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Today’s theatres are becoming much more sophisticated when getting and retaining season subscribers. A succinct understanding of strategic and tactical marketing principles, as well as optimizing the price of your tickets will net greater subscription sales and higher retention rates.
Ralph Maffongelli, director of theatre for the past 27-years at the Sheboygan Theatre Company, watched uneasily as a long dormant movie house underwent a $10 million restoration and renovation campaign to become a performing arts center with a seating capacity of over 1,000. He also closely observed the University of Wisconsin-Sheboygan expand its theatre program under a new director with renewed purposed and new ideas. Sheboygan, Wis., with a population of just over 50,000, was fast becoming a community rich in theatre, giving patrons even more entertainment choices--and maybe a little competition for his Sheboygan Theatre Company.
Then 9/11 hit.
“It was like a perfect storm,” recalls Maffongelli. “We had this mushrooming of performing arts at the time and, well, none of us could fathom the repercussions of 9/11.”
His season subscriber totals suffered from the ripple effect. From the ’01 -’02 season to the ’05 -’06 season, Maffongelli saw subscriptions drop a little over one-third, a big decrease representing an even bigger challenge for the Sheboygan Theatre Company.
Do Your Homework and Get Results
Maffongelli confronted his declining subscriber base head on. In order to respond to these challenges, he resisted a knee-jerk response and carefully weighed the historical data. He tracked which subscribers lapsed-adult and child, popularity of previous shows, pricing by other arts venues, the types of shows they were staging.
“We decided on three big musicals as enticement and also selected shows we thought that a lot of people would want to see whether they bought a season ticket or not,” explains Maffongelli, who picked “Annie,” “Beauty and the Beast,” and “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.” Maffongelli continues, “When we realized that the three musicals had roles for youngsters, we added “Anne Frank,” and “Cheaper by the Dozen” because we really wanted to give more children an opportunity.” Patrons dubbed the season “family friendly” and would bring their children or grandchildren, increasing the number of tickets previous patrons would purchase.
Maffongelli also decided to challenge the old paradigm of charging two different prices for musicals and non-musicals. “We decided to make the single ticket price for non-musicals the same as musicals, but in so doing we raised both prices. Musicals went from $16.00 to $20.00 and non-musicals went from $13.00 to $20.00,” says Maffongelli. “We were already in such trouble that we could afford to take a little risk on raising the price for non-musicals and with the increase in ticket prices, I could make the subscription promotion more enticing and still not lose revenue.”
Maffongelli devised an incredible offer to lure and compete for price-conscious families. He countered the increase in pricing with a “5 Shows for $50” season subscriber promotion-a 50% savings over single ticket pricing. Many of the patrons viewed this as 2-for-1, but as Maffongelli liked to position it, “You could now take a family of four out to the theatre five times a year for only $150.00. That’s an excellent value if you compare paying $100 at the Box Office for just one person to see all five shows!”
The end result proved to be an excellent value for the Sheboygan Theatre Company. And although Maffongelli admits that every year is still a struggle and each expense is carefully weighed, subscriptions rose nearly 80% to record levels from a low of about 1550 season subscriptions to 2800 in one season.
When Price Matters
Even Berkeley Repertory Theatre located in Berkeley, Calif., can face a challenge of filling seats in the 400-seat Thrust Stage and the 600-seat Roda Theatre. Robert Sweibel, director of marketing and communications, laments the obvious problem facing many theatres, “We felt confident that we had a premium product, but we still had seats to fill. A few years ago, we made increasing attendance our number one objective.”
Sweibel reviewed previous performance data and local competition and concluded that they were perceived as being over-priced. He sought out anecdotal data by asking for customer feedback, which led him to believe that their pricing structure was not conducive to attracting younger, more cost-sensitive audiences. Sweibel put a hypothesis into play that was built around a new, more appealing pricing structure to increase attendance based on a simple premise-better seats, higher prices.
The question on Sweibel’s mind was whether his current patron base would be accepting of a seat-driven pricing model and if indeed this new model would attract a younger demographic with more affordable pricing With the blessing of his board, he hired a consumer marketing research firm to initiate a pricing study to determine the optimum prices to attract the ideal audience.
“We were looking for the ‘sweet spot’ in pricing our tickets,” explains Sweibel. “But the key issue we needed to understand was whether our patrons would value the premium seating over saving money.” Applying the basics of supply and demand, Sweibel felt that there was always going to be a certain number of patrons willing to pay more for better seats. This in turn would allow Berkeley Rep to lower prices for the less desirable seats to attract that elusive younger demographic and still not lose revenue.
