1. Opera Ireland Digital Strategy Approach
Date 18th January 2012
Note: This is purely an academic exercise, The Arts Council withdrew funding and
Opera Ireland shut down in 2010. An Irish national opera company has not been set
up to replace it and the Arts Council continues to fund productions on an ad hoc basis
with the exception of guaranteed funding for the Wexford Opera Festival.

2. Background
Up until the mid 20th century a number of celebrated Opera companies regularly
visited Ireland. However costs rose prohibitively and in 1936 when Louis Eliman took
over the management of the Gaiety Theatre in Dublin, the Dublin Grand Opera
Society established its two annual seasons. The DGOS replaced the touring
companies and continued to offer two seasons right through to the next century. In
the 90s it was felt a new name, Opera Ireland, reflected the patronage of all Irish
Opera lovers.
Three years ago the Arts Council decided to shut down OI and the Opera Theatre
Company and the Wexford Opera Festival with a view to introduce a new all
encompassing national company. Political inaction meant that publicly funded full
scale opera, with the exception of the Wexford Opera Festival, disappeared from Irish
cultural life for eighteen months. A new funding structure was put in place in 2012
and the Arts council backed productions by the Everyman in Cork and Wide Open
Theatre, The Gaiety, and the Lyric Theatre in Dublin. A further development on the
Irish Opera scene has been the reintroduction of Dublin dates on the programmes of
major touring companies over the past ten years.
From 2013 Arts Council funding will be directed through a new national company
called under the established name, Opera Ireland. It has been set up with small
overheads, a small staff and low fixed costs. It doesn’t have a theatre to run and works
sometimes on its own and sometimes in collaboration with other production
companies to stage productions drawing in the first instance on local talent.
Opportunity
The scope of OI’s remit through the Arts Council is to provide and promote world
class Opera to an Irish audience. It is incumbent on the organisation to be cognisant of
the fact that we exist in a digital world and this must be reflected in our marketing
efforts. (See App. 1). The information depicted in Appendix 1 is self explanatory and
it is also worth noting that
1. IPSOS MRBI’s social media quarterly tracking research in November shows
over one in five Irish people have a Twitter account an increase of 7% on last
year.
2. The same survey shows a decrease of 6% of people who are not members of
any social networking sites that figure stands at 36% and falling.
3. Socialbakers.com research released this January indicates that Ireland has not
succumbed to Facebook fatigue with a growth of 127, 060 users in the past six
months to 2.25m people just under half of the total population.
Given that the very young and the very old do not use Facebook or Twitter these
research studies present a scenario that must be taken into consideration when
formulating marketing strategy.
It is self evident that an opportunity exists to connect with our target market across a
number of digital platforms in a relevant and effective manner.

3. Audience
The proposed digital strategy approach will compliment and enhance our existing
marketing campaign aimed at ABC1 male and female, urban, aged 35+.
To demonstrate the traits, needs, motivations and behaviours of our target market
detailed exploration has been undertaken using three persona types See App. 2
The audience wishes to enjoy quality productions from the classic canon and to be
associated with the heritage of OI.
OI will benefit by becoming the leading Opera producer in the state achieving box
office receipts of 90% per production. It will achieve of 60% share of all Opera ticket
revenue in the state in 2012. (Excluding the Wexford Opera Festival which lists an
avant garde programme).
The intention is for OI to produce the ‘must see’ opera productions for Opera lovers in
Ireland.
Communication Channels
Having analysed the media usage of our target the most relevant media channels are
found to be as follows;
Owned Earned Paid
Website Facebook Display Ads
Email newsletter Twitter Blog sponsorships
SEO Forums/interest groups Text ads
Mobile App Pop ups
The planned role of each touch point is to engender awareness, reassurance and
purchase. Where each touch point relates to these three actions is illustrated in App. 3
Paid for display and text ads, pop ups and advocacy will all promote awareness of OI
in ‘push’ fashion to our target appearing when they have not been actively searched
for. Facebook advocacy, twitter mentions, blogs and forum interest groups along with
an excellent website and newsletter will provide reassurance to our target customers
that OI will deliver their needs. Offers through sms and through the newsletter along
with a ticket purchase option on the OI website will drive sales.
The execution of the communication messages through these channels is to be
decided. It is envisaged that advocacy will be developed through the use of a mobile
app in the very effective way deployed by Obama’s team in the 2012 American
election campaign. Supporters had the option of downloading a Team Obama App
and were then asked if they would give permission to allow the team access their
Facebook friends to forward on particular campaign messages. The fact that the
messages such as ‘Don’t forget to Vote’ came from friends rather than other media
resulted in a better uptake. Supporting OI is felt by some of our target (see Phelim &
Olive) to lend them a desirable kudos and they would be happy to become advocates
for OI through allowing their Facebook friends to be contacted in a similar way.

