All right, let's see who's got game! It's time to pick your winners for The Producer's Perspective Tony Pool.
I've picked prizes that I think are essential for all Producers out there:
GRAND PRIZE - The new iPhone!
Unfortunately, I wish I had a handle on when it was coming out, but I don't. Rumors are swirling that it'll be announced before the Tonys (June 9th), but whenever it comes out, the winner (and me!!!) will get one! 1st PRIZE - $50 Dinner at Angus, where all the Tony Award winners (and losers) hang out.
2nd Prize - Pick any 2 books from my recommended books on my blog, plus a 4 pack of Red Bull.
A few rules:
- Only one entry per person.
- All questions are weighted the same. It's just like an 8th grade
exam. The person with the highest percentage of correct answers wins!
- Only one winner per prize. There is a tie-breaker.
- Polls close on June 15th at 12:01 AM.
- IMPORTANT: Only Producer's Perspective email subscribers are eligible. You MUST
subscribe to the feed via the feedburner email box to the left in order to win. Make sure you sign up today!
- Employees of Davenport Theatrical and Gerry Schoenfeld are ineligible (There's no real reason to make Gerry ineligible, other than that it makes me feel like I have just a thimble's amount of power to say he can't play with us)
- If Gerry Schoenfeld doesn't like that last rule or any rule (or the color of my shirt, for that matter), I reserve the right to strike it faster than they struck the Glory Days set.
Someone asked me recently what got me started with these out-there attempts to get attention. It took me a week to come up with the answer . . .
Her name was Molly.
Molly was a short haired figure-skatin' freshman from Northern Massachusetts who went to my high school, and I thought she was cuter than Dorothy Hamil in a sun dress.
Every Valentine's Day, my student council had a Sweetheart Sale on roses. For a buck, they'd put a rose in the locker of your crush.
Sweet, huh?
And the perfect opportunity to let Molly know that I was dreaming about her triple-toe loops.
So I bought a rose, right?
Nope.
I bought 12.
Seems inconsequential now, but it was the equivalent of taking a full page ad in the New York Times announcing my affections for that bobbed beauty.
Funny, but it was all the things I look for when advertising and marketing a show these days:
It got attention. Word leaked out about what I did even before she opened her locker. It was the talk of the halls and all eyes were on her as she stepped up to spin her combo lock. My French teacher called me "tres romantique" the day BEFORE Valentine's Day.
It was a lot of buzz for not a lot of bucks. $12 bucks. Big whoop. So I'd have to put off buying the Cocktail Soundtrack that week. Jammin' to Kokomo would just have to wait.
No one else was doing it. My conservative prep school buddies were too shy (and too smart?) to get more than one rose for the object of their affections. I stood out. And made the other guys look cheap.
It was timed for a second impression. There was a dance that same night. I could follow up on my flowers with a face-to-face (hopefully cheek-to-cheek) slow dance to George Michael's "Careless Whisper".
It was planned perfectly, and it was executed perfectly.
And then she rejected me. And I was the laughing stock of the school. My French teacher came up to me the next day and said, "Pauvre Serge." (My French name was Serge. Don't ask.)
Lesson #1: When you plan guerrilla events, stunts, gimmicks, etc, remember who your audience is. Molly didn't want a dozen roses, unless they were thrown to her on the rink after a couple of choreographed double axles. She was a freshman. She didn't want the kind of attention I gave to her. Maybe it would have been different if I would have given her just one?
So I failed.
Ok, I sort of failed.
A few days later, Molly's friend Lara came up to me after AP Chem and told me she thought my adolescent dorkiness was cute. And we dated for a whole ten months!
Lesson #2: Just because your first audience doesn't want what you're selling, doesn't mean that there isn't a secondary audience waiting in the wings. And that audience might be more suited for you anyway.
Gosh, I wish I knew where Molly was now. And I wish I remembered her last name.
Wicked is not a show that advertises much. It doesn't have to. That's why, whenever they do anything, I pay attention.
Here's what I've noticed: heavy on the outdoor, a bit of radio during tight times, occasional full page NY Times ads that look like editorial announcements . . . and street fairs.
That's right, Elphaba lovers, nestled between the roasted corn-on-the-cob and the 1000-thread count sheet vendors, you'll find a booth selling the most successful Broadway musical of the last 20 years (at least).
Selling is not the right word, because you're not going to find Ticketmaster operators trying to get you to upgrade to premium tickets at their booths.
