What are we really talking about? Creating relationships and offering opportunities for exchanges (you give me money, I will give you a __insert adjective here__ experience). Communicating from a nonprofit (or for profit) arts organization is a 'leveler' in many ways. Advertising in a newspaper, for example, is the same for a production of INTO THE WOODS as it is for a new make-up. You are hitting the same audience and you have to grab their attention.
Terminology:
Advertising: paying someone else to run an ad (print or radio or web).
Public Relations: giving reporters information such that they can, if it seems like it might be of interest to their readers, write an article about it.
Reviews: Encouraging reporters to engage in an artistic endeavor and write about it.
Marketing/Communications: a strategy to bring about an exchange. It usually involves direct mail/email, advertising, public relations and personal selling (remember last week's box office?) to enact a single ticket purchase.
So, how does an arts marketer convince a potential audience member to buy a ticket (or a subscription) to a performance? Pick up your free NY Times in the entrance of Center for the Arts and pick an advertisement or an article. What are they trying to communicate? Who will find that interesting? (that would be the target market.) How do you know? (write about it below and bring to class)
Check out your organization's web site . . . how are they 'converting sales' or are they? Check out the Super Bowl Ads . . . who is their target market? http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4804033000500581013. How are they converting sales?
Finally, who are the people interested in seeing theatre or the arts? http://nea.gov/research/research.php?type=R Check out research reports 54 and 49 (2008 Survey of Public Participation in the Arts and Beyond Attendance: A Multi-Modal Understanding of Arts Participation).
The reports are large -- so glean the basics from the summaries. What does that tell you? pay attention to shifts and percentages . . . who really cares that Everyman or Center Stage have performances ever?
Extra Credit: You are surrounded by marketing every day, all day long. . . . the noise is what marketers are trying to break through anyway they can. For 'professional' peer-to-peer advice, check out this blog: http://arts-marketing.blogspot.com/2012/02/learning-from-past-looking-toward.html?m=1
Center Stage's website is wonderful in that it really tries to reach out to all demographics. On the opening page, Into The Woods is advertised quite colorfully to attract families and theatergoers looking for a light hearted experience. The page then switches to show a more mature and darker show, The Whipping Man, probably aimed towards audience members looking for a more adult themed show, and a show to challenge the mind.
ReplyDeleteThe page also shows every event (closed and opened) that the theatre has to offer. By doing so, viewers of this webpage can see the broad spectacle of theatrical experiences the organization has to offer.
In order to convert sales, the website is designed to show the viewer not only the plays and workshops, but just how affordable the shows are. They emphasize that these are professional shows at incredibly affordable prices. You can even buy the tickets online, which is sure to convert sales!
Therefore, this page is most likely designed for serious theatergoers who truly want to immerse themselves in this world, but also designed for families who want a fun day/night out to see a good, wholesome play or musical.
This particular Superbowl ad is most definitely targeted towards men, probably around the age of 21-late 30s. It shows the woman in the commercial as a representation of the unappealing side of light beers. The ad does, however, try to convey women as strong towards the end when the woman retaliates and tackles the man right off the barstool, and shrugs it off as nothing. By showing that this beer is not only light, but manly, the company probably wants to gain a large male population who buys this particular light ale.
I looked through the specified articles/brochures on this page and saw that most of the people attending the theatre are either college aged (emphasis on the "college") or middle-aged adults. I found it interesting that in the one brochure, they found that with higher education, comes a higher attending of arts events.
Creating relationships and offering opportunities for exchanges (you give me money, I will give you a memorable experience. marketer convince a potential audience member to buy a ticket in many different ways, from newspaper articles to word of mouth and even telemarketing. For example, The Kennedy Center has telemarketers in which the duties include: SD&A, a telemarketing service representing the Kennedy Center, knowledgeable sales representatives for the NSO, Ballet, Dance, and Theater subscription campaigns. These marketers usually call around to people who have already visited the Kennedy center and invite them to shows and offer them deals.