4. Required Resource
Given the financial and staffing resource within OI the optimum agency involvement
to implement the plan is a single agency model to cover all aspects of the digital
approach including the website design. This will ensure there is complete
understanding of the budget restrictions with no inter agency disputes and will aid
consistency of our communications message across all platforms.
Internally the Marketing Manager will lead the project with the support of the Sales
Administrator and input from all members of the management committee. Devising
and implementing the plan will be a KPI for the Marketing Manager.
Provision will also be made to conduct a qualitative research survey by a seaparate
research house to be carried out in spring with a view to repeating the exercise after
eighteen months.
Timings
The Marketing Manager will report on progress at the monthly management meeting
and it is expected the plan will be in place within three months however the website
will be required to go live by March 1st in advance of the spring season productions.
Evaluation
Success for this project will be measured against these targets;
• 90% ticket sales for OI Autumn season productions
• 60% share of Opera ticket sales in Ireland (Excluding Wexford Opera
Festival)
It would prove useful to run a qualitative research survey to measure current attitudes
to OI relative to other Opera offerings in Ireland and to Theatre and Concert offerings
in general amongst the target. The survey would be repeated in eighteen months to
measure the effectiveness of the marketing strategies in achieving the target of OI
becoming the ‘must see’ among opera lovers in Ireland.
If you go to no other Opera this year you must go check out Opera Ireland

5. AP 1
P
Proliferation of Digital channels

6. “I don’t care what other people think, my life is my own and I’m going
to make the most of it”
Matt is his ow n man, recently divorced w ith no children he’s enjoying the sin gle
lif e, but t his time round he f eels more mature and n o lo nger liv es f or the
w eekend.
He’s starting consider his health and is getting into cooking good food for
himself and even sometimes f or f riends. He’d like t o meet someo ne roma ntically
and he’s tried t he o nline datin g scene but f rankly can’t be bot hered - if it
happe ns it happens Media Usage
Attending the Opera is anot her proof to Mat t’s that he’s becoming more mature
and it’s a bonus the music is so stirring and uplifting - w ho knew !! •Matt constantly uses his
iphone on twitter work and
Gmail and facebook when
Key Characteristics State of Mind Goals he’s out and about.
•Divorced no children lives alone in •Have a full on immersion in
•Seeks out new experiences •He will save weblinks that
an apartment near to Grand Canal the performance
these days more likely to be of interest him in note form
Quay bought for a steal with his half
the mind rather than physical. •Educate himself
of the divorce settlement. with tools such as evernote.
•Become an Opera
•Seen a decrease in earning power •Happy to invest a few bob in •He will email or text friends
connoisseur.
with the recession but lucky to have himself if he feels he’ll enjoy it.
small mortgage and enough to keep to exchange information
his 30m boat and membership of •When he does try something about upcoming productions
Malahide Yacht Club. new he’ll engage fully in it, he’ll and afterwards share his
research the most critically views on them on twitter and
•Socialises in the club and with his
acclaimed version of any Opera facebook.
work crowd and old college buddies
he plans on attending and listen
in the city. Has seriously cut back on
to it constantly to get into the
his drinking but still has a very
‘right frame of mind’ for the
occasional blowout.
performance.
•Is up for trying new things but
reckons his bungee jumping days •He’ll seek out reviews and
are definitely over. recommendations online and
from peers.
Why support Opera Ireland
The operas are from the classic canon, its low risk for a newbie to the genre. They provide quality productions
A connection to the world of Opera internationally.
“There’s so much going on it would be a shame to miss out, life is for
living”
Hilda and jean are sisters-in-law and have know n each other for longer than
the care to remember. They play bridge together every Wednesday morning
for the past ten years or so.
Since Jean’s husband passed aw ay six years ago they have made a point of Media Usage
having a few outings a year together. Hilda has been an inter mittent opera
goer throughout her adult life but Jean alw ays made a point of attending •They both did a ‘computers
Opera Ireland ’s (or the DGOS’ as it w as previously know n) Spring and
Autumn offerings every year. for the terrified’ course with
They both love the chance to put on their fur coats and make the most of the their local VEC three years
evening, sure w here else can you w ear them these days. ago and now use the internet
to a limited degree
Key Characteristics State of Mind Goals
•Jean is widowed and lives alone in •To have a wonderful time •They are comfortable with
•Interested in keeping active standard web pages rather
a serviced apartment, Hilda lives revisiting productions they
both mind and body.
with her husband in the family know so well. than interactive or social
home. designs but they purchase
• Jean has a deep appreciation •To get away from every day
•Financially stable, they are very for classical music and Hilda is life in a tried and trusted way theatre tickets on line.
aware about money issues. They particularly moved by the sad
•Enjoy glamming up and •Hilda also uses Amazon and
both run small cars. stories, Madame Butterfly
reliving past times. the Book depository to
always makes her cry .
•Between them they have five
children with whom they keep strong purchase books for her book
•They always talk through club on line. She doesn’t
links even the one who lives with his
productions they might attend
family overseas.
but in the end Hilda entrusts
really like the idea of
•Both enjoy planning time together Jean to make good choices for eBooks.
for bridge weekends away and days them both. Jean researches
out in the city. visiting touring companies on
•Jean skypes her son in
line with the help of her Austin every Sunday he also
daughters before booking. set her up on facebook to
share photos, she’s getting
used to it.
Why support Opera Ireland
Opera Ireland’s heritage goes back almost as long as the ladies themselves. Its only right to support an Irish company.
Familiar operas in familiar surroundings always deliver.
App. 2