What you'll find is an opportunity to take a "Which Witch Are You" personality quiz, a chance to sing your favorite Wicked tunes (Oh the poor roasted corn and bedding vendor guys who have to listen to the final notes of 'Defying Gravity' sung by 9 year olds who didn't make the cut at Stage Door Manor), and my favorite . . . a free green face painting.
That idea makes my face go green . . . with no paint necessary.
The hardest thing about a street fair is getting someone to come to your booth, when the buttered corn on the cob is cooing at them from the booth next door. By offering something for free that you'd pay 15 bucks for at Six Flags, Wicked gets families to run to their booth, stand in line, and absorb all the marketing messages the staff can muster.
My favorite part? There is no stickier or more visible impression you can make at a fair like this! That face-painted family is going to be reminded of that experience and the musical that goes with it all night long. And it's not a random freebie. There's a girl with a green face in the dang show! It makes total sense.
So should you all go out and get a face painting kit? No. But when you think about it, the street fair is the perfect analogy for any cluttered advertising environment . . . like the famed pages of the A&L section in the NY Times, for example - lots of people wandering through, flipping, browsing, not really sure what they are looking for . . . waiting for something to grab their attention.
How can you get your audience to stand in line to be marketed to, without making them feel like you're hitting them on the head with a selling sledgehammer?
Last night's Idol shocker reminded me of two things:
Always set your DVR to record 5 minutes past the end of a show that broadcasts live (I literally heard, "And the winner is . . . " and my screen went blue).
Judges and audiences don't always see eye to eye.
The three witches of Idol basically handed the title to David Jr. before the votes were in. But America ignored the cutesy charisma of the 17 year old old and gave it to the real rocker.
Who was right?
And is there a winner's curse?
Avenue Q bested Wicked for the Tony way back when, but which one would you rather have invested in?
Little Mermaid wasn't nominated this year but Cry Baby was . . . which do you think will run longer?
Jersey Boys won, and it's still winning.
Is there any correlation?
What would happen in we let our audiences decide our winners, just like on American Idol?
Broadway.com wants to find out with its Idol-like Audience Awards. You get to pick your choice for Best Musical, Best Play, and even non-Tony categories like best breakthrough performance and favorite onstage pair (which has a little too much of a high school superlative feel for me).
Let's watch closely this year and see the deviation between the two. I'll post the results when both are in.
Speaking of awards and surveys, we'll be having our own Producer's Perspective Tony Pool which will be announced on June 1st. No Starbucks cards this time. We'll be goin' a bit bigger, so stay tuned!
Oh, and when you're voting for the Broadway.com Audience Awards, pay special attention to the categories of Best New Off-Broadway Play and Favorite Long Running Off-Broadway Musical,
especially if it's your FIRST TIME taking a survey like this since you
were an ALTAR BOY (Oh just vote for 'em, already, will ya?).
You won't hear that line when you're standing in line at the TKTS booth anymore, if the current test taking place at the South St. Seaport location is successful.
Yep, that's right, the "trailer" (as it's commonly referred to), will take credit cards when the new location opens in Duffy Square (a year and a half behind schedule).
My response to this adoption of credit card technology? Welcome to 1983, TKTS booth!
Ok, sarcasm aside, I am thrilled that thousands of theatergoers will finally be able to pay with plastic instead of paper. But why the decades of delay? This is a perfect example of our industry lagging behind the technological times, and suffering for it.
In Influence (my favorite sales book of all time), Cialdini discusses credit cards in depth, and cites studies that demonstrate that just accepting credit cards and displaying a credit card logo got consumers to spend more money . . . in cash! People spend more when they use credit cards, it's that simple (NYC cabbies take heed - you will get bigger tips, so stop telling me your machine is broken). Why do you think cruise lines don't accept cash on board but only let you put expenses on your cruise charge card (one of my employees is on a cruise right now - I should ask for her expert opinion as to whether she would have ordered that many Daiquiris if she paid in cash).
Add that to the zillion other reasons people like to use credit cards (postpone payment, get rewards, avoid ATM fees, loss prevention, fraud protection), and it's no brainer that it crushes the few potential concerns the naysayers have had: transaction times might be longer (I'd like to see data on that, because it seems issuing changing and having a buyer dig out bills would take longer than a swipe), there is a cost (happily borne by the shows and TDF can probably turn a deserved profit), and my favorite . . . that paying with a credit card is too easy for the consumer and that they should have to go through some inconvenience to get this discount (as if standing in line for hours isn't enough).
Here's my response: When people want to give you money for your product . . . take it!
Why make it more difficult? Especially when you're selling a product in an extremely competitive and economically challenged market. Selling bottles of water in the desert and there ain't an oasis in sight? You can restrict your method of payments to gold bullions or tea leaves for all I care. But selling perishable inventory without any other major revenue streams?
