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Posted at 04:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
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Here is a
quote from the Local 1 press release yesterday stating that talks for
the Broadway stagehands strike have stalled once again:
"I'm
going home to get some sleep, shut off my phones and not check e-mails for the
next few hours." - Bruce Cohen, spokesperson for Local 1.
Wow.
Good to know that during this crisis, while thousands of people, Local 1
members included, are staying awake at night wondering when their next paycheck
is coming, Mr. Cohen isn't available to take their calls or anyone
else's. I guess if the League wanted to settle and put everyone back to
work, and get the shows open for the thousands of disappointed tourists, Mr.
Cohen would be unavailable.
And, remember,
Mr. Cohen WROTE this release. He wanted everyone to know that he was
taking a nap.
Being a leader
means being available; whether you're running a company, a country, or a
canasta competition. Being a leader means that people depend on you. And
when people depend on you for their checks or their confidence, you have a
responsibility.
There are a
lot of perks that come with being a leader (including getting paid during
strikes while everyone else is out of work, I'm sure), and if you have to
sacrifice some sleep during moments of great crisis, then so be it.
Posted at 10:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
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For those of you who have seen my iPhone commercial, (it still blows my mind to even type those words), you've heard my description of my latest show, My First Time. "It's about . . . exactly what you think it's about."
A friend of mine was mocking me with a spot-on impersonation the other day and the more he repeated those words, the more I realized something:
My First Time is about what you think it's about. And that has made my job as a salesman (aka marketer) that much easier.
Let's look at
my other shows:
The Awesome 80s Prom. Well, that's about exactly what you
think it's about too. A Prom. In the 80s. And it is awesome
(full disclosure - I am related to the producer therefore I may be biased).
Altar Boyz. Hmmmm. Not as easy. Is it really about
altar boys? And is it really about what our current society thinks of
when they think of altar boys? Nope. And guess what our biggest
problem with marketing Altar Boyz has been? Convincing people that it
was not about
what they thought it was about. Oops.
Your title is
the name of your product. It's your first crack at marketing. Word
of mouth is always going to include the name of your product, so that word of
mouth is spread a lot easier when the title helps to explain exactly what your
product is.
Sales/marketing
to people who have never heard about your show is initially about
education. You have to educate them that your show is an option.
And then you have to educate them as to what your show is about. It
certainly helps when your title helps do that for you.
Because like
it or not, people do judge a book by its title.
Posted at 12:01 AM in Marketing | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
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I've tried to
remain calm during all of this and I've tried to look at both sides of this
destructive dispute since I have friends on both sides of the table. But
now I'm irritated. Here's a paragraph
from yesterday's New York Times with a quote from Bruce Cohen, the spokesperson
for Local 1: “They want
all this great flexibility after a performance,” Mr. Cohen said. “They
want us to work one hour, two hours, three hours after a performance. We
want to go home and make our train. We live in the suburbs, and we want to make
the last train out of Penn Station, and they don’t seem to recognize that.” Mr. Cohen . .
. are you really saying that the League should take into consideration where a
person CHOOSES to live when negotiating a collective contract? And are
you really making a sweeping generalization suggesting that all of your members
live in the suburbs (I know a few that live on the Upper West Side that might
disagree with you). You want to make your train??? What the .
. . If a person
wants to live in the city, outside the city, or in a box in Sri Lanka, that
is his or her choice, and to state that the contract governing his employ
should recognize his CHOICE is just absurd. You know what makes me more upset
(And Local 1 members should be just as upset)? The fact that Mr. Cohen is
a spokesperson. He's a press rep. He should be a lot smarter than
this.
Can you imagine what the Local would say if the Producers had said that they
needed to make their train to their house in the suburbs?
What's next . . . is Mr. Cohen going to a make gross generalization suggesting
that Local 1 members choose to drive SUVs and therefore require more money for
gas? Or that they choose high protein diets so they need more money
to pay for steaks? Or that Local 1 members like collecting Faberge
eggs? All of these are absurd fabrications on my part . . . yet all are lifestyle
choices that have nothing to do with an employer's obligation to an employee.
If I don't want to commute to work, then I must move closer to work. If I
want a more suburban lifestyle, then I have to commute to work. If I want to
raise pigs in my spare time, then I have to wake up early and pay for
slop. Or . . . I can change jobs to fit the lifestyle that I want.
I have that choice. Simple.
Posted at 03:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
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Ok, I was wrong about the strike. I admit it. Now the fun part is trying to understand why.
I didn't think
there would be a Broadway stagehands strike because of the history of the two
organizations at the crux of this confrontation.
What I failed
to take into account is how the makeup of those organizations, especially The
Broadway League, has changed over the past several years.
