Thomas Gounley

TGOUNLEY@NEWS-LEADER.COM

Since he and a partner founded GigSalad — an online marketplace for booking bands, performers and other services for events — CEO Mark Steiner has dreamed of running a commercial during the Super Bowl.

Given that the company's revenue for all of 2015 was less than the cost of 30 seconds during the big game, and that Springfield-based GigSalad hasn't taken venture capital, such an appearance is unlikely anytime soon.

"Every year that goes by it goes up another million, so it's killing me ... I'm not ever going to keep up," Steiner said in his office on East Olive Street last week. "But it's still a goal; I still want to have a Super Bowl commercial."

"In the meantime, this is fun," he added.

"This" is a commercial the company filmed in Los Angeles in August, and released at the end of September. Instead of the fourth quarter of a football game, it's appearing before videos watched on streaming service Hulu in 30 of the country's biggest markets.

Steiner declined to detail the cost of the campaign, but confirmed that it was the biggest one-time advertising expense to date for GigSalad, which formally launched in 2007.

In the commercial, a child walking through a park with her parents is asked what she wants at her upcoming birthday party. As the girl rattles off the possibilities — "A bunny! Or clowns! Or can-can girls! Or a fire eater!" — the named performers begin parading behind her.

Then, with everything from a barbershop quartet to an Oprah Winfrey impersonator lined up, the mother follows up, asking the girl to name her favorite.

"A princess!" the girl says. The other performers disappear. As the GigSalad logo pops up with the tagline "Book something awesome," the girl asks if the princess can bring a camel to the party.

Actor to booking agent to CEO

Steiner's original professional goal was to be an actor. In his twenties, the New Jersey native lived in Manhattan, hustling to casting calls and film roles.

Well, small film roles. Steiner said he peaked with a speaking part — one line — in the movie "She-Devil," a 1989 comedy remembered today largely for being actress Roseann Barr's film debut.

"I was a valet," Steiner, 50, recalled this month. "I said, 'Watch your head, sir.' And if you print that, it will be a lot of fun for my team, to absolutely destroy me — because everybody has repeated that line."

"It's horrible," he continued. "I looked into the camera when it was done. I don't know why they used that."

Steiner left the industry and moved to Connecticut in 1994, not long after getting married to his wife Allison, a Springfield native. A friend managed a small booking agency — connecting bands and performers with venues and event planners — and suggested Steiner join him.

Steiner was good at it. In 2001, he went out on his own, starting Steiner Talent. In 2004, able to work from anywhere, he and Allison moved to Springfield to raise their two young kids.

In 2005, a short profile of Steiner Talent in the News-Leader made a passing reference to the fact that Steiner also had something called GigSalad.com. Now, Steiner Talent is a passing reference in a longer story about GigSalad.

The site was originally envisioned as a simple directory of performers, Steiner said, so people wouldn't have to call Steiner Talent for everything. By the time GigSalad formally launched in January 2007, however, it resembled its current form — a place where people could eliminate the middleman to a degree, and directly book performers, like comedians and musicians.

The growth of GigSalad

Steiner created the site with co-founder Steve Tetrault, a designer he met in a New York City church in 1991. Tetrault — who now lives in North Carolina, where GigSalad has a second office — is responsible for the name.

"My creative/loopy mind then made a phonetic connection between the words 'gig' and 'egg', then 'egg salad,'" Tetrault said in an email. "And 'salad,' of course, is a metaphor for what we offer: a variety of unique performers for hire, blended together, makes a... GigSalad!"

The site — which Steiner said cost less than $5,000 to launch — has been profitable from the start. GigSalad has had no outside investors, although Steiner said he's frequently been approached.

For the first four years or so, Steiner and Tetrault invested all GigSalad revenue back into the business. Steiner kept working as a booking agent, while Tetrault kept up with his design work. By the summer of 2011, however, they realized revenue was strong enough that they could both draw a salary, Steiner said, and that it was time to answer the question: How big could things get if they devoted themselves to this?

Steiner Talent closed, for the most part, that July (through GigSalad, Steiner still does a minimal amount of booking). Tetrault left his design work behind the next month.

In January 2012, GigSalad had 20,000 members, the term the company uses for performers and others offering services on the site. The company hit 35,000 members in March 2013, and 50,000 in September 2014. As of this month, according to GigSalad, the figure was in excess of 88,000.

On the event planner side, the term for those booking someone through the site, there has been similar growth — 70,000 in May 2012; 200,000 in April 2013; 700,000 in October 2015 and 1 million by this April.

Steiner said he attributes some of the growth to GigSalad's decision to move to a "freemium model" for those listing services on the site. Performers with free profiles on GigSalad have to use the company's booking platform, which takes a percentage of the total charge. Performers that pay for a profile on the site don't have to use the company's booking platform.

GigSalad's membership also increased when the company decided to allow event support staff, such as photographers and bartenders, Steiner said.

GigSalad has made Inc. magazine's list of the fastest-growing companies in America the past two years. The company had revenue of $2.5 million in 2014, and $4.2 million in 2015. Steiner said GigSalad will post another increase for 2016.

The company has about 25 employees, with 15 in Springfield. The local office — a colorful space featuring movie posters and other accessories — houses marketing, customer service and sales staff. Technical and design staff work out of the Wilmington, North Carolina, office.

Behind the advertisement

GigSalad's past advertising has been fairly minimal — sponsorships of NPR affiliates in Springfield and Wilmington, an ad on the local Fox affiliate a few years ago. The company owns several vehicles wrapped in the company's name and logo, which go on the road regularly to conventions and trade shows, and spends some money on online search and social network advertisements.

The Hulu commercial is aimed at women between 25 and 45, Steiner said. The company figures women often do the booking when it comes to children's parties and weddings, two strong sources of business for GigSalad.

GigSalad Brand Manager Joey Esquibel said he originally envisioned the commercial in a living room setting — with the characters gradually filling up the space — but the shoot was moved outside for practical purposes. Megan Frisbee, the company's community manager, said all the performers featured in the spot have profiles on the site.

"You can find the princess on GigSalad, and the stilt walkers if you want to," Frisbee said. "We really love our members and we wanted to make sure we included them in our commercial."

At first, the advertisement seemed like a resounding success. Right after it went live, GigSalad "saw this huge spike" in traffic, Steiner said.

"It was clowns," he said. "And we thought, okay, there's clowns in the commercial. And it turns out, people were doing a search for clowns and finding us."

The search traffic, Steiner realized, wasn't because of the Hulu spot. People were just trying to learn more about the so-called "creepy crown craze" that has swept the country, with authorities in numerous states reporting an increasing number of incidents involving people in costume.

"We're trying to distance ourself from that whole thing," Steiner said. "We're trying to help the clowns on our site."

GigSalad has one main direct competitor, similar in both name and website design. GigMasters.com was founded in 1997. Many performers have profiles on both sites, Steiner said.

The advertisement on Hulu is part of GigSalad's effort to be seen as the industry leader.

"Our goal is to be a destination site," Steiner said. "We want to be top of brand, tip of tongue. You're thinking about an event .. and GigSalad immediately comes to mind. This is one step closer to that goal."