In 2008, the consumer's experience and the ease of that experience is vital. We can't be snobs anymore and expect them to pick us over the countless other entertainment options in this city (it was only in the 80s that we started allowing people to know their seat location before making their purchase. Can you believe that? Who do we think we are?)
Another common question I get from readers is how they should get started in producing.
Here's my answer on getting started in Producing . . . or in anything . . . in the form of a Kenism.
Newton used to say, "For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction."
I say, "Producing is like racquetball."
When you connect with that rubber ball in that white-walled room, it's going to come back at you. Whether you like it or not.
Sometimes, you'll hit a winner, sometimes you'll hit a dribbler. Sometimes, that rubber ball is going to hit you square between the eyes, like it hit John Candy in Splash.
Or sometimes, that ball is going to hit you square in the ball (or the lack thereof).
But if you serve it up, something will happen. Without a doubt. Energy responds to energy.
So maybe when you serve up your first show, it won't move to Broadway. But maybe you'll meet a playwright that will hit a winner in the third game of his match. Or maybe you'll discover a key strategy that you'll use in your next game that'll break a tie. Or maybe you'll get an agent to represent you that will get you in a tournament.
No matter what happens . . . the ball will come back if you hit it against the wall.
The key is . . . to serve.
There's no coincidence that the hardest part of racquetball is the serve. It takes the most strategy, the most strength, the most finesse.
The key is to remember that the ball will come back, even if you don't serve it perfectly. There's a wall there. The ball is rubber. It's got no choice.
And believe it or not, the one that doesn't sell tickets isn't necessarily a bad thing.
Have you ever wondered why a show cast a certain celebrity? Have you ever said to yourself, "Why on earth would (insert Producer's name here) cast someone from an 80s TV series when they have no talent?"
Here's are the two types of stars in our universe:
There's the type of star who sells a ticket regardless of the show, i.e. Madonna in Meet Me In St. Louis, or Jim Carrey in Barnum (my casting dream). Obviously the costs associated with this type of star are high, because guess what? If you know the star is going to sell tickets regardless of the show, then the star's agent knows it too.
The second type of star is the one that may not sell tickets right away, but one that gets press, and therefore gets the show editorial content which they may not have otherwise received, i.e. Jason Priestly in Falsettos or a Survivor finalist in The Crucible (my casting nightmare). This type of star is often used in "stunt casting" to help get a show back in the papers. They are also intended to be the straw that breaks the customer's back when the customer is deciding whether or not to make a purchase. They add value to the show because of their name recognition so the customer can run back to Wichita and say they saw a show with "That guy from that show with the zip code. You know, the old version of the OC." These stars are much more cost effective, since they are not in as high of a demand, and because they usually are looking to use Broadway as a booster rocket for their career.
When you see celebrities in shows, try and determine whether or not they are Star #1 or Star #2.
And when you're doing a show, try to not use one at all.
You've heard me whine like a 13 year old who can't get tickets to Wicked that one of the greatest obstacles we have as theatre marketers is that we'd don't have easy access to our customers.
The easiest place to get your customer's permission to speak to him/her on a consistent basis is when they make their purchase.
Since Producers don't control the purchase point, we can't get the customer's information (email, address, phone) and we can't ask that customer if they'd like to hear from us again. In fact, we have to purchase the right to communicate with them again through through ultra-expensive email blasts sold by the ticketing agent. Doesn't make sense, since many of these people are our customers in the first place, right?
Right. But that's the way it is, and we're not the only industry with this problem (think Book publishers and how their products are primarily sold through Amazon.com or Barnes and Noble).
Since this problem isn't going away anytime soon, we have two options:
1. Take advice from a William Finn lyric and "Bitch, bitch, bitch, bitch" and get nothing accomplished.
or
2. Stop being a Cry Baby and find alternative solutions.
Producing on Broadway is like being a contestant on a Japanese obstacle course game show. You're going to see giant encumberances every few feet. Things that don't make sense. Things that are scary. Things that look like they were created to make you fail. (Watch the video below!)
What separates the Producers from the game-show-losers is whether you let those obstacles scare you into doing the same old thing over and over, or whether you look for ways around those obstacles.
Example . . .
Problem: We can't communicate with our customers.
Sometimes when I'm faced with problems like this, I flip it around and try and get the opposite to happen.
If we can't communicate with our customers, then let's find a way to get our customers communicating with us.
Here's one easy-breezy solution:
Get a Vanity 800 # and put it on all of your materials. Thanks to internet technology, it