Marketing Archives - Chamber Magic

Chapter in “TUNED IN” book

Steve Cohen — Wed, 11 Jan 2017 12:39:55 +0000

by Craig Stull, Phil Myers & David Meerman Scott

(John Wiley & Sons, 2008)

[chapter excerpt:] What’s Your Powerful Idea?

Steve Cohen grew up in affluent Westchester County, where he learned magic from his great-uncle. As Cohen was getting started in the world of professional magic, he lamented that people treated all magicians as interchangable commodities who could be hired on the cheap for their kids’ birthday parties. Without seeing him perform, people just didn’t understand that he was one of the country’s great sleight of hand artists. They’d ask him questions like “Do you fold balloon animals?” and “My daughter is having a Bat Mitzvah on Sunday. Will you do it for $500?” His pride and his wallet were suffering, so Cohen decided to call in positioning expert Mark Levy to help him develop and articulate powerful ideas about his magic.

To come up with his position, Levy informally interviewed Cohen over the course of a month. “We’d be hanging out and I’d ask him about his first performance, his favorite magic trick, and the people he enjoyed performing for most,” Levy says. “I’d also watch Steve’s shows, and I’d ask audience members about their favorite moments.”

As Levy gathered a great deal of information about Cohen, a few key elements were converging to form a powerful idea. “Steve grew up near Chappaqua, NY, which is a very wealthy community,” Levy says. “He learned to perform for people who, at times, can be demanding: people with money.” In fact, Levy had discovered Cohen’s distinctive competence – he was comfortable performing in front of the rich and famous and had done so since the age of ten. “Not everyone knows how to entertain affluent people,” Levy says. “Steve, though, wasn’t exploiting this talent. He’d do shows for anyone who called, and his fees were middle-class affordable, no matter who called.”

Levy then drilled down into Cohen’s distinctive competence. “I asked about the famous people he performed for and Steve gave me a list. Many on the list were celebrities and movie stars, like Michael J. Fox,” Levy says. “But buried in it were some interesting names, such as David Rockefeller, Andy Grove, and Jack Welch. All these names had at least one notable thing in common: they weren’t just rich, they were insanely rich.”

Levy put all those pieces together and realized that Cohen’s best position would be as a performer for the super rich. “As obvious as that sounds, no magic performer was in that space,” Levy says. “Other performers were billing themselves as the funniest, or the edgiest, or the flashiest, or the coolest. Or adept at performing at trade shows, or at parties, or for children, or at functions, or they were the best at a specific kind of magic. But no one was focusing on people with insane amounts of money or clout.”

The powerful idea that resulted from all of this? The Millionaires’ Magician, Entertainment for Exclusive Events.

“When Mark first developed my brand identity, ‘The Millionaires’ Magician,’ I fought him tooth and nail,” Cohen says. “I was scared it was exclusionary and would frighten people away.”

Fortunately Cohen took Levy’s advice, because he now commands fees of $10,000 to $25,000 per gig – many times what he was making on the birthday party circuit. In 2005, Cohen made $1 million performing for such people as Martha Stewart, New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg, and Paul Fireman, the former chief executive of Reebok. The Millionaires’ Magician has a weekly gig at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York and often lives the lifestyle of the rich and famous. For example, he frequently flies on his clients’ private jets to gigs at their vacation houses in places like Aspen and Switzerland. He’s been profiled in the New York Times and other newspapers and on TV for shows such as the CBS Evening News and the Today Show. Cohen appeared in Forbes magazine’s 2005 special issue about the 400 richest people in the world. “The article’s angle? ‘Who do these richest people get to entertain them? Why, Steve Cohen Cohen, The Millionaires’ Magician’,” says Levy.

The transformation of Cohen’s business based on the powerful idea of the Millionaires’ Magician has changed his life. “I’ve raised my private-show fee by 2,000 percent and often turn away bookings because my schedule is so full,” he says. “I’ve performed throughout the world, including Lisbon, London, Japan, and Paris. And I’ve so much business that I had to hire a staff to manage my publicity and bookings.” Cohen even signed a deal to write a book for HarperCollins called Win the Crowd, and is working on a television special.

All from the power of a few simple words: The Millionaires’ Magician.

The post Chapter in “TUNED IN” book appeared first on Chamber Magic.

New website is live

Steve Cohen — Fri, 24 Dec 2010 03:48:50 +0000

I’m excited to announce a completely redesigned website, which pushed “live” today. The URL is the same as my previous site: www.chambermagic.com

The major difference is that it is an HTML site that runs on WordPress, as opposed to my prior site which ran on Flash. Now, even iPhone and iPad users are able to view the site (since Flash isn’t supported by Apple portable devices), and it’s super fast and much easier to navigate.

Please poke around, and let me know what you think!

Again, that URL is www.chambermagic.com

The post New website is live appeared first on Chamber Magic.

Seth Godin blog feature: Giving away a magician’s secrets

Steve Cohen — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 17:01:57 +0000

Seth Godin’s wildly popular marketing blog featured an article about me today. Read on, and learn how a professional marketer views my career. I think even I learned a few things!

—

Giving away a magician’s secrets

by Seth Godin

Steve Cohen makes more than a million dollars a year doing magic tricks.

I will now tell you the secrets of this magic:

He sells to a very specific group of people, people who are both willing to hear what he has to say and able to pay what he wants to charge them.
He tells a story to this group, a story that matches their worldview. He doesn’t try to teach non-customers a lesson or persuade them that they are wrong or don’t know enough about his art. Instead, he makes it easy for his happy customers to bring his art to others.
He intentionally creates an experience that is remarkable and likely to spread. “What did you do last night?” is a great question when it’s asked of someone you entertained the night before, particularly if you can give the audience an answer they can give. That’s how the word spreads.
He’s extremely generous in who he works with, how promiscuous he is about sharing and in his attitude.
He’s very good at his craft. Don’t overlook this one.

