Working with the Artistic Staff to create exciting Marketing Opportunities

In the past couple months, Arena Stage has planned and executed several exciting marketing opportunities as a result of the great working relationship between the artistic development staff and the communications staff. This relationship has existed for as long as I have been with Arena Stage, and most likely well before that. However, too many times the artistic department and communications department view each other as adversaries in other companies, and sometimes are in direct conflict with each other. For example, it might serve the communications staff better if a reporter sits in on rehearsal, but the artistic staff might be concerned about the reporter interrupting the rehearsal process. The current economic crisis has opened new opportunities for dialogue between artistic and marketing personnel because it is becoming more and more obvious that companies which successfully navigate this crisis will be those that pull together and find new inventive ways of doing business.

The Finding Yolanda Casting Search was the most recent collaboration between the artistic development and communications departments at Arena Stage. We are producing our fourth production of Crowns this spring. Most regional theaters in the United States have a production or two that they bring back on a yearly basis, most commonly A Christmas Carol. However, after several years, it can become difficult to procure media coverage for these types of productions. With this in mind, we were looking for a new angle to garner attention from the local press. At the same time, our casting department was feverishly looking for a young, talented African-American woman to fill the role of Yolanda. Our casting director, Daniel Pruksarnukul, came up with an idea that accomplished both goals--an American Idol like contest to find Yolanda. The communications staff and artistic development staff pulled together to create an all day open call. It was sponsored by ABC7 and News Channel 8, each of which aired free 15 second promos for several weeks leading up to the auditions. The Finding Yolanda Casting Search also received coverage in the Washington Post, ABC7, News Channel 8, Back Stage Magazine, WTOP, WAMU (local NPR), DCTheatreScene.com, TheaterMania.com and BroadwayWorld.com. We invited our audiences to come and watch the open call as well, giving our audiences an inside look at what happens at auditions. The winner was announced on the ABC7 evening news.

This was a win-win for both departments. Casting found an extremely talented young lady to fill the role, and communications had an angle to pitch to the press.

Check out video of the winner. Congratulations Zurin Villanueva! Looking forward to working with you.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Thinking about creating a blog (Part 2)...

If you are thinking about creating a blog for your organization, there is one thing I cannot stress enough: make sure those who will be contributing content have bought into your idea! I have created a couple of blogs for different organizations, and I must say that I have learned this the hard way. Don't get me wrong. I think that blogging is very effective if done right, but that is a really big IF. Many organizations launch blogs and don't do it right, and when the blog fails they blame it on the ineffectiveness of the technology. Readers of a blog don't want to get hit with your marketing messages! If you try a hard sell technique with every blog, of course your readers are going to start tuning out your blog. You need to offer your readers a reason to read your blog, and a way to do that is to offer exclusive content that they can't get anywhere else. This is the reason that while at Virginia Stage Company, I started to post video clips of rehearsal and "behin...
Read more

Marketing Awareness.

Modern marketers tend to get very excited by ideas of conversation and engagement with customers. Given that they are aware how many images and messages each of us receive every day, they have become less impressed by the more basic aim of generating awareness. This, I think, is why this pun-based campaign has received such criticism from within the advertising world. Some complain that the imitation of Morgan Freeman is a deceitful hijacking of the actor's gravitas while others just deem it trite, shouty advertising disguised as something else. But that is to overlook context. It's an ad for insurance. Insurance stubbornly remains a commodity business where price trumps service because we buy it before we need it. The engagement with the product/service occurs at a time of distress and not at a time of purchase. In a commodity business, awareness is key. You want your customer to have your name come to mind when they consider the purchase. It's brutally simple. A differen...
Read more

Thinking Inside The Box.

Image
A combination self-help and business book, Michael Port's Beyond Booked Solid focusses on scalability issues and how to expand a small enterprise. It is filled with pragmatic tools and techniques designed to grow a business via innovation and leveraged income, but the key message is that of developing a mind-set that works on your rather than in your business. To some extent that's just a reframing of the old adage of keeping one's eye on the big picture, but it's something that can't be repeated too often. Constantly reminding yourself and your colleagues of why you're in business (and specifically what customer needs you meet by doing something better than anyone else) is crucial to evaluating everything that you do day to day. If your marketing tactic du jour, your latest product development or your inter-departmental meeting isn't centred on that, they're not worth your time and resources.
Read more