Johnathan Branson, former Audience Development Manager at Audiences Central, will be talking about Audiences Black Country (ABC), an Arts Council England funded programme of organisational support that aimed to build a real understanding of audience behaviours, increase awareness of research and segmentation tools, and develop strategies to increase audience retention levels across the four boroughs that make up the Black County.
The project supported ten arts and cultural organisations via bespoke programmes of support, which had a specific focus on CRM, segmentation and the use of data in audience development. During the presentation, Johnathan will provide an overview of the project, talk about the range of work delivered, the impact of the work, challenges and successes, and the project’s legacy.
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4. Audiences Black Country
•Arts Council England funded
•Priority area
•Little is known about arts audiences
behaviour
•Followed on from other AD initiatives
Project partners
•Theatres, galleries, art centres,
creative producers, museums
•ACE Portfolio, local authority,
independent organisations
12. Data Analysis
Audiences London Plus commissioned
•Collected multiple data sets
•Profiled data: Mosaic, ACE Arts Audiences: Insight + Acorn
•Mapped data: catchment area and penetration
•TGI data for catchment area provided on arts attendance
•Produced individual reports + region-wide picture
•Support identification of:
• hot spots of cultural engagement
• areas of un-tapped or little tapped potential where the
population is potentially culturally engaged
• areas with a high degree of non-culturally engaged population
Thank you for inviting me to talk about Audiences Black County. I’m Johnathan Branson and I work for an organisation called Earthen Lamp, who provide strategy and tactical support for creative businesses and cultural organisations in the UK Up until March of this year I was the Audience Development Manager at Audiences Central, and managed the ABC project, which I am going to talk about today.
In this presentation I’m going to talk about the background and content to Audiences Black Country It’s aims, objectives and intended outcomes The challenges that we faced Project activity What it achieved and the impact is has had And finally the legacy of the project…..all in 15 minutes.
Before I launch in to telling you about Audiences Black Country, I think it is important to understand what was happening at Audiences Central and indeed the arts and culture sector in the UK at this time. Audiences Central was the regional audience development agency for the West Midlands, which is roughly the middle part of the UK. It existed for over 20 years, offering, research, marketing and audience development support to arts and cultural organisations in the region It failed to receive any further funding from Arts Council England, and was unable to survive with the income generated from other income streams The UK arts sector has also had a turbulent few years. There have been changes in central government and there is the economic down turn. People have less money and are spending less. t is however and exciting time: We have the Olympics, the Cultural Olympiad and the Queen’s Jubilee. And there continues to be passionate and committed people still working in the arts, so it’s not all bad.
A bit of background about the Black Country: It is an area in the West Midlands which, as you can see, is made up of 4 local authorities; Wolverhampton, Walsall, Sandwell and Dudley This area is a priority for Arts Council England as it is in the bottom 20% of people who engage with the arts three or more times per year. Arts Council’s aim is to improve this. Although there is a rich and diverse wealth of arts and culture in the region, little is known about arts audiences’ behaviour. Arts Council had previously commissioned Audiences Central to deliver an audience development programme in this area, and it was identified that there was still a need for further organisational support. Project partners who were already on their ‘CRM journey’ were recruited to take part. This included theatres, galleries and museums. Some were ACE funded, others were not.
With so many different partners involved, this collaborative project faced a number of challenges before we even started: Conflicting priorities Project fatigue, as many partners had just finished taking part in a 2 year project Impending closure of Audiences Central, with key staff leaving Using universally understood terminology (CRM and audience development) The tight timeframe for project delivery Time commitment – capacity Convincing organisations to share data
So, what did Audiences Black Country set out to do…well, ABC aimed to enable organisations to build sustainable audiences through: Developing and enhancing skills in understanding, collecting and using audience data Building capacity for organisations to use Arts Audiences: insight, which is Arts Council England’s segmentation tool, for strategic planning Providing specific advice for developing audience development plans, customer relationship management and local engagement strategies. Building knowledge and understanding of audiences for culture in the region.
The intended outcomes were: A step-change across all participant organisations in their understanding of audience development, collection and use of audience data, development of CRM or local engagement objectives. A region-wide picture of cultural engagement and audience profiles. So, mapping. A framework for continuing to work together across the region in a supportive network, to share data and information and to grow audiences collectively.
