keynote: putting it into practice

It’s an honour to be involved in this conference and speak here today There have been so many interes9ng ideas and conversa9ons that have come out of the sessions! I was really pleased to be askedto do this session in par9cular – about pu>ng these ideas into prac9ce – as it basically gives me an excuse to big up some of our clients and celebrate some great examples of organisa9ons pu>ng audiences at the heart of what they do So I have a few examples of how organisa9ons are implemen9ng audience-‐led prac9ce and s9mula9ng the sorts interac9ons we’ve been talking about today – it’s a bit of a whistlestop tour In these examples I hope to be able to show you some rela9vely simple steps and prac9cal ideas which can be emulated elsewhere I will say that most of my examples come from the UK – where I’m normally based (I’m over here for a 6-‐month secondment) But I know there’s so much similar great work going on over here that I’ve come across during m 9me out here, so I’m looking forward to taking lots of these examples back with me and sharing them when I return to the UK later this year!

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Staying with HRP I want to move onto an example from some recent research we’ve done with their members – which emphasises the ‘communi9es not customers’ strand of what we’re talking about

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Our research showed that two-‐thirds of members ini9ally join for values-‐based reasons – so membership allows them to get in for free an visit as many 9mes as they like But when it comes to renewing, members are more than twice as likely to have altruis9c mo9va9ons for con9nuing their membership Our research suggested that if these altruis9c mo9va9ons could be nurtured, reten9on rates should increase Member feedback also suggested that they wanted more acknowledgement and more transparency as to how HRP used their membership fees and support. These two quotes typify the feedback gathered in the qualita9ve research.

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There were clear messages coming through that amplifying the organisa9on’s charity status and how important members’ contribu9ons are would improve members’ brand equity in and commitment in HRP

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Focus is on the ‘transac9onal’ benefits Uses language like ‘price freeze’

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Focus is on the ‘transac9onal’ benefits Uses language like ‘price freeze’

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HRP have made the decision to run more regular member updates on where a certain pot of money goes

The Everyman has a rich history and has always been a central part of Liverpool’s local culture, nurturing talent with many usccessful actors star9ng their careers there. Our work with the Everyman was very much about being Vision Led and audience focused As part of this, the Ar9s9c Director Gemma Bodinez wrote a manifesto. A central idea of this manifesto was theatre seeking to bring joy to the audience and that this joy comes in many forms Joy in theatre does not just mean pu>ng on ‘happy’ plays, but a heart-‐rending tragedy can be a joyous experience if it touches you, if the design is mindblowing, if you felt to be amongst like-‐minded people. Gemma’s manifesto talked about joy coming from exceeding expecta9ons – something that the Everyman should strive to do at all 9mes. Next came the difficult decision as to what to programme for the Everyman’s reopening show. Gemma selected and directed a produc9on of Twel`h Night and used CS to cra` targebed messages

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Here we can see an example aimed at the S9mula9on segment – they were invited to be the first to see inside the new building and to lead the launch party With Enrichment – a very different segment in terms of mindset, but also core to Everyman’s audience were welcomed back to their familiar but refurbished home, acknowledging all the history and ins9tu9onal status of the theatre

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And the last line of the play – sung in repe11on by the whole cast for the curtain call – was no accident. We will strive to please you every day. Which was also printed on the last page of the season brochure. This was the promise that the Everyman Theatre was making to audiences of Liverpool. It treated audiences as a fundamental part of its thinking while being led and inspired by England’s na9onal poet.

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Here’s another symbolic embodiment of the Everyman’s intent to its audience Balloons with the op9mis9c and intriguing opening word of the play ‘if’ cascaded from the ra`ers – a message which referred to the infinite possibili9es of the future of the Everyman and its audiences

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A`erthe opening event, all audience members were sent a thank you card acknowledging their role in the important event It’s a great example of the art and the audience both holding equally central roles in the minds of both the ar9s9c director and the marke9ng team. Both took inspira9on from the play and both considered how audiences would respond at all 9mes.

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The first example I have to share with you is from The Rest is Noise – a 2013 fes9val at the Southbank Centre in London which took audiences on a chronological journey through the most significant music of the 20th century The London Philharmonic Orchestra formed the backbone of the fes9val, playing more than 30 concerts With it being 20th century music – much of it coming from the ‘business end’ end of the 20th century, the LPO were very aware that it was not an easy sell, and that they would need to reach significant numbers of new audiences to supplement their loyal core bookers To meet that challenge, and something that the fes9val did fantas9cally well was to go beyond simply moun9ng a series of concerts – instead there was a whole programme of accompanying talks, films and debates that drama9sed the century’s massive poli9cal and social upheaval – around race, gender, faith, poli9cs – revealing the stories behind the composi9ons. This kind of programming posed a significant opportunity to abract the S9mula9on segment – who we know is a group constantly looking for new and different experiences and thrive from new twists and angles on things and love linking ideas and context together through different ariorms. The fes9val presented S9mula9on

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This is an example of how the fes9val was marketed – a fic99ous Centurion newspaper, designed to pique the interest of S9mula9on by being out of the ordinary – it’s a simple analogue form but unexpected and different – key to catching S9mula9on’s aben9on The LPO published four different issues of the paper, following the style of the part of the century the fes9val had reached Its content focused primarily on the non-‐musical hooks – so the historical and poli9cal context. Although the quirkiness and content was designed to appeal to S9mula9on, the LPO was also mindful of its core Essence audience. We know that Essence like unmediated and clear lis9ngs so that they can make independent and informed decisions, so the design incorporated these green boxes housing complete lis9ngs that were easy to spot. Cri9cally, the publica9on contained not a word of marke9ng copy and in many ways became an extension of the programme itself.

