Porta Kleen’s Creative Partnership with KEMBA Live!
Columbus’ KEMBA Live!—the first indoor and outdoor concert venue in America—entered into a unique partnership with Porta Kleen as the venue looked for ways to improve its customers’ concert and event experience.
“Part of providing that better experience was getting rid of all their plastic toilets and replacing them with restroom trailers,” said Sales Manager Tyler Zook. The venue’s outdoor amphitheater can accommodate up to 5,200 guests, and providing restroom trailers for that many people would be, in a word, expensive.
KEMBA Live! representatives met with Zook and Porta Kleen President Adam Black to negotiate an agreement. “So, they came to us, Adam and me, and we had lunch with the director of sponsorships and said, ‘Hey, what can we do as a partnership to help us alleviate some of that cost on our end,’” Zook said.
“Long story short, is they wanted to mitigate the cost so they’re offering us tickets to every show going on this summer at their events,” said Director of Sales Dan Runner.
Zook said KEMBA Live! was willing to negotiate with Porta Kleen because the venue had worked with other portable restroom providers who didn’t measure up to Porta Kleen’s standards. “They knew we provide premier trailers for really nice events like theirs and they knew overall they wanted to create a friendlier and much cleaner experience for the people attending these concerts and events,” he said.
“They wanted to improve the image of the whole experience at KEMBA Live!,” Runner said. “They rely on us to help with that image when it comes to portable restrooms. When you think of porta johns at music festivals, you think of them being tipped over and blown away, and a constant sticky mess. We can succeed and fulfill their upscale image requirements.”
Runner said Porta Kleen’s logistics team is well-suited to work with a major music venue’s complicated schedule. “It isn’t just servicing the trailers every Monday. We’re there after every show because sometimes there are back-to-back shows, or there may be three or four days between shows,” he said.
“They’re still signing up acts for this summer so it’s a very fluid situation dealing with them,” Runner said. “KEMBA Live! can count on us to be attentive to their ever-changing needs throughout the season.”