“We didn’t reinvent the wheel here,” states Sweibel. “But we needed to substantiate our hypothesis with quantifiable data and sound financial analysis.”
The research did indeed provide infinite degrees of pricing preferences, but it was still up to Sweibel and his team to present their recommendations to the board. “Research is invaluable and can give us insight,” cautions Sweibel, “but in the end, it is still up to us to figure it out.”
Finding the “Sweet Spot”
It’s not every year that you celebrate a milestone in theatre, much less when you are trying to roll out a new pricing structure, but the Berkeley Rep had the good fortune to add some excitement to its 2008 40th year anniversary-a new cost structure for its tickets. Nestled under its overall positioning of the “Berkeley Rep is celebrating 40 years with great artists and inviting new ticketing prices,” Berkeley Rep consciously chose to celebrate a “birthday” rather than an anniversary.
“We wanted to be unique-everyone in theatre marks their anniversary-but we wanted to engage our community in a celebration and make them feel more a part of it,” Sweibel explains. “Besides ‘birthday’ is a less highfalutin word, and it fit better with the whole idea of giving the community a gift of lower prices.”
And what a gift it has been. Subscriptions now start at $84--a savings of 34% over the previous year. For each of Berkeley Rep’s two theatres, the Thrust Stage and the Roda, A and B ticketing options were created with different pricing for each section. In Section B, prices start as low as $27; whereas in Section A, tickets begin at $33, with premium seats costing $37 or more.
Berkeley Rep has also found a sweet spot attracting a younger, hipper audience by offering affordable half-price discounts for anyone under 30. Sweibel reports that the under age 30 crowd has grown a remarkable 73% in the past three years.
“What we know now is that we are getting a lot of new patrons that we didn’t have in the system before,” says Sweibel. “Single ticket sales exploded with a 25% increase in the sale of Section B tickets, even though there were Section A tickets available.” Which leads Sweibel to reason that ticket cost was an issue for their younger demographic in that they believed in the Berkeley brand of quality performances, but they couldn’t afford the price of admission. By establishing a broader, more inclusive pricing strategy, rewarding frequency in attendance with lower prices and limiting discounts, Berkeley Rep may have truly found a way to engage a new generation of theatergoers.
The Perfect Package
The Goodman Theatre in Chicago, Ill., takes its commitment to affordably priced tickets very seriously. Having moved into its state-of-the-art complex, which houses its two principal theatres, the 850-seat Albert Theatre and the 400-seat flexible Owen Theatre, in 2000, Goodman affordably offers subscription packages starting at five plays for $100.
“The quality and excellence of Goodman Theatre’s artistic product-and considering the steep ticket prices at neighboring venues in the downtown theatre district-make our low-priced subscriptions among the best deals in Chicago theatre,” explains Lori Kleinerman, director of marketing and public relations for Goodman Theatre. “Prices are set very carefully, as the Goodman is known for its affordable subscriptions; the theatre’s leadership is mindful of our subscribers’ needs and is committed to keeping price increases moderate.”
In addition to affordable subscription packages, Goodman also has two discount ticketing programs, Mezztix and 10Tix. Mezztix, a half-price, same-day-of-show tickets in the mezzanine section, has evolved from a popular program that has been in place for several years called Tix at Six (half-price tickets at 6 p.m. at the box office). Mezztix sales have increased by 40% over the past season with a more aggressive promotion strategy that included print advertising, e-marketing, and communication of availability to the press.
Goodman has also made audience development a top priority starting with students. With so many universities located within just a few miles of downtown Chicago, Klienerman and her team develop 10Tix, a discount ticketing promotion that offers students mezzanine tickets for just $10-a savings of up to 84% on some tickets.
“10Tix is a brand new program created expressly for this audience of college and graduate students,” says Kleinerman. “The work we present, whether by emerging talent or established playwrights, is often studied by students and relevant to their lives.”
In addition to these two packages, Goodman has launched seven targeted audience development initiatives to build its subscriber base of which the most notable standouts include the frequently sold out PlayTime, an hour-long, bring-your-own lunch performance discussion series designed to reach people in Chicago’s downtown Loop; the sold out Divine Package, which bundles ethnically-diverse plays in one package starting at $59 and has generated tremendous growth in Goodman’s African-American subscriber base; The Scene Package, dubbed the “young professional” package, combines three plays with pre-show off-site events for $100; Neighbor Night, which cultivates the very transient urban demographic and bundles dinner and a show; and Goodman’s first-ever Diversity Breakfast, which attracted corporate community members to hear key Goodman administrators and trustees speak about the theatre’s commitment to diverse works.
