2020 Vision - Future marketing

Customer A receives his season brochure in March 2006. During the priority booking period he buys tickets for 20 concerts, gaining himself a sizeable discount in return for his loyalty; he stacks these carefully in date order on his desk. Happy to have committed himself as much as 15 months ahead, he will nonetheless enjoy the adverts and reminders of the events he is looking forward to he enjoys feeling so connected with the venue and orchestra that he has supported over many years.

Customer B goes to a concert in March 2006 and receives an invitation by Bluetooth through her mobile phone to download a new season preview with video samples, web pages and text information available in several speeds and formats. After browsing the information, she texts the orchestra, noting the events that she may be interested in and asking to be reminded about booking tickets on a date of her choice. The orchestra follows these instructions, except when one of the dates is nearing sell-out in her usual seating area, when it sends an alert.

Although she books her tickets separately online and, of course, selecting her own seat a loyalty card awards a free concert once she has booked for nine others. Every time she books she is sent a barcode by SMS and/or email, which the stewards at the hall will scan to give her entry. A month before the concert she is sent links by text or email to advance information: programme notes, biographies, interviews with artists, etc. At the event she can chat live online during the interval to members of the orchestra: she feels so connected with the performers. Afterwards she downloads a recording of the event.

There is no doubt that new technologies are changing the traditional marketing landscape and have a potential that is infinite. Like every supermarket and airline, arts marketers will soon be able to map every nuance of their audiences preferences, and communicate with them individually, rather than en masse in numerous ways. So, are we to assume that by 2020 the traditional marketing checklist print, distribution, mailing, advertising, press will be blown to pieces?

In tactical, everyday terms, the answer is almost certainly no. Clearly the tools we use will be both more varied and more targeted. But both scenarios above are driven by the same core marketing principles: loyalty, relationship-building, customer service. The only real difference is that Customer B has been given the same flexibility and choice that she has come to expect throughout her general retail and leisure experience.

New opportunities

The audience of the future is, of course, the current audience actual and potential. But one of the most exciting opportunities that new media offers is the chance to open up events to an audience who were previously excluded, whether by geography, age or, indeed, lack of interest. Where previously the maximum capacity of an audience was defined by the number of seats for sale, hundreds of thousands of new customers are now be able to choose to sample the arts thanks to webcasts, Bluetooth, download or the deregulation of broadcasting. This, of course, raises its own set of questions:

• how do we harness these new audiences?
• what sort of relationship should we be aiming to have with them now?
• what relationship do we want to have with them in ten years time?
• what impact should the needs of this audience have on communications and budgets?

In the performing arts, the product is traditionally an event. Strategically, we support our event marketing with brand- and loyalty-building, but the product essentially lasts for the duration of a single visit. New technologies offer the opportunity to change this model radically and, in doing so, to combine tactical and strategic approaches so that every communication builds a relationship as well as selling a product.

Through a combination of Internet and mobile technology, Customer B above is given a richer, longer experience of the event one that she is able to navigate and control herself, and one that enhances her relationship with the arts organisation. Nor should we assume that the event itself is untouchable: Colston Hall has experimented with the option of buying tickets for only part of a concert; and if EasyCinema is now pricing an auditorium on the basis of demand, should we be doing the same?

Content costs

Another big shift in this area is in the realm of content and communication. The written word has always been central to marketing, bridging the gap between the event and the audiences own imagination. In the world of podcasts, video messaging, interactive websites and even bespoke technologies like the hand-held Concert Companion, content is king. This has huge advantages: who could argue against the immediacy of hearing a performer talking about his passion for a work of art? But where it costs nothing for a marketer to sit and write a sales letter, the costs of producing high-quality audio and video content, even in-house, are high and require significant upfront investment. Incorporating new technology into core marketing strategy requires significant shifts in traditional thought processes, throughout an organisation.

At the Philharmonia Orchestra we have a large department called Marketing and Media, within which there are three distinct strands: Marketing, Education and New Media. As well as running their own operations, all the staff in these teams work both separately and together on audience development: bringing audiences into contact with every aspect of the orchestras life and work. As the need increases for all arts organisations to offer audiences access to audio, video and written content usable across printed programmes, websites, podcasts and brochures, organisations will need to break down the barriers between print, new media, box office and education budgets.

Investment needs to be below the line as well as above it: its as important to update all the software that captures, manages and analyses your database as it is to buy the latest gadget. Additionally, new marketing channels need to function alongside traditional methods and, at the same time, we need to take as much care over new media as we do now. In the words of the South Bank Centres Head of Media Services, Owen Pringle, Technology is an enabler, and no more. It should not drive the strategy. Dont throw out the baby with the bathwater: often technology can enable you to update a traditional idea and adapt it to the new market, but new technologies should not be adopted simply for their own sake.

And finally, dont forget about human contact. There is a risk that the streamlined virtual relationship that technology allows us to have with our audiences actually eliminates the necessity for us to interact with them one to one. Look back at Customer B: this particular audience member never speaks to or meets a human being connected with the organisation. And that cant be good for the arts.

Alice Walton is Media and Marketing Director of the Philharmonia Orchestra.
t: 020 7421 2533
e: alice.walton@philharmonia.co.uk