A presentation from November 18, 2010.

1. Marketing the Arts in the 21st Century
November 18, 2010

2. SSF ‐ Leading Classical Theatre
“This is world‐class
theatre and we
should be thrilled to
have it at our
doorstep.”
Toronto Star, August,
2010

3. SSF ‐ Founding
• Founded in 1952 by
Tom Patterson
• Performed in a tent
from 1953 to 1956
• Mounted two
productions in our
first season and
welcomed 60,000
visitors

4. SSF Today
• 645 performances of 12 to 14 new productions in
repertory each year on four stages
• Draw 500,000 visitors from around the globe
• Full slate of enrichment activities offered alongside
the productions
• Training for actors and directors
• Largest Archives dedicated to an individual company
• New Play Development
• Outreach to students and teachers
• Films and tours

5. SSF ‐ Economic Engine
• Generates economic activity of $135 million
each year and tax revenue of $70 million
• Employs 1,000 people directly and generates
another 3,000 jobs
• Significant annual investment in marketing to
existing and new markets
• 76% of visitors originate from more than 80
km with 25% coming from the US
• 89% of visitors are drawn primarily by the
work of the Festival
• 20% of the audience is under the age of 18

6. Stratford ‐ Cultural Hub
• Magnet for authors, musicians, visual
artists, chefs, academics
• Complementary endeavours – Stratford
Chef School, Stratford Summer Music,
Stratford Symphony Orchestra, Factory
163 and now the University of Waterloo
& the Stratford Institute
• Long‐time Festival visitors choose to
retire to Stratford

7. SSF – Sources of Revenue
• Operating budget of $57 million
– Earned revenue 66%
– Fundraising 24%
– Government 10%

8. SSF – Marketing Strategy
• Build relationship with existing
audiences
• Cultivate new audiences
• Connect a community of theatre lovers
• Reinforce brand as a leading classical
theatre destination
All while using our limited resources as
effectively as possible.

9. How do we use technology?
We use technology to . . .
‐ Know our patrons
‐ Enhance the theatre going experience
‐ Connect those with an interest in
theatre
‐ Heighten awareness of the Festival
‐ Provide a flavour of an onsite visit

10. Tactics – Driven by Technology
• Market research
• Data collection & database
segmentation
• Direct Marketing
• Website development
• Social marketing
• Mobile

11. Market Research
• Annual research studies covering topics
such as . . .
– Economic impact
– Purchase intention
– Audience composition – diversity, general
demographics, accessibility
– Testing new marketing programs ie Play
On, Family Experience, website
development

12. Database Collection &
Segmentation
• Patron Relationship Management System –
Tessitura
• Tessitura is used across the organization – call
centre, box office, marketing, fundraising,
administration
• Data collected
– Basic contact information
– Ticket purchase and donation history
– Contact history
– Attributes

13. Database Segmentation
Value
Attributes
Behaviour
Seat Score DM Segment

14. Database Segmentation
• How to use it?
– Trend analysis
– Planning
– Marketing tactics

15. Direct Marketing
Campaigns shaped around . . .
• Retention
• Growth – sales, donations
• Reactivate
• Convert to purchaser

16. Direct Marketing – Case Study
• Spring DM, 2009
– Prospects: 40,000
– Total Revenue: $1 million
– Incremental Revenue: $334,000
– Variable offers: 15% off your order + gas
card; 3‐show flex pass; dine and play (2 for
1 tickets and dining)

17. Direct Marketing – Case Study
• Last Minute Club E‐mails
– Individuals can opt‐in to the last minute
club
– Currently at 46,000 participants
– Sold 5,984 tickets in 2010 with revenue of
$251,786

18. Online Presence
• Website
• Advertising
• Social media

19. Website Development

20. Website: Sounds & Images

21. Website: Sounds & Images

22. Website: Sounds & Images

23. Online Advertising
• Online display ads & promotions
• Google adwords
• Print ads drive patrons to our online
presence – introduce QR codes

24. Social Media: Goals & Objectives
 Capitalize on the capacity of social media as
well as the emerging capabilities of user
customization
• build relationships with both new and existing
Stratford attenders
• connect individuals with a common interest
around Stratford and our offerings
• engage in active conversation with our fans
• serves as additional channel for customer service
 Capitalize on revenue generating
opportunities by encouraging:
• ticket sales
• fundraising

