A Laurel...and Hardy Handshake...

And a tremendous THANK YOU for the Promo Vid. It's wonderful and everything we could have wanted. And, based on Steph's response...it's working already!!! Hope you enjoy the show, Steph.

Thank you, Marcel.

g & l

TALE END - the marketing of a new play. Pt. 2

Mind you, even though the intent was to Create excitement (or at least intrigue) with the creation of a brand new play there was really no "diabolical" plan on how this would be accomplished. So, everything was just one step beyond the "willy nilly" stage. What would be the "hook"... apart from the fact that it was a new play? It was 4 months from "premiering" at Rogue 2007... and a completed play didn't even exist yet.

Epiphany: You can't sell a product that doesn't exist!

Then... BOOM... one morning (after a 4 week drag) there was a sudden burst of creative energy in play writing. Within 7 days the play (at least the first draft) was completed. I can only guess that my creative doodling with the video helped unblock me.

*The success of our "art" has always been dependent on "buzz".

So, now I had a product. (Yeah, chide me for calling it that... but ultimately, if you are selling tickets to a show... you have a product.) Now the promotional thrust began to take shape. 2 words came into play AWARENESS & INTRIGUE.

LET US START WITH AWARENESS

The show had been cast by this point (3 months and counting) and workshop readings were underway. I had asked the cast to post about their experience as the process of creation was taking place... warts and all! (The workshop and rehearsal process turned out to be a "love fest" but that's beside the point... if things got challenging and ugly they had the freedom to blog about it.) Though it did take a while... the cast did finally warm up to the idea.

Blogging
Theatre J'Nerique has had a website since the late 90's. It was pretty much a "static" site that operated as an electronic billbord of sorts. Since we hadn't produced for a while all the "news" there was at least 3 years old.

Adding a blog to it (which is really easy to do) made the site a lot more interactive and immediate. The fact that readers can comment also gave the potential audience member a direct buy-in into the show. * The idea is that if you follow something long enough... you'll want to catch the "final product."

(* All "art" is the skillful craft of manipulating thought and emotion.)

Poster
A poster had already been created for the show. (2 and a half months before.) Instead of limiting it to just a "hard" print form... a digital form was also created and placed on our blog. Readers were actively encouraged to "steal it" for their own blogs or sites.

MySpacing
I had my own MySpace account that I never paid much attention to. I didn't much care for their blog format (Blogger and Wordpress seemed more accessible and immediate) and it always seemed like more of a "dating network for a 13 year old mentality". On the plus side... everyone and his uncle has one and it seemed a great way to send out bulletins to a "captive audience"... if for nothing else maybe a way to get more readers hooked on to the blog at the company site.

The "target audience :

a. the usual suspects (local theatre nerds)
"Friending" target A:
Start with your friends in theatre... then move to "harvest" their friends. (Chances are they are into theatre themselves.)

b. a brand new audience.
"Friending" target B:
Hit "locals" (within a 50 mile radius) who are involved in other disciplines of the arts - poets, musicians, etc. (You'll be amazed how many of those in the other disciplines have never been to theatre... this gives them the perfect reason to check it out.)

Then, just about anyone (within a 50 mile radius) that would respond to your request to "add" them. The rationale was that if only 20 percent of your "friends" took notice of you... that's 20 percent more than you had before.

"Other" Sources:
Apart from MySpace bulletins... articles and notices were also posted in local "citizen journalism" e-zines and email forums from time to time informing of something "interesting" was occurring at our site. (BTW... owning our own domain provided a central and easy to remember location for people to check in to see what was happening at their own convenience.)

Video:
During the workshop period it was also decided that another VIDEO should be produced and posted. This brought even more immediacy to the awareness that "something exciting" was brewing and in the works.

AWARENESS COMPLETE
Two months before mounting the show our site was averaging 200-300 hits a day. Now it was time to move into the area of creating "intrigue".

Read about that in the final Part 3.

We "are more intermittent in nature"

LOL... at least that's what it says in this article in the Bee on Sunday. Why, yes... yes we are. But there are a few minor reasons why we are so at the moment.

Let's forget for now that for several years we were the only active independent theatre company in town... or the fact that we would produce a 4-5 play season... or that three quarter of that season were original works by local playwrights... or that for 4 years we also managed a great 200 seat theater at The Sanctuary... or that part of our work was mentoring and developing a young company to critical acclaim with little or no outside funding... or that none of the shows we produced back then could get reviewed (some strange policy that we had to be in business for at least 2 years before we could be)... or we started the Rogue and produced it for the first 4 years until it became a non-profit entity unto itself (it could be argued then that we've actually produced hundreds of shows)... or that for at least for 2 of those early years we were producing our season of shows just to raise funding for the festival... or that our personnel has now been (burnt out or) absorbed (almost totally) by the Rogue... or that... no, let's just forget about all of that. (Not that anyone called to ask.)

(deep breath.)

But, all that aside... I am actually thrilled that there are 4 new theatre companies in this town. My sincere hope is that they all thrive. It is also my hope that this city has at least 10 active independent theatre companies. (Mo bettah, mo bettah!) Competition is healthy and raises the level of performance and inspires the creation of more (and affordable) playing spaces to perform in. (Really, think about it from a "supply & demand" business logic.)

Yes, it is an actor's market right now. However, since we are on a roll here (at least I am)... I also think (and hope) that the acting pool grows. To that end... I hope that part of the mission of these companies is to nurture and develop new talent to shine on stage. This can only be if casting choices are made outside of the "usual suspects." Sure we all want "ringers" in our productions... but attention (and active encouragement) also needs to be paid to the possible "ringers" of tomorrow. Yes, the colleges are doing a great deal in that area... but let's not just leave it all to them.

I am encouraged and applaud the energy, efforts and ambitions of these 4 new companies. Mega Kudos all around! Lets hope their efforts also inspire and encourage the creation of new audiences to the theatre.... not just target that exclusive "niche market" but also put in the effort and creativity to being inclusive both in the areas of marketing and the creation of our product on stage. Once again, it's supply and demand... let us set about creating (and making real) the notion that the arts is good for business. Because that in fact is what will help all of us thrive.

Just for the record... I am proud of what has happened... that we are and continue to be generous with our (limited) resources... wouldn't have done it any other way.

For a bit there... you did think it would go the other way, huh? (Boy, our old site looks crappy.) LOL!