7. “We’ve reached an age where we’re a couple again not just Mam and
Dad, we want to have adventures of our own.”
Phelim and Olive are finally getting to rediscover w ho they really are as a
couple after many years of mainly being “ Mam” and “Dad” to their three children.
Rather than seeing themselves as “empty nesters” they are enjoying t heir new ly
renew ed sense of independence and the opportunities for adventur e that it
brings.
Media Usage
Going to live performances are Phelim and Olive ’s w ay of being ‘just us’ and
enjoying time alone aw ay from the demands of family life. They s eek out •While traditional advertising
Theatrical and Musical productions that are steeped in culture t hat they can
soak up and reminisce about w hen dining out together or w ith old friends plays an important role the
couple often wait until the
Key Characteristics State of Mind Goals reviews are published to
•Married with three children aged 26 •Relax and share their
decide if they may attend a
•Both share a sense of production.
23 and 21. enjoyment together.
liberation and a desire to spend
•Phelim is an Industrial chemist with a quality time together. •Indulge themselves. •They are likely to google
large pharmaceutical company and productions to get some for
•Have interesting
Olive returned to education in her •They are comfortable enough plays and operas and their
conversations about their
forties qualifying as a school teacher to allow themselves a few
three years ago and has secured indulgences and they feel they
experiences with friends composers and authors to
contract employment in a local deserving. •Broaden their cultural enhance their enjoyment.
school. horizons in authentic and
•They enjoy sharing their reliable ways. •They may email or text
•Supporting their two youngest in friends seeking
cultural experiences with
college. they were delighted not to
have been tempted into property
friends and value peer recommendations and will
recommendations for current often go to productions with
speculation and have recently paid off
happenings in the arts world these friends after making
the mortgage on their large suburban
and seek out published
semi.
reviews, to compare their own contact.
•Rediscovering time to themselves findings.
•They are becoming more
now that their children are grown up.
adept at social sharing with
friends as well as family.
Why support Opera Ireland
The long history of providing quality productions is reassuring to them. The likelihood of bumping into fellow aficionados is a bonus
To feel part of the city’s cultural scene.
APP 2

8. App. 3
Opera Ireland Comms Plan
To be the ‘must see’ company for Opera lovers in ireland
Strategy
Middle aged to older Opera fans (see personae)
We acknowledge we’re no longer the only game in town
To get target to see OI as the benchmark for Opera in Ireland
We want Opera fans to support the latest Opera Ireland productions
Awareness Reassurance Purchase
Execution
Display ads Website/Email Newsletters Website sales
Integrated video ads/pop ups Twitter/Bloggers/ sponsorships Promotion/coupons through Newsletters
Text offers
Forums/ interest groups/
SEO/ FB Advocacy
mobile app
Evaluation