ReplyDeleteAnd then there are other ways of pulling people in such as star power and Bandwagon. Star power is your favorite sports star or celebrity is telling you that their product is the best! Not only Kids listen but adults too, not realizing that the star is being paid to promote the product/activity or whatever it may be. Bandwagon is join the crowd! Don't be left out! Everyone is buying the latest snack food, going to see a certain movie/play: aren't you? Depending on the targeted crowd, the type of marketing strategy change. For example, the superbowl light beer ad targets young to middle age men. The commercial is appealing to them because of what it stands for and the primary goal of this commercial is to sell beer. Beer is what “strong”, “powered” men drinks.
who really cares that Everyman or Center Stage have performances ever? After looking at the percentage, it seem as though people most interested in theatre are college students and middle aged people. I feel like a lot of tickets sells may come from college students also because a lot of times in schools it may be mandatory to attend performances outside of the school even if you are a computer science major just taking a basic into to acting class. Therefore the numbers would of course go up for young adults or college students, but it doesn’t have to mean that they are the most interested over old age people. With great advertising especially on websites and with great prices for a certain crowd of people, I think that theatre’s can reel in anyone of any genre, age, and social status.
As one is directed towered center stages home, we are in0trodu0ced are introduced with a complex, but by no means confusing and intimidating layout. The top bar lists the various pages that one can go to. Below is a slideshow of the various shows that are either in production or upcoming. None of the ones advertised in here are shows that have already closed. For each slide, they have a picture of each production (giving a hint of what the production is about) while over it, the title and the dates. In the Into The Woods slide, one can see in red FINAL WEEK; closing April 15. It is an attention getter, a warning to get ‘em fast. On the Left hand side, we see a list of all the productions that were staged, are being staged, and those that will be staged. Again it says closed next to the ones that have already happened.
ReplyDeleteAndrew was onto something with the Superbowl ad. It is targeted towered men; the male being the protagonist having his hair ruffled. However, I got, that when the one girl ruffled the guys hair, it was a tease that came off as an annoyance, much like some beers are in which they don’t satisfy you. It is almost like beer is the woman; when she is tackled, it is a representation of the anger men have with the drink but when she tackles him, it is the kick of the new drink that “knocks you out.” Or something like that. Frankly, this might be up for interpretation in some ways.
I don’t know if its my computer but the link will not let me access the website. I have tried going to the website another way and getting in another way, but its still giving me a 505. I will check in later to see if it is up and running.
Mr. Baumen’s experience is pretty awesome. He has some things listed that seem like common sense, however, the thing about how theater’s are killing subscriptions is somewhat interesting and somewhat goes hand and hand with discounts. Don’t do them at the last minute. The question is now, when exactly is the best time to bring in discount prices?
Being a Mass Communication major and a marketing/communications intern, I am familiar with the fields of PR, advertising, and marketing. The possibilities are literally endless when it comes to reaching and engaging an organization’s target audience. There are so many options out there that enable communicators to reach their audience, such as publications, direct mail, online advertising, TV/radio/print, and even unique strategies, such as guerilla marketing.
ReplyDeleteThe ad I stumbled across while reading an article on the online edition of The New York Times was a banner for Jazz at Lincoln Center. The ad is bright purple with “SUSCRIBE NOW!” written in a bright red box. This ad was located in the Arts section. Now, it is not a random coincidence that I happened to come across this ad while reading the Arts section. This ad was strategically programmed to appear on this page, rather than the Sports page. The advertisers know that their targeted audience/potential subscribers will visit this page. This is just one of the many tactics Jazz at Lincoln Center has implemented to successfully reach their target market. They know that the same demographic that is reading the Arts section of the NY Times is the same demographic of their desired audience.
For now the Research Report is not opening on my computer, but I will add my thoughts on that as soon as I can.
If you're having trouble with the specific NEA link it is because the site seems to be down right now. I will bring in the demographics to class printed -- basically higher educated and white are the primary purchasers of tickets -- we can talk about why.
ReplyDeleteFYI superbowl demographics might surprise you: http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-02-01/features/ct-tribu-words-work-superbowl-20120201_1_super-bowl-ads-marketers-ad-spots
Cut and paste the link above. It is one of the few sports events with an almost equal female audience . . . and the marketing hits the group with the spending $ in the US (who else can buy a BMW?)