We forget that the theater industry is a young one. The modern theater is less than one hundred years old. The golden age of musicals ended less than 50 years ago, and some of the individuals that played such a crucial role in the birth of the business are still active players in the industry. But to quote a turkey from last year, the times are a changin' . . . and I'm seeing a whole generation of these incredible leaders start to play less and less of a role in the day to day operations of the theater, as a new group of producers comes into their own. It's the theater industry's version of the "baby boomer" phenomenon.
The last three major negotiations have been more contentious than their
previous years. Local 1 (strike), Local 802 (strike), AEA (no strike, but
it resulted in a major restructuring of the touring market). This is not
a coincidence. This is a result of these baby boomers getting in there
and shaking things up. Which is exactly what's needed.
And what else
is different about these three negotiations?
They are all
post 9/11.
We live in a
new theatrical economy now. The way we live changed significantly that
day, and therefore the way we do business has to change with it. Whether
we like it or not.
Posted at 03:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
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Q:
What's better than celebrating Thanksgiving with a big, juicy, turkey?
A: Celebrating with three of them!
Here are my
favorites:
The Capeman: Proof that just because one of the world's
best songwriters and
aNobel
Prize winner
for literature get together, doesn't mean they'll
make a great musical. (It did have some great
tunes, and despite the fact that the CD was recorded (and features
Marc Anthony), Paul Simon has refused to release it. (I have an advance
copy, but don't tell anyone.))
The
Goodbye Girl: Proof that just because you have one of
America's most prolific comedic playwrights,
the composer of
one of the greatest
musicals of all time, a Tony Award winning lyricist, a movie star and a theater star, doesn't mean you'll have a show that achieves even close to
the same success as the movie on which it is based.
Lestat:
Proof that just because you have a movie company with almost an unlimited
budget as a producer,
one of the world's greatest popular music artists as a composer,
and source material enjoyed by millions and millions of people, doesn't
mean that your musical won't suck (pun intended). Oh yeah, and by the
way, vampire musicals just don't work on stage. Duh.
So what's to
learn from having eaten all this turkey, laced with so much tryptophan, it put
so many of us to sleep?
Two things:
1 - Musicals
are a collaborative art form. Creating a musical is not writing a novel,
where you sit in a room by yourself at your keyboard and crank it out page by
page. Creating a musical is not painting a picture, where you sit in
front of a canvas and use your own set of brushes and colors to complete your
vision. Creating a great musical can't be done with just one
person. It needs a composer, a lyricist, a book writer, a producer, actors,
designers, an orchestrator, musicians, and so on and so on. And every
single one of those people needs to be delivering 110%. That's one of the
reasons the failure rate for musicals is so high. Put something that
requires perfection for not one party but several into an incredibly restrictive
financial model, and all of a sudden that 80% failure rate makes sense.
2 - Applying
converse logic to the above list says that if extremely well recognized,
experienced and lauded artists can produce flops, then unrecognized and
inexperienced artists can produce great shows. So don't think that just
because you haven't won an award or sold a million records that you can't
create a great show.
Because if they can suck, then you
can succeed.
Posted at 12:06 AM in Flops | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
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The problem is
that when you work in an industry and then you’re asked to sit back and give
yourself over to a product from that same industry, it’s hard to stop your mind
from spinning and wondering, “how much did that cost” or “why did they cast
that actress” or “what did they do in terms of marketing to actually get me to
buy a ticket?” Or, sometimes, like when watching Dance of
the Vampires, you
just wonder . . . "Why?"
It’s not just
theater. It’s every business. I mean, if you run a cheese factory,
and all that you think about all day and all night are the differences between
provolone and Swiss, it’s not going to be easy to keep your curds in check if a
friend offers you a grilled brie sandwich. (Ok, I'll admit, that sentence was
the cheesiest thing I've ever written. :-) Ok. I'll stop
now.)
So that’s why
it’s hard for me to enjoy theater.
And that’s also
how I know when I’m witnessing something truly spectacular, because if a show
can get me to STOP asking questions, then it's something truly
remarkable. And that's how I felt last week when I saw KA.
Cirque has
done this to me once before, when I saw O.
They do things on stage and with stages that most people could never
even dream about. I'm convinced that the production budget for their
shows includes a line item for hallucinogens. You just wouldn't believe
the stuff they do if I told you, so you just have to see it. And, in true
"remarkable" style, there is only one place to see it . . . Las
Vegas. It's an amazing example of a Purple
Cow.
I'll admit
that whenever I see one of their shows, I'm a little envious of the amazing
things they do on stage. And then I remember . . .
Theater in Las
Vegas isn't the primary revenue stream. It doesn't have to make artistic
sense OR financial sense, because it's there just to draw other people to
gamble everything they've earned at their cheese factory.
That doesn't
work for Broadway. We're not feeding another revenue stream (unless maybe
you are Disney). We are the revenue stream.