Steering a New Course with Price-Sensitive Packages
With an economy tied in large part to the automotive industry’s well-being, the Flint Youth Theatre has had its ups and downs when it comes to selling season subscriptions. Seeing nearly a 90% decrease in subscriptions from 2000 to present, associate artistic director, Walter Hill, and marketing manager, Stephanie Ramirez, had the business of turning around declining subscriptions cut out for them.
“Our local economy is challenged by high rates of unemployment and job loss,” explains Hill. “In general, we have a community with less disposable income, more entertainment choices, and a higher than average chance that our citizens will relocate-all of which makes it very difficult to retain a subscriber.”
In response to this significant decline in subscriptions, Hill and Ramirez set out creating various packages built around the different performance series offered at the Flint Youth Theatre. The three main packages target families with children of different age groups: Signature Series - Core programming of inter-generational productions with some original works by the Flint Youth Theatre; Razzle Dazzle Series - Designed for families with children ages three and up with performances ranging from juggling to music; and Off The Press Series - Created for parents and their teenage children, these informal staged readings draw from some of the latest plays on Broadway and Off-Broadway and include talk-back with artist.
To add even more flexibility and targeting, Flint Youth Theatre combines shows to offer subscribers a consistent experience through its Special Event package. And for those patrons who want to pick and choose from any of the shows offered by the Flint Youth Theatre, there are the Create Your Own and Show Passes packages, each allowing the flexibility to pick the shows you want when you want to see them-sometimes even on the day of performance.
A season subscription to the Flint Youth Theatre not only offers flexibility but price savings as well-up to 46%. Even with a percent of their income contributed, Hill still had to examine pricing factors and look at comparable prices in the local market. “This year’s pricing strategy is in direct response to the declining subscription sales and an attempt to guide patrons to shows based on interest, age, and availability.”
Marketing that Makes Subscription Sense
Ramirez, in charge of the marketing for the Flint Youth Theatre, created a world-class 50th season brochure that not only caught the attention of potential patrons, but also helped explain the new subscriber packages. Paid for in part by grant monies, the brochure was the cornerstone of a campaign that included two-step direct mail, group sales, Web ticket sales, and in-person up selling by box office personnel.
“For the 2008-2009 season, we are planning to dig deeper in specific zip codes for our direct marketing and strengthen our focus on the Internet with more e-marketing and a redesigned, interactive Web site and email club,” says Ramirez.
Goodman plans to continue to promote their offerings in one “new acquisition” brochure with the goal of encouraging patrons to subscribe to both theatres and become a Platinum subscriber. Direct mail, supported by telemarketing and e-marketing, is hands down their most effective way for Goodman to sell subscriptions.
Berkeley Rep uses a combination of traditional and new media but always stays consistent with its key message. “There is no silver bullet when it comes to promotion,” says Sweibel. “We’ve found that the best way to promote our subscriptions and single shows is through an integrated media approach which includes e-marketing, our Web site, direct mail, radio and advertising.”
And Maffongelli, who really drew attention to his “5 Shows for $50” promotion with a large Sheboygan Theatre Company $50 bill season brochure notes that sometimes your efforts to promote your theatre pay off in unexpected ways. “We had a booth at the Labor Day Sheboygan County Fair, which we normally do,” explains Maffongelli. “However this year, with this special promotion, we sold ten times what we typically would sell. I can’t pinpoint exactly why it happened except for the offer, but from that point on, we saw an increase in subscription sales.”
The Pillars of Marketing
Just when you got used to the 4-P’s of Marketing, Bernard Booms and Mary Bitner want you to embrace seven.
Take a few moments to define each of these P’s for your theatre to bring clarity to your marketing strategies and consistency to how you execute your marketing plans.
1 Product - It may seem obvious, but clearly define what is being offered.
2 Price - At what price do you plan to sell subscriptions and single tickets? What value-addeds are included?
3 Promotion - How will you position your offer, and what is the best marketing communications mix to use?
4 Place - Where is your product/service sold? This may change for many theatres with growing online ticket sales.
5 People - For inside staff as well as your patron base, define the current people associated with your theatre, as well your desired audience and employees.
6 Physical Evidence - Since there is a physical encounter one has when attending theatre, how can you market the surroundings a patron will experience when coming to your theatre?
7 Process - How will patrons interact with your theatre at the time of purchase? Again your Web site may be a focal point.
To continue the conversation about selling subscriptions, visit the DramaBiz Form at www.dramabiz.com/forum
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©2008 DramaBiz Magazine. All Rights Reserved
©2005 Dramabiz Magazine. All Rights Reserved.