Arts Marketing - The Tao of BITS (Butts In The Seats) Pt.1

ARTS MARKETING of THEATRE
(or... the Internet - it's not just for porn anymore)
by Marcel Nunis (Theatre J'Nerique)

As a playwright, director and producer in the theatre I was plagued for years with these nightmare questions:

• How do I push the show without "selling out"?
• Will I compromise my "art" by marketing my show aggressively?
• How do I compete with big media for an audience on a budget?
  

Let us first admit to our own sins. Yes, there does exist a snotty "holier than thou" attitude in the world of the arts. We roll our eyes over a marketing budget and campaigns. We protest with excuses like... "That's going to cost too much!" or "This show is brilliant enough to sell itself!" Then we capitulate "within reason" insisting on "traditional arts marketing" (posters, flyers and press releases) and exercise care not to "go overboard and compromise our art" through "aggressive and crass" commercialization. Our show opens and performances are barely selling a third of the house with audience members made up mostly of family, friends and "supporters". Our show eventually closes and we are relieved that it broke even.

In the meantime, someone else's show opens. We hear the first weekend is bringing in "sold out" crowds. We turn up the second weekend to "support our comrades" only to be met with lines wrapped around the block. In fact, we are one of 30 people turned away at that performance. We envy their success (never admitting it outwardly) and inevitably discuss (gossip) in hushed tones about the "pedestrian quality" of THAT show while drowning our sorrows at the local bar without having even seen it yet.

• "Did you see their poster? She was almost naked in it!"
  
• "Those people in line are not a REAL theatre audience... they don't even have a subscriber base like we do."
  
• "We don't need a hit... we are artists!"
  
• "Can you believe they used the Internet to market their show... with promotional videos??"

The discussion eventually descends into moaning about "the death of theatre" and how the mediums of film, TV and videos are destroying the communal shared experience of "live" performance.

Let us take a few steps back, shall we? Perhaps we need to be reminded of several important factors concerning the craft we are engaged in. This cuts across the board... weather we practice theatre as a hobby, amature, professional, or student. These factors concern ANY level of theatre including, academic, community, dinner, repertory, fringe, independent, profit or non-profit. In fact, many of these factors also apply to almost any discipline in the arts.

FACTOR 1- Every discipline of the arts is a medium of communication.
Through our various mediums we utilize creativity to communicate... stories, ideas, issues, etc. Our mediums are dependent on an audience to communicate these ideas to. Without an audience... our "art" does not exist. Just because we have rehearsed our show for 4 to 6 weeks does not mean anybody is going to turn up to experience it unless they are aware that it is happening. This is where the next level of "communication" comes into play through effective marketing and creating a buzz.

FACTOR 2 - The success of our "art" has always been dependent on "buzz".
It can be argued that "showbiz" as we know it today was invented by The Bard and his peers over 400 years ago. I'm even willing to bet that in the earliest recorded history of western theatre, buzz was a major factor in getting the word out for a show.

DIOMEDES: We really have to check out that new play at the Theatre of Dionysis!
KADMOS: What's it about?
DIOMEDES: A guy who kills his father and marries his mother. Totally scandalous!
KADMOS: Yeah, everyone at the market is talking about it! That wacky Sophocles... what will he think of next?!

I will argue that until 40 to 50 years ago, practitioners in the arts were always on the cutting edge of marketing. Until the early 60's many of the "hit" songs on radio were showtunes from Broadway shows (which in turn helped sell those shows at the theater box-office).

Then a malaise set in and there seemed to be a collective rise in the "victim" attitude all around. It is true that the popularity of film and TV diminished the box-office returns of "live" theatre. Plus, trends and tastes in music were changing, showtunes began to lose it's popular voice and it became expensive to advertise in the new media.

So, do we roll over and play dead or do we pick ourselves up and exercise creativity developing new methods with a brand new affordable medium (hint: the Internet) that puts everyone on a level playing field?

FACTOR 3 - All "art" is the skillful craft of manipulating thought and emotion.
A playwright does it through the structure of plot and design of language. The director does it by conceptualizing an emphasis that he/she wants to explore in the work and communicating it to his/her cast and crew. The actor does it through the physical control of his or her instrument. Designers (set, lighting and sound) do it through the cunning arrangement in their areas of stagecraft.

Let's face it... there is a lot of creativity and innovation involved in creating our "product". Shouldn't the same energy and emphasis be given to selling it?

FACTOR 4 - At least 95 percent of those "great plays" we learn about in theatre history made money!
Sure, there were some that were "closet masterpieces, flops or were "just ahead of their time" but most of them were successes at the box-office. (Some of those "ahead of their time" flops came back to do boffo box-office.)

Even "great works" have to be effectively marketed to create a buzz to get B.I.T.S. Then, the strength of the show (product) further amps up the buzz to create more "sold out" shows. Really folks, "Death Of A Salesman" (a serious non-musical drama) that "American theatre classic" did good box-office.

Perhaps all of us in the theatre (and in the arts in general) need to rethink how we market our craft. I truly believe that a new day is emerging. The novelty of movies, TV and videos have plateaued. Audiences are ready to get out again and partake in "live" performance once more. Theatre can become a vital (and profitable) medium again. It really does not matter the style of theatre you engage in... it can all be vital once more.

We just have to put aside our stuffy attitudes and fears and strike out to once more become innovators. Not just within our craft (and the products we create) but also in marketing them. Perhaps if we are willing to learn once more we can take note of the techniques utilized by our brethren in rock and roll, film, etc and pounce on the new affordable media like the Internet which is capable of reaching out to a new audience.

The choice is to rise from the embers or to diminish into the ash of irrelevancy.

CLICK HERE FOR PART 2 - Especially if you are in Independent Theatre. Other articles on the other disiplines of the arts will be added soon!

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