The project was designed to support partner organisations specifically with their CRM. As we all know, there are several definitions of CRM, here is the one we used. Definitions have broad parameters but it is widely understood that you need to know who you are talking to and what makes them tick Data and intelligence is there for vital to any successful CRM activity There is still a misconception that CRM is a piece of software. It isn’t. It can include research, marketing and programming, and works best when it is an integrated approach
Over a 6 month period we: Worked with over 50 arts professionals 11 partner organisations 11 bespoke programmes of support A data competency audit across all partners 20 one-to-one support sessions 8 group workshops / seminars Analysis and reporting of data from 9 partners Distributed £60k worth of funds I’m going to quickly look at each of these areas.
We began by carrying out an audit of partners’ current CRM and data activity We did this by a detailed survey. We asked partners what data they collected and how they used it, as not all partners are ticketed, and therefore do not have box office data What their CRM priorities and challenges were What work they we already delivering in this areas This helped us to identify gaps in knowledge and skills, as well as identifying themes and areas of support It also helped us to understand awareness of tools and models being used And helped us to develop bespoke packages of support
The workshops and seminars that we delivered were based on common priority areas We commissioned industry specialists to deliver sessions that fell outside of our own expertise and we made sure that they took place at partner organisations‘ venues, to encourage networking and collaboration Sessions included: Benchmarking and profiling So organisations had a better understand of the characteristics and behaviours of their audiences, and so that they could compare how they are doing in comparison to comparable organisations Audience monitoring So partners had the knowledge and skills to better collect and use audience data Social Media Which looked as ways of using social media platforms to engage audiences and deepen relationships And membership schemes Which was seen as a way of progressing audiences up a loyalty ladder (givers and takers)
Audiences London Plus was commissioned to deliver the data analysis part of the project. They collected multiple data sets from partners, including box office data and mailing lists The data was then profiled using three different segmentation tools, as each model provided different kinds of information Target Group Index data was also provided, which is the longest established single source marketing and media survey in Britain They then produced individual reports for each partner organisation based on their priorities as well as a report on the region, which combined all of this data. The aim was to identify Hot spots of cultural engagement Areas of untapped or little tapped potential where the population is potentially culturally engaged And areas with a high degree of non-culturally engaged population
This is just one of the maps produced Analysed at post-code sector level - SE1 3 (approx. 2,500 households)
Here are some other examples of the type of profiling and segmenting work that took place. You can see pin point maps, audience profiles, charts which compare partners’ data to national averages and so on.
The one-to-one support took place at the same time as we were collecting and profiling data. With such broad parameters, and with organisations at different levels of their CRM journey, topics were varied. The 1-2-1 sessions built on the seminars and workshops and provided more in depth support The sessions often included best practice and case studies, and offered an external perspective to internal challenges. Following the sessions we provided follow-up reports, which included recommendations to progress work in this area.
And finally, there was the implementation funds This project differed to other project that Audiences Central had delivered as there was a pot of money to help partner organisations carry out some of the work they had planned during the project. Funded activity included: Training a group of partner organisations in a specific geographical area to collect better quality data to gain more knowledge on arts attendance across a city. Working collaboratively in this way for the first time. Development of a gallery’s current box office system and training their staff as they were unable to use current systems effectively And also engaging local non-engaged communities via an ambassador schemes
So what did it achieve? Well, the project achieved what it set out to do: It helped organisations move up a level with their understanding of CRM and how they approach it in the future It provided a platform for collaboration It developed a regional wide picture of arts attendance in the Black Country Provided partners with the information that they need to make evidence-based decisions and target their resources effectively. Embedded use of data in forward planning
So what sort of legacy will this project have? There are now a number of tangible assets; data, reports and a website with resources Forged stronger relationships and several partners continue to work together collaboratively on other initiatives CRM action plans and strategies developed, foundations for future activity in this area Several funded projects to help improve CRM across partners organisations
That was a very quick summary and overview of a broad project, but I hope it has given you an insight to how some UK based organisations are integrating CRM throughout their organisations in a holistic way