Promoting and Marketing the Arts

Should Arts even be marketed? On one hand, arts centres need to create their own identity and characteristic. On the other, it inherently poises the risk of cheapening Arts into a commercialised commodity. How can dance, theatre, music and ideas be truly appreciated, if they were pushed like a product? Evidently, we cannot do without Arts Marketing in our commercialised world where thousands of products, services and events, vie for every moment of each consumer’s attention. The question then becomes how Arts Marketing should be approached to achieve its desired goal and yet promote Arts in its true essence. To understand the ‘Art of Arts Marketing’ better, we interviewed marketing colleagues from several AAPPAC centres to find out how they tackle challenges of Arts Marketing.

Mary-Anne O’Leary, Manager of Marketing & Corporate Relations, Adelaide Festival Centre (AFC) said, “Generally it can be easier to get a consumer product to a customer, but consuming the arts involves a time investment and people are generally becoming time poor.”

Gina Anker, marketing manager of our new AAPPAC member, City Recital Hall Angel Place, claims that, “Marketing the arts has a lot of synergies with services marketing – the product is intangible and therefore the perceived purchase risk is higher. Furthermore, in the performing arts, the inventory is perishable.”

Yerina Hu, Communication and Marketing Executive from National Chiang Kai-Shek Cultural Center commented, “There is a need to identify the target audience, use the precise channel to reach them, and the right method to persuade them. The purpose is to increase awareness and encourage people to buy the product. Performing arts is untouchable. It’s a combination of sense of vision, hearing, feeling and experience. It takes more time and energy to communicate to people, educate them and cultivate in them the habit of consuming performing arts.”

According to Gina from City Recital Hall Angel Place, “Relationship marketing assumes a greater importance as purchasing decisions are increasingly made on trust and brand loyalty. Patron data collection and the ability to effectively use that information in direct marketing campaigns are far more important than advertising.”

Jun’ichi from NNTT commented, “In order for the customers to purchase more tickets, we always try to interest them in stage arts through attractive leaflets, posters, advertisements as well as various events such as videos showing previous performances, opera talks, displays and even back-stage tours.”

Reaching out

Many arts centres are working hard to reach out to the public. In National Chiang Kai-shek Cultural Center, free lectures are held in companies, schools, and different organisations to promote their programmes. There are also charity events to encourage industries to come forward with sponsorships, which the centre then uses to purchase tickets to invite charity groups especially the under-privileged, to enjoy arts programmes.

In Adelaide Festival Centre, there is an Education Officer who drives their CentreEd programme bringing school students into performances, exhibitions, workshops and tours on a regular basis. Also their GreenRoom programme targets the under 25s with discount tickets, workshops, social events, masterclasses and is promoted in schools, universities, youth groups etc.

For Hong Kong Cultural Centre, regular free performances are organised at the piazza and foyer on a regular basis. The foyer programmes, namely, Thursday Happy Hour and Saturday Arts Delights, include a wide range of music, dance, theatre and variety shows.  Organ concerts and workshops are also organised to promote the Centre’s 8000-pipe Rieger organ. The centre also organises arts education programmes, such as workshops and lectures, to cultivate the interest of the public in arts.

And in Japan, tour performances are even held beyond the New National Theatre, Tokyo in various halls all over Japan to entertain audiences far from the theatre itself.

Marketing beyond marketing

To stimulate further demand for the arts, Gina recommended analysing the barriers to purchase and try to improve them. She suggested that the imposing physical nature of a theatre could be eroded through open days and the use of ancillary activities to bring people into the building (cafes, retail, etc). She also brought up the idea of creating loyalty programmes that would encourage repeat business, and offering easy access points to the arts through the provision of information and carefully targeted discount strategies.

Arts Marketing today

Marketing the arts is not an easy job. This is especially so for products which do not have a natural market. The market needs to be shaped and grown. The right marketing strategy will contribute to the development of demand for artistic products that do not find a large following today. It will take time and effort, but a focused marketing programme will build up the audience base with appropriate purchase risk to consume these artistic products.

Marketing does not stop when the ads are placed or the letters are mailed. In fact, marketing continues far beyond a marketing campaign and involves far more than the marketing department. Customer service, operations, administration, and box office staff must also embrace the overall marketing goals and take ownership for their success, as even small acts can be another critical component of an overall effective marketing strategy.

However, most still agree that marketing the arts is challenging in terms of budget and resources. There is a lot of competition for the leisure dollar, making cut-through quite difficult – and often expensive.

But with the correct approach, marketing can also help to get the financial support of more sponsors and build a larger audience for future products. Marketing can also garner important data for the development of an arts organisation. Information on the size of potential audiences, their spending ability, and the degree of competition around, will help an Arts Centre create a balanced portfolio of products that is critical to its development. Arts marketing is ultimately the key to moulding the future, image and identity of all successful Art Centres.