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The format also lent itself to crea9ve distribu9on stunts which incorporated historical eras of the different publica9ons. Distribu9on was targeted at places the LPO knew S9mula9on were likely to hang out – gigs, venues and specific train sta9ons

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There was also a strong online campaign with rich digital content embedded in Facebook such as audio clips, films, interviews with ar9sts, related ar9cles and videos

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And debate and dialogue was also s9mulated on Twiber through the rest is noise hashtag – here’s a genuine and very complimentary tweet from someone about the Centurion newspaper!

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So what were the results of this targebed campaign?

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My final case study comes from the Place – a contemporary dance company in London. The Place has a somewhat challenging offer for audiences: It’s exclusively contemporary dance – so one of the nicher ariorms Most of its produc9ons are brand new, made by young and developing ar9sts and rela9ve unknowns An addi9onal challenge for the marke9ng department is that the work is o`en presented for one or two performances – meaning there’s low poten9al to gain significant media aben9on or to build word of mouth The Place is not just a venue, it’s a dance school and a sort of dance laboratory – in light of the short-‐run produc9ons and up and coming producers and ar9sts, rather than pu>ng on events they aspired to create a ‘scene’ with a strong sense of belonging felt by its audiences. The Place wanted to gain more market share of London’s contemporary dance market and through Culture Segments we were able to iden9fy where the most poten9al lay. Our Audience Atlas research had shown that the Place was a big hit with the Essence segment – which makes sense given their high engagement with performing arts, opennes to taking risks and engage with more challenging ariorms. In fact Essene were so prominent they represented nearly half of the audience – sugges9ng that the

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The first implementa9on of this strategy was for a new mini-‐season called Currency Up un9l that point shows were always marketed about the ar9s9c work, but here marke9ng for Currency focussed on the evening and everything it entailed

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Here’s a strapline for the event: “Currency evenings create a fun, relaxed environment for sharing your thoughts and ideas about new work. What about it speaks to you? What does it say?” The 9cket included dinner at the Place café – during which there was a pre-‐show sharing of new collabora9ons between dancers from the Place and their European peers. The event was very much posi9oned as something to think and talk about and the environment in the café also reflected this. Tables were moved together to help generate discussions and the whole pre-‐show experience centred on the audience having opportuni9es to interact with ar9sts and their surrounding audience members. Differen9ated messages were cra`ed for our three target segments

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Expression – food for thought at the place – this was going to be an opportuni9es for reflec9on Affirma9on – dinner and show with a difference – it was something familiar but also something new, coaxing in this more risk-‐averse segment Essence – more of an intellectual stance: an interna9onal exchange of ideas

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Their next experiment with Culture Segments was targeted specifically at Expression. This was a performance from Protein Dance called Border Tales – a funny and tender look at mul9-‐cultural Britain. The Place was provided with tour print from Protein Dance which is shown here which was just right for Essence (it features ar9sts they’re likely to be familiar with and they’re likely to know the dance company and therefore the style of dance to expect). You can see this campaign didn’t give much away in terms of the actual content of the performance, instead relying on Essence’s prior knowledge and commitment to the Place and this kind of ariorm. So this campaign was distributed in places where Essence were likely to be.

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Then they created a new audience development campaign – for the same piece -‐ to reach into the Expression market. The show has themes around prejudice, casual racism and cultural misunderstandings – spring boards for discussion and themes of inclusivity and diversity that would appeal to Expression. So The Place created a series of postcards to illustrate this – also marke9ng the same event – but clearly with a very different approach

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It can be really simple. Here’s some subject line tes9ng which one of our clients in Australia did a few weeks ago Here we were asking their bookers to fill out the Culture Segments golden ques9ons survey – we tried out 3 different subject lines to work out which led to the most successful open rate

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Here are the results – again evidence that people respond to personal messages

A final idea to end on – having big conversa9ons is not just for marke9ng departments Key to the success of the examples I’ve shared with you is organisa9ons taking a cross-‐departmental and joined-‐up approach. The conversa9ons need to happen everywhere and be maintained once visitors are over the threshold

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It can be really simple. Here’s a lovely sign at the Members’ desk in MoMA in New York You belong here MOMA Museum of Modern Art in New York

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Here’s an example from Tate Tanks Tate Tanks – first phase of a new extension at Tate Modern in London which opened in summer 2012. Tate Tanks aimed to bring performance art and video installa9ons to a wider public. At the foyer of The Tanks, a Comments Wall was installed for visitors to reflect on their visit and their experience. The objec9ve was to provide a communal and par9cipatory interpreta9on resource where discussion, debate, or reflec9on about live art could take place. The ques9ons were quite challenging, including: Does live art have to be experienced? What is the role of the audience? How can art change society?

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It was analogue and digital – with visitors joining in through Facebook, and Google+. They needed to include the hashtag #thetanks, and their comment was projected on the Wall almost immediately

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Here’s an example from Powerhouse’s Odditoreum exhibi9on The show featured eclec9c objects from the depths of their collec9on. And visitors were asked to create their own text labels for these strange objects. Fantasy labels which encouraged imagina9ve play. In this example a 43-‐year old female called Alison – who clearly has a great imagina9on – has turned a pair of blue plaiorm shoes into a bridge for ants!

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And here’s a lovely example from Massive theatre Company – it’s a really simple design A visitor feedback card asking for a few key details and what they’d tell someone about the show who hasn’t bought a 9cket yet

keynote: putting it into practice

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