“Do you mind if I share the screen to show you something?” This wasn’t the start of our conversation with Mark Titus, Sr. Event Operations Manager for Monster Beverage, but the question certainly took us all to the next level.
Mark then shared a spreadsheet that outlined the deadlines, milestones, and progress of the nearly 100 events in which Monster would be participating in the next three months (including the 11 happening over the weekend of our chat).
“It’s a lot,” he deadpanned. “We’ve quadrupled in size in a short amount of time.” We just sort of blinked in silence as we tried to figure out what to ask next. (The thought bubbles above our heads might have looked like cartoon profanities, “Holy #$%&*#&%!”)
With the recent celebration of its 20th Anniversary, Monster requires a, well, monster operation to create, manage, and execute its event strategy. Monster’s Event Operations (for all of its brands including Monster Energy, Ultra, Rehab, Juice, Java, Full Throttle, NOS, Reign, True North and more) are managed from a warehouse in Rialto, CA via the company’s own in-house production company.
All of Monster’s assets, including trucking and transportation, originate from here. Mark explained, “Our most common assets are our 32′ x 24′ trusses and we have a couple of two-story stages that we use for some of our bigger events and sponsorships.” No surprise given they’ve grown the number of assets and events managed by 400% Monster’s ability to scan these stages and trusses as a bundle is one of Mark’s favorite Flex features.
What are those events and sponsorships? You know them. They are the likes of AMA Supercross (for which Monster is the title sponsor), Outdoor Motorcross, Nascar, UFC, X-Games, Stagecoach Festival, Professional Bull Riders (PBR), Strongman, and, and, and, and. “Our operations, marketing, and products are set up to own extreme sports,” Mark added matter of factly, and without a hint of arrogance. “Anything related to that lifestyle-we’re there.”
Monster’s music, sports, entertainment, and regional marketing teams are responsible for being in the field and distributing product (lots and lots of product) at these major events. “We’re a little different, probably, because we don’t have outside customers,” explained Mark. “Our field marketing and brand teams are our clients.”
With so many activations and the most exacting of clients, Monster uses Flex to put together quotes based on what the teams hope to achieve at each event. “Flex is invaluable for budgeting and planning. Our executives can look at a budget and easily strike or add elements to an activation.” He added that this is especially crucial for something like NASCAR, for which Monster budgets 38 separate tour stops. “We can make changes on the fly this way.”
Monster also uses Flex to run reports to determine which assets create the most long-term value. “We’ve stopped ordering extra parts that we thought we needed and now only order the parts we know we need.” Mark told us he really put this to the test in 2020 when he needed to increase his truss inventory. “We ran a report to determine how often we used different sized sticks of truss. It turned out we seldom used the five-footers. So, when we placed the order, I asked for the minimum number of that length. That saves money.”
Before wrapping up, Mark told us a couple of things that we really loved. For starters, Monster’s in-house video production studio, Studio M, has started using Flex. (We look forward to that conversation in due time.) And, he told us that with so many events taking place at any one time, Monster sometimes needs to sub-rent. Mark relies heavily on Flex customer, All-Access Staging and Production. The success of our customers is our success. But when they help each other succeed? That’s just rad.
Finally, we circled back to the story of the six-city tour that included going to Fort Worth for the Pro Bull Riders finals, to Norfolk, VA, to St. Louis for NASCAR, Nashville for the Country Music Awards, to Chicago and then Grand Junction, CO-all with one truck and with each event requiring a different set up. We asked one last question, “How do you even load/unload trucks that are heading out to multiple events with completely different activations?” Without missing a beat, Mark said, “We’re certified Tetris masters.”
That’s our kind of Flex.
Flex is proud to have worked with Monster Energy, and all of their brands, and its passionate support of those pursuing the extreme in their lives since 2017.