So no
hallucinogens for you when you are planning your next show.
But definitely
go see what they've been smoking in Vegas.
Oh yeah, and
at KA, they let me have popcorn
and coke at my seat.
Posted at 09:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
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Musical
Theater and Straight Plays are different.
I’m not just
talking about the fact that one has chorus girls and sequins and higher price
tickets.
There is an
inherent difference in the expectations of the audiences that creators of
musicals need to recognize.
Need an
example?
At the end
of Romeo & Juliet, what happens? They both die. Tragedy.
Sadness. Love itself dies with them.
Now, let's
look at the musical adaptation of Romeo & Juliet, West Side Story, arguably the greatest musical ever
written because of its seamless integration of music, book and dance.
What happens
at the end of West Side Story? Only ONE of them dies. Ah ha! Already
you're starting to see the difference.
But wait for
it . . . wait for it . . . West Side isn't over yet.
After Maria's feisty "How many bullets are left" speech, the Jets
start to carry off Tony's dead body. But, like Jesus carrying the cross,
they falter. Who comes running to their aid? A Shark! That's
right; the two warring gangs come together right before your eyes. And a
ray of sunshine is cast on what was a very dark tragedy. Suddenly, there
is hope that
the future will be better.
Doesn't sound
like R&J, does
it?
Musical
theater audiences don't mind tragedy. In fact, they love a little
drama. But you can't leave them with a tragic aftertaste. No matter
how dark your tale, it's important to leave them with the idea that things
could get better. That the sun will come out . . . you know when.
Want another
great example of this? Look at the ending of the original London
production of Miss Saigon. Then look at what they did when they came to
Broadway. It's a subtle change that demonstrates exactly what I'm talking
about.
Email me if
you figure it out.
Posted at 02:06 AM in Musicals | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
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I just
returned from speaking at the Word of Mouth Marketing Association conference in
Las Vegas. My panel was on branding. There I was, seated next to
some giant Brands like Southwest Airlines and Doubletree Hotels (I have to say
I did love hearing my shows and Southwest Airlines mentioned in the same
sentence. I made a joke that our advertising budget on My
First Time is
probably about the same amount as one business class airline ticket).
The speaker
from Doubletree told the story about the infamous PowerPoint presentation
prepared by two very unhappy Doubletree customers that appeared on the internet
in 2001. I call it the "Complaint Heard 'Round the
World"
and for me it
represents the beginning of the new era of customer/user reviews and the use of
the internet as a word of mouth weapon for your consumers.
The Doubletree
representative said that this complaint was meant to "inflict pain"
on Doubletree.
And that's
when I realized something about branding.
In the media
world, I think we've forgotten where the term "branding" comes
from. It comes from cattle. When ranchers don't want to lose their
cattle, they take a red hot iron and burn their "tag" into their
skin.
In the cave
man days of advertising, this is exactly what the big companies did. They
spent millions on major advertising buys (TV, print, etc.) and since there was
no competition, these big buys were the equivalent of a red hot iron used on
the consumer. The consumer had no choice, especially when faced with an
iron the size of Proctor and Gamble's, etc. And without even knowing it, all of
a sudden they had a P&G brand on their butt.
But times have
changed. There are more choices now. And customers have their own
branding irons: blogs, user reviews, creative PowerPoint presentations,
etc. And they're a bit PO'ed. Wouldn't you be?
So what do you
do as someone with customers who are ready to brand back?
Be prepared to
take it.
The best
companies recognize that power is shifting. They recognize that in this
consumer driven market, their ass is sticking up in the air waiting for a
customer to burn their "tag" into them. And online, those
tags are permanent. They never go away.
And when
you're that exposed, the only way to really CYA (cover
your ass) is by being responsible to your customers.
The great thing is, not only will you win with your customers and make them even more loyal, but they'll probably go out and burn the butt of one of your competitors.
Posted at 01:50 PM in Marketing | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
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I bet you
thought this post was about the strike, didn't you?
Why wouldn't
you? The first thing you looked at was the picture, right?
And who could
blame you for looking at the picture first. Pictures are pretty.
They have color. They tell a story very, very quickly and with little
effort required.
But this post
is not about the strike.
See, I was
looking through my previous posts and I noticed that they had one thing in
common: no pictures.
I have
committed the cardinal sin of maintaining a web site and for this I am very,
very sorry.
So, the
community service that the blog gods are forcing me to do is to share the
following with you:
All of the
websites that I have managed and maintained have had one thing in common.
The most popular page on all of the websites was the photo gallery.
Always. Without fail. Photos are what visitors to websites
want.
So if you have
a website for your show or your product (even if it's a MySpace page), make
sure you have more pictures than you can take. And update them
constantly.
More pictures
mean more visitors staying on your site for more time.
Posted at 11:16 PM in Marketing, Web Sites | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
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