Differentiating the Message Meg Williams, New Zealand Festival The New Zealand Festival attracts around 72,000 people to purchase tickets at more than 70 unique arts events. When every show is different and every person is different – how do you match them up with your messaging? Festival Marketing and Development Manager Meg Williams will look at ways to differentiate the message for a range of audience segments, using examples from the recent 2014 New Zealand Festival and give frank feedback about what worked and what didn’t. Meg will provide tips on creating relevant content, the power of endorsement and recommendation, being active in your communities and personalising the arts experience. This session would be relevant to anyone who is working on targeted plans to attract audiences to arts events. This is an interactive breakout which you’ll leave with a number of methods to put into practice in your organisation as well as a takeaway planner.

1. Differentiating the Message
Meg Williams – New Zealand Festival Trust

2. The Context
Strategy
• Creating
extraordinary
encounters
through art
• Making Wellington
the stage and
everyone a player
Audience
Development
Strategy
• Big audience goals
• Welcoming the world
to Wellington
Segmented
Marketing Plan
• Targeted audience
goals
• Targeted marketing
and communication

3. The Context
Strategy
• Creating
extraordinary
encounters
through art
• Making Wellington
the stage and
everyone a player
Audience
Development
Strategy
• Big audience goals
• Welcoming the world
to Wellington
Segmented
Marketing Plan
• Targeted audience
goals
• Targeted marketing
and communication

4. The Context
Strategy
• Creating
extraordinary
encounters
through art
• Making Wellington
the stage and
everyone a player
Audience
Development
Strategy
• Big audience goals
• Welcoming the world
to Wellington
Segmented
Marketing Plan
• Targeted audience
goals
• Targeted marketing
and communication
activity

5. Our Process
Event Profile
• Start with
the art
• Interrogate it:
good and bad
• Get to know it
Audience
Segment Profile
• Who are they?
• How can we best
talk to them?
• Barriers to
attendance
Segmented
Marketing Plan
• Marketing channels
• Marketing
proposition

6. Our Process
Event Profile
• Start with
the art
• Interrogate it:
good and bad
• Get to know it
Audience
Segment Profile
• Who are they?
• How can we best
talk to them?
• Barriers to
attendance
Segmented
Marketing Plan
• Marketing channels
• Marketing
proposition

7. Our Process
Event Profile
• Start with
the art
• Interrogate it:
good and bad
• Get to know it
Audience
Segment Profile
• Who are they?
• How can we best
talk to them?
• Barriers to
attendance
Segmented
Marketing Plan
• Marketing channels
• Marketing
proposition

8. Matching up the message
Audience
70,000 ppl
Events
70 shows
Marketing

9. Matching up the message
Event #1
Event #2
Event #3
Audience Segment
Audience Segment
Audience Segment
Targeted
Marketing
Targeted
Marketing
Targeted
Marketing
“Segmentation offers mass personalisation”

10. Audience Segment
Eg Essence
Matching up the message
“Segmentation offers mass personalisation”
Targeted
MarketingEvents

11. Matching up the message
Event #1
Event #2
Event #3
Targeted
Marketing
Targeted
Marketing
Targeted
Marketing
“Segmentation offers mass personalisation”
Audience
Segments
Audience
Segments
Audience
Segments

12. The Contact Season of Power Plant
Event Profile

15. Case Study: Power Plant
Event Profile
 Outdoor exhibition of sound and light art installations
running for 18 days with multiple sessions per day
 Target 15,000 attenders and $300,000+ income
The Good
 Offered a unique, world-class arts experience
 Suitable for most ages and can be made affordable
 Fits the “Wellington is the stage” vision
The Bad
 Unknown artists and event in New Zealand
 Sales history elsewhere = late bookers
 Lack of great image and video content

16. “Calling your event a ‘sound and light
installation’, and asking the ordinary citizens
of Liverpool to pay to watch it in a park at
night, hardly seemed like a sure-fire way to
pull in the crowds. [None] of the artists had
much of a public profile…the weather was
about as uninviting as it ever is”
The Sunday Times

17. Case Study: Power Plant
Audience Segment Profile
Who are
they?
How can we best talk
to them?
Barriers to attendance Notes
Essence
Brochure and website
Direct communications
Arts media
Social networks
Need to feel it is stand
out and high quality
Attracted to many other
cultural events
Early bookers and
key influencers
Expression
Mainstream media and
advertising
Word of mouth
Community engagement
Don’t like to take risks
Unknown event
Busy
Influenced by
recommendation
– likely to book
late
Affirmation
Lifestyle media
Direct comms through
their existing networks
Community engagement
Seek value for family
Attending other events
already
Somewhat risk averse
Influenced by
recommendation
– likely to book
late

18. Case Study: Power Plant
Campaign Outline
Pre-event phase
• National
• Influencers
• More Essence &
Stimulation
• Early adopters in
Expression and
Affirmation
• Group bookings
Event phase
• Regional / local
• More Expression
and Affirmation
• Mass booking of
individuals
• New audiences

19. Case Study: Power Plant
Customised content

20. Case Study: Power Plant
Customised content

21. Case Study: Power Plant
Power of recommendation
 WOM top five Festival tools
 1000 Contact staff attended the rehearsal
 Mainstream media and social media
influencers invited
Generated over 30 pieces of
national and regional coverage
on TV, radio, online media
“Walking through Power Plant will
likely make you feel like a kid again”
The Dominion Post

22. Case Study: Power Plant
Harnessing Contact’s community

23. Case Study: Power Plant
Communities not customers
 Launch at Tulip Sunday
 Volunteers
 Group sales to local schools
as fundraisers
 Community event
activation teams…
“Every encounter, real or
virtual… is an opportunity
to make a really powerful
connection with an
audience member”
– The Big Conversation

24. Case Study: Power Plant
Results
Exceeded attendance target and budget
 23,000 attenders against 15,000 target
 155% box office target
 When the Festival opened were only 50% of target
 Most visited website page 30,000+ unique visits
 3000 people visited the Contact Light Tunnel
 Discovered so much through one on one engagement with
audiences as part of community activation, helped us tweak
the message and try new approaches…

25. The Big Conversation
If you could have a conversation with a potential audience
member before you tried to sell them a ticket, what would you
want to ask them?
Demographics you can get from data
Psychographics come from listening…

26. Workshop: The Producer
Event Profile
• Start with
the art
• Interrogate it:
Good and Bad
Audience
Segment Profile
• Who are they?
• How can we best
talk to them?
• Barriers to
attendance
Segmented
Marketing Plan
• Marketing channels
• Marketing
proposition
 5 minutes
 Pick a show you are going to
produce / are producing /
have produced / have
attended – Tip: Make it
relevant to you
 Pick another Producer partner
and complete the Event Profile

27. Workshop: The Researcher
Audience
Segment Profile
• Who are they?
• How can we best
talk to them?
• Barriers to
attendance
Segmented
Marketing Plan
• Marketing channels
• Marketing
proposition
 5 minutes
 Open your envelope
 Call the number on your mobile
and have a conversation with the
person on the end of the line
 TIPs: Don’t worry about demographics –
find out about who they are/what they like
 They know you are going to call –
and are friendly folk!
 Complete the Audience
Member Profile
LIVE MARKET RESEARCH EXPERIMENT!!!

28. Workshop: The Plan
 10 mins
 Pair up Researcher and Producer
 Imagine the Researcher is responsible for
marketing the Producer’s event to the
audience member they just talked to
 Together complete the segmented
marketing plan