."
Tech apprenticeship platform Multiverse became a unicorn with a $1.7 billion valuation, after raising $220 million in a Series D round. As companies across the country face challenges in hiring and retaining tech talent, Multiverse says it's trying to offer a solution with a new way to train and hire workers that can serve as an alternative to college and corporate training. Sophie Ruddock, VP and GM North America of Multiverse, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Cheddar's Kristen Scholer caught up with all-time NBA great Shaquille O'Neal in his hometown of Newark, NJ, working with Icy Hot to repair rundown basketball courts around the country. The Hall of Famer also spoke about the current NBA finals between the Boston Celtics and Golden State Warriors and had a lot of praise for the Warrior's guard Stephen Curry. "He's the greatest shooter of all time. I had a conversation with Stephen A. [Smith], where does he rank? He's a special player. He has his own category," Shaq said.
On this episode of On The Job presented by ADP: Gemma Burgess, CEO of Ferguson Partners, explains what people are looking for in an employer, and how to convey positive work culture to potential employees; Amy Leschke-Kahle, Vice President of Performance Acceleration at The Marcus Buckingham Company, an ADP company, breaks down how encouraging employee engagement and empowering employee voices can benefit every workplace and busts a myth about employee engagement while working from home; Jim Huether, CEO of Hyperice, discusses Hyperice's new employee mental health initiative, known as the Workplace Alliance, with 100-plus companies to combat the ongoing mental health crisis and how they're taking a hands-on, data-driven approach to the mental health crisis.