I guess it comes down to this: if you’re having trouble persuading people to buy what you sell, perhaps you should sell something else. Failing that, perhaps you could talk about what you sell in a different way.

Important clarification: I’m not telling you to sell out or to pander or to dumb down your art. Great marketers lead people, stretching the boundaries and bringing new messages to people who want to hear them. The core of my argument is that someone’s worldview, how they feel about risk or other factors, is beyond your ability to change in the short run. Sell people something they’re interesting in buying. If you can’t leverage the worldview they already have, you are essentially invisible. Which is a whole other sort of magic, one that’s not so profitable.

The post Seth Godin blog feature: Giving away a magician’s secrets appeared first on Chamber Magic.

Times Square billboard!

Steve Cohen — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 00:41:48 +0000

Steve Cohen on Thomson Reuter's billboard, Times Square, NYC

PR Newswire ran a press release about my upcoming Magic4Mercy charity event, and as a courtesy, put my publicity photo and website information on the Thomson Reuter’s billboard in Times Square. It cycled several times each hour for several days.

Talk about larger than life!

My show is pretty small-scale, and never in a million years did I think that it would be promoted in Times Square…

The post Times Square billboard! appeared first on Chamber Magic.

New website is now live!

Steve Cohen — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:22:33 +0000

Please visit my fully-redesigned website: chambermagic.com

We’ve tweaked the user interface, and added three new pages: Media Appearances, Win The Crowd Book, and Multimedia Gallery.

I still have many more media articles and performance photos to upload – they will be coming soon. In the meantime, there’s still a lot to see, and you can also read an excerpt of my book Win The Crowd online – it’s really quite cool and you should check this page out.

Any comments on the website? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

-SC

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Chamber Magic® Tour survey- which cities should I visit?

Steve Cohen — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 04:26:13 +0000

I am in the early stages of organizing a tour of my show Chamber Magic^®.

In 2010, I plan to tour the show to several cities around the world, in addition to my regular schedule at the Waldorf-Astoria in NYC.

What other cities/countries would you like to see me in? Please click HERE to take a 30-second survey.

If we see a large demand in certain cities, then there will be a stronger chance of these cities being added to the tour.

It only takes 30 seconds (if that!) to click a few boxes, so please visit my survey page.

Regards,

Steve

The post Chamber Magic^® Tour survey- which cities should I visit? appeared first on Chamber Magic.

My Bio

Steve Cohen — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 17:34:28 +0000

For those who care to read, here is my bio. It’s what my manager sends out to media folks and potential clients.

STEVE COHEN BIO

Steve Cohen, The Millionaires’ Magician has perhaps the world’s most exclusive clientele – royalty, the ultra-rich and Hollywood superstars – who regularly invite him to perform at their private events. Woody Allen, after seeing Steve perform, called the evening “a religious experience.” Cohen’s long-running show at the fabled Waldorf-Astoria Towers, described by Forbes Magazine as “the world’s greatest magic act,” is currently sold out for the next three months. Every Friday and Saturday night, Cohen recreates the intimacy of a 19th century parlor performance by baffling his guests in the close quarters of an elegant private suite.

Most recently, Cohen was the star attraction at a private birthday party in Omaha, attended by the world’s richest man, Warren Buffett . . . and received rave reviews. Other notable fans include Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Jack Welch, Martha Stewart, Ellen Barkin, Michael J. Fox, Christopher Reeve, Gabriel Byrne, Robin Leach, U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer, and Phil Donohue.

A media favorite, Steve was recently the subject of a CBS-TV Network feature, which resulted in thousands of calls to book tickets for his NY-based show. He has also appeared on CNN, Martha Stewart Living, CBS Evening News, and The History Channel, and has appeared in Forbes Magazine, The Associated Press, The New York Times, The Financial Times, Lexus Magazine, The London Sunday Times and The Evening Standard.

Steve can often be found performing at the haunts of the rich and famous including, palaces, mansions, yachts and exclusive clubs all over the world. These venues include the Carlyle Hotel, Lincoln Center, New York Hilton, New York Stock Exchange, Park Hyatt Tokyo, Peninsula Hotel, Pierre Hotel, the United Nations, Venetian Hotel (Las Vegas), W Hotel Union Square, and Wynn Las Vegas. He has also provided after-dinner entertainment in the private dining rooms of top restaurants such as The 21 Club, Daniel, Gramercy Tavern, Le Cirque, Tribeca Grill, and The Four Seasons.

In addition to being a master magician, Steve Cohen is also a magic historian, choosing illusions from the rich trove of past masters.

Where did this all begin? As a boy, this awe-inspiring conjurer was placed under the spell by his Uncle, who had met Houdini. After learning his first card trick at age six, Cohen never looked back. He performed at family gatherings and gradually made his way onto the public stage.

Cohen earned a degree in psychology from Cornell University and spent a year abroad studying at Waseda University in Tokyo. He has native-level proficiency in Japanese and worked as an interpreter for the Japanese government.

He is the author of Win The Crowd (HarperCollins Publishers 2005), a guide to persuading, influencing, and charming others so you can ultimately accomplish the things you’ve always wanted to do. In this book, Cohen writes, “you’ll discover how to take over a room, read people, and build anticipation to a feverish pitch so people are burning to hear what you have to say.”

Steve Cohen holds the esteemed rank of MIMC (Member of the Inner Magic Circle) with Gold Star, awarded by The Magic Circle in London. He lives with his wife Yumi and their two children in Manhattan.

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