25. Social Media: Sample Patron
Feedback
 You guys at Stratford are doing a very good job and
I'm actually bringing this page to the attention of the
rest of my executive board as an example of a perfect
use of a Facebook page. You're one of the models for
the usage we hope to build to in the next season.
 This is just my opinion, but as an art lover, and an
artistic director, as well as someone who has built up
a solid social media presence, I revel in seeing larger
organizations such as yourselves take this leap!
 Stratford Festival is hitting Social Media out of the
park! Follow them @stratfest

26. Social Media: Key Initiatives
 Hired a Social Media Coordinator
 Developed a plan for Social Media as
part of our marketing initiatives
 The plan focuses on . . .
– Facebook
– Twitter
– YouTube
– Blogs

27. Facebook/Twitter Perspective
Facebook Twitter
Coca Cola 9,578,390 72,601
Ashton Kutcher 4,769,807 5,386,001
Metropolitan Opera 59,369 10,037
Stratford Festival 17,195 1,522
Oregon Festival 15,360 1,468
Shaw 5,164 642
Chicago Shakes 3,659 241
Mirvish 2,498 1,681
Soulpepper 1,952 1,220
Stratford Tourism Alliance 1,791 3,360
CanStage 597 1,264
Dancap 395 591
as of 08/05 @ 4:30pm

28. Facebook Activities
 Provide new content daily and monitor fanpage comments
• Asking questions “Why do you love Shakespeare & his plays?”
• Ask Bruce Dow day
• Discussion with the Technical Director for Peter Pan
• What show are you most looking forward to & why?
 Encouraging fan referrals – increasing the number of fans by offering a deal
once we hit target number of fans
 Easter Egg hunt onsite for tickets
 T‐shirt design contest
 Encourage users to change their profile picture to our “Shakespeare face”
logo for World Theatre Day and on Shakespeare’s Birthday
 Welcome all schools attending performances daily
 Launched “Fan of the Week” – weekly winners and grand prize winner given
tickets to opening night
 Respond to fan comments and questions

29. Twitter Activities
 Regular Tweets by Lisa Middleton (Director of Marketing and
Audience Development) and Aaron Kropf
 Re‐Tweet any comments made about the Festival
 Create hashtags for all shows i.e. #ssfgrapes, #ssfcamelot,
#ssftwelfth etc so that Tweets on this topic can be easily found
 Introduced Tweet Deals – use to move soft selling shows
 Introduced Tweet Tips – info on making trip more
enjoyable/easier i.e. parking, spots to eat, other activities
 Introduced weekly Tweet Quiz ‐ asking speaker & play of
Shakespeare quotes
 Engaging conversation – asking and responding to questions
 Linking to interesting articles to engage in discussion

30. Stratford’s YouTube Stats
• 40,969 Channel Views
• 225,917 Upload Views
• 472 Channel Subscribers
• Male 49% Female 51%
• Canada 49%
• US 33.7%
• International 17.3%

31. YouTube Activities
 Posting videos of:
• behind the scenes webisodes
• Production clips
• actor/director interviews
• TV commercials and trailers
• As You Like It BravoFact
• PlayOn stop motion video
• Company‐generated videos

32. YouTube Activities

33. Blogs
Activities
 Regular blogs by Aaron Kropf (social media) and Ben
Thomas (education)
 Use internal blogs as a starting point for discussions
on Facebook and Twitter
 Reaching out to theatre bloggers and treating them
like media representatives
 Monitoring most non–Stratford blogs that talk about
the Festival, commenting where appropriate

34. Measurement Parameters
 Currently researching some measurement software and the
parameters will include
– Awareness
• Reach & frequency. How many followers? How often do we put a
message in front of our followers?
– Familiarity
• Do people recognize our brand? How many opportunities to see? How
many saw? Did they remember?
– Attitude
• What do they think about us? Would they recommend us?
– Influence
• Determine who our influencers are, treat them well.
• Measure the impact we’ve had on influencing public opinion.
– Competition
• Who’s talking about us and our competition?
– Outcomes
• Likes/followers/retweets/blog posts/comments/book
marks/sharing/digg it
• Did they visit/buy/donate/register for enewsletter/take survey/request
brochure etc.

35. Mobile Application

36. Mobile Application

37. Projects: Mobile Application

38. The Future
• Mobile phone and tablet applications
• Digitize archival collection
• Create an on‐line exhibit of archival materials
• Pay‐per view for some of our full‐length
broadcast quality videos
• More production clips
• Build in online components of educational
outreach
• Accessibility – personal closed captioning

39. Discussion