INCREASING DEMAND FOR THE ARTS THINK TANK WITH MARKETING MASTERS NATIONAL ARTS MARKETING PROJECT PRE CONFERENCE NOVEMBER 2010 SAN JOSE, CA 1
NATIONAL ARTS INDEX Fell 4.2% in 2008: losses in charitable giving & declining attendance even as the number of arts organizations grew. Demand for the arts lags capacity. 1998 2008, Nonprofit arts organizations grew: 73,000 to 104,000. One third failed to achieve a balanced budget even during the strongest economic years of this decade; suggests that sustaining this capacity is a growing challenge. 2
THE INSPIRATION FOR THIS SESSION However, several successful marketers are increasing demand. How do they discover and deploy their ideas to increase demand? Today 10 leading arts marketers will share breakthrough ideas and reveal the challenges they still face. 3
CHALLENGES FOR THE FUTURE 4
Sara Billmann Many performing arts organizations struggle to bring in the post-student, pre-senior audience -- those who are under 40, young professionals. This audience often seems fickle and unable to commit, and are generally less loyal than older audiences. They are also diverse in and of themselves -- some have kids, while others are still single; some are settling in while others still have big student loans. How do we attract this audience as a way of both building new audiences, but also of building new donors and board members? 5
Marnie Burke de Guzman After more than 10 years in SFMOMA s new Yerba Buena location, and with the opening of the de Young Museum (2005) and California Academy of Sciences (2008) in Golden Gate Park, the museum needed to reinvigorate its brand and create a more emotional, community oriented relationship with its audience. In visitor research, SFMOMA learned that the audience thought of the museum primarily as a venue for special exhibitions. How could SFMOMA use the its 75th Anniversary to revitalize its relationship to the community and prepare for a significant expansion of the museum s facility? 6
Matt Campbell Many of our best patrons at the box office are also among our most generous & dependable donors. How should we best leverage this dual relationship to maximize both earned & contributed revenue? How do we make our communication with these superconstituents as seamless as possible (i.e., how NOT to make it seem like a "dual" relationship to them?). Can we integrate marketing & development messages without dis-incentivizing the philanthropic impulse? Where to draw the line between subscriber benefits & donor premiums? Is a marketing $ & a development $ of equivalent value to the organization? If not, should we do something about that and if so, what? 7
Jara Dorsey Low-income discounted admissions programs are relatively unproven and unheard of. How do you build the case to your organization for its effectiveness and necessity? What are potential barriers to success and how can they be overcome? How do you profit from a discounted admissions program for low-income audiences in terms of marketing/promotion? 8
David Harrison Many of us in the dance community are mystified by the explosive popularity of television programs such as "So You Think You Can Dance," "Dancing with the Stars" and "America's Best Dance Crew." What lessons can concert dance companies learn from the pop dance phenomenon, to help us attract, retain and engage audiences? 9
Nan Keeton As marketers look to increase demand, how can they address outreach and engagement to non Englishspeaking or bilingual audiences? At what level does the organization provide resources to support this new audience? 10
Kara Larson How to use enthusiasm for your popular programs to underwrite other mission-driven events; we will discuss ways to implement dynamic pricing (and simple revenue management) on a shoe-string budget, including ways to convince the box office, ceo, others about the importance, and fairness, of monetizing demand. 11
Matt Montgomery Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is known as a place where "nothing changes" but we are a vibrant institution with programming in five cornerstone areas. How can we shift this perception especially as we enter a year where programming is reduced during construction? 12
Jim Royce How are arts companies segmenting their audience's experiences and speaking to each segment in a variety of clearly understood voices? We can't talk to mavens with the same voice we use to attract newbies. We can't speak to occasional buyers as if they should know us better. Each major audience segment comes into our events with different experiences and expectations. What are you doing to keep conversations appropriate and informative across all your various audiences, including those who have NOT YET attended your company's events? And when they do attend, how are you measuring their first time experience. 13
Laura Sweet The Ordway Center for Performing Arts went through a comprehensive re-branding initiative lead by Fallon Worldwide-- resulting in our simplified vision 'joy.centerstage.' How can our programs be best aligned to this unifying vision, and how best can we fulfill our brand promise? 14