AND -- advice given prior to the superbowl from Forbes Magazine for targeting was:
ReplyDeleteBottom line: Targeting on the Super bowl is overrated. The Super Bowl is the biggest, broadest audience of about 100 million people. About as many women watch it as men, across the whole cross-section of ages. So, it’s not a time to air a highly polarizing ad that only appeals to one demographic segment and—worse—offends another one. Polarizing ads are generally bad on TV; the only exception is when one demographic loves the ad and the other demographics are ambivalent toward it or not offended by it. This is particularly relevant for the Super Bowl as contrasted with other sporting events because the audience is WAY MORE gen pop.
That makes sense! I did't think about it that way!
DeleteI agree with Brett completely. My father is in his late forties and he loves commercials like those. I think the fact that an actual woman was playing football with the guys may attract a more male audience than female. However, the bottom line is that the commercial was targeted to whoever drinks beer and that maybe anyone young or old female or male.
ReplyDeleteAs far as my organization’s website, they are attracting mostly families to their sites with their latest sales on the parks and resorts and hotel discounts. One particular sale that’s advertised and very popular is their Special Summer Offer. Which is $69 per person, per day for a 6 night, 7 day package for a family of 4 at Disney’s All Star Sports Resort. Since the summer is quickly approaching, these packages are saling fast. They also attract their younger crowd with different Disney games, apps and characters. With the colorful bright page filled with children laughing and characters making magical moments it would be quite hard not to attract someone.
Interesting that the for profit is the one that highlights the discounts :-)
ReplyDeleteThe NY Times front-page article on Tues, April 10 read, “Carrie Revival, Now Dead, Has an Autopsy”. The photo shows Carrie drenched in blood under dark red lights wearing a prom dress. It’s a captivating photo and certainly will certainly make you stop and take notice. The article reviewed the recent revival of the off-Broadway musical, which flopped in 1988. It’s based upon the well-known 1974 novel by Stephen King that was made into a movie. Most 40 something’s and older will recognize Carrie as it was a hit horror movie about the socially outcast Carrie who harnesses psychic and paranormal powers that flare up when she is under distress. The height of the movie is when Carrie suffers utter humiliation and is drenched in pig’s blood at the prom. She later kills everyone there and her mother. That’s the short version. The NY Times photo is a snapshot of this scene that anyone who saw Carrie or read the book would instantly recognize. The article is informative and basically gives insight to the ups and downs of the recently closed production. It examines what went wrong and even tries to answer the question of whether horror, gore and death make for a success in which every character is dead at the end. One successful result of the revival is that the musical will be licensable property for high schools, colleges and regional theatres.
ReplyDeleteToby Dinner theatre website is pretty much cut and dry. It’s just a stagnant page that gives information and photos about upcoming performances, auditions, and dinner menu. The website is easy to navigate but it looks amateurship and unprofessional. The visual content is unappealing and outdated. If I had to make a decision to visit Toby’s based upon the way their website looks, I wouldn’t go. It’s that simple for me. If a organization or company is not willing to invest in what people see first, then how much better will they do when they interface with customers face-to-face. The only explanation I can give is that perhaps the audience for this venue is 50plus in age; leisure seniors who are taking in a show and perhaps may not access the Internet as frequently as a young audience member. Nonetheless, if you are for profit and you are losing potential customers even if they fall outside of the typical target audience, you are still losing money.
The Superbowl ad is clearly directed towards young men 21-30 but on the other hand younger people tend to play sports together and drink beer together. Most people watch the Superbowl together…everybody does it at the same time so it makes sense to include an ad that would appeal to both men and women. There are two females in the ad however the one that is the main female is wearing white skinny jeans with a pink belt. Really? Who plays football wearing white skinny jeans…and showing off her tanned skinny waist…hmmm? I think the ad tag line underscores the action of the guy tacking the female. She represents light beer and he represents what men want in light beer….aka anything that doesn’t appear to look “light or effeminate”. In other words, if men need or want to rink light beer then it can’t look the same as what a woman would want in a light beer. It has to be strong and dark. At the end of the ad when the young lady retaliates, her action says that light doesn’t necessarily mean lightweight as in inconsequential…that certainly would appeal to the female viewing audience. I think it’s a good play on “light” and it’s funny. I think men would really like it cause it underscores go hard or go home attitude so prominent in professional sports and women would like it because it shows them on the playing field with men.