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Since the theater owners hire the box office staff, it’s difficult for producers to implement cross-promotional initiatives around ticketing. Jujamcyn, Roundabout, and MTC, do a good job of promoting their shows at all of their venues. In fact, Jujamcyn advertises its five productions on its ticket envelope while most other Broadway houses use the standard Telecharge envelope. Roundabout and MTC have posters and flyers for all of their shows at all of their venues. LCT doesn’t cross promote as well as the other nonprofits on Broadway and the Suberts and the Nederlanders don’t brand their shows nearly as well as Jujamcyn. Other theaters should look to their successes.
It's much easier to market to people when they are in your house.
Advertising isn't about impressions. It's about conversions. Someone could offer me a free 1,000,000 piece direct mail for Godspell to citizens in Sri Lanka and it would be just about worthless, because the odds of a Sri Lankan citizen buying tickets to a Broadway show, are, well . . . like t...
I love the idea of applying price discrimination to group sales. It seems that Telecharge no longer lists the discounted price scheme for Broadway shows. Giving group sales agents price flexibility would certainly help increase revenue if the agents are invested in the process. I actually think that your approach to group sales is excellent on the Godspell website. There is rarely an individualistic approach to group sales, differentiating between students, seniors, religious groups, etc. Dynamic pricing has worked for single ticket sales. Agents can sell more effectively by identifying the means of particular segments.
One group price fits all. But should it?
When pricing a show these days, whether it's on Broadway or in any theater around the country, there are four categories a producer needs to consider. Premium Price Regular Price Discount Price Group Price The first three prices are generally pretty fixed, as they are announced publicly, and...
While it’s true that some shows aren’t relevant to certain segments, I think that we should continue to develop audiences. We have to encourage untraditional audiences to attend live theater so that there are audiences in 30 years. Bring in ‘Da Noise, Bring in ‘Da Funk was 96% sold in its first year on Broadway due to intense audience development efforts. The touring production was also extremely successful due to expansive promotional activities. Many other productions have successfully developed untraditional audiences. While it might not make the most financial sense, I think that marketers have a certain responsibility to reach out to these segments.
One thing producers can learn from politicians.
With all the chatter about the upcoming presidential election, you'd think it was tomorrow, not a year from now. I'm sure I'll write quite few blogs over the next twelve months about how running a political campaign is like running a Broadway show, but I had one simple observation that couldn'...
This is just like the paperless ticketing bill that made non-transferable paperless tickets illegal. While that bill protects consumers, it places a lot of stress on theater owners and producers. However, this new bill doesn’t even protect consumers. A scalper could simply send additional bodies to purchase tickets. This would be a huge annoyance to me, since I purchase tickets for my family of five. New York should focus efforts on the online scalpers and the seedy men in Times Square, not the box office.
The NY City Council is getting into the ticket turf fight.
A blog reader and POG who I also refer to as "the other Ken" tipped me off to a City Council meeting that happened on Friday to discuss, "the unavailability of tickets for entertainment venues for people in New York." The Council's concern is when a much-in-demand event like Book of Mormon, Hug...
There are a few factors that get me to make a repeat visit to a show. If I’m obsessed with the show, I’ll go back a few times. I’ll also return if a favorite performer is leaving or someone exciting joins the cast. I bring large groups of friends and family members to a show I’ve already seen at least twice a season, so quality certainly plays a large role in my largest purchase.
Lisa V, I agree with your suggestion. I would certainly respond well to an email recommending HURT VILLAGE after I see THE MOUNTAINTOP. Unfortunately, very few companies are willing to recommend productions that they have no financial stake in.
How can we get people to see a show a second time?
One of the economic challenges of a long-running musical or play is that because it's pretty much the same experience, it's hard to get an audience to come back a second time (which is one of the more subtle reasons why it has to be higher priced). It's not like a sporting event, where each an...
It would be wonderful if all the unions could get in a room and discuss the workday throughout the production process. I doubt that hours and days per week or breaks were addressed in the October 4th agreement between Actors' Equity Association and the Broadway League, but we’ll see once the agreement is ratified.
I believe that the Local 802 strike of 2003 and the Local One strike of 2007 principally addressed minimums in Broadway houses. Perhaps if discussions among the unions were strictly limited to the structure of the workday, and minimums and salaries were avoided, some consensus could be reached.
I’m curious as to the extent that certain regulations impede the creative process. Do you know how often are shows shortened to avoid paying overtime for crew or musicians?
The incongruity of our contracts.
For those of you reading my Godspell Blog, you know that I'm in the midst of teching Godspell. Techs for Broadway shows can be some of the most expensive and time consuming events leading up to a show's first performance. A big musical can easily spend more than $1mm in labor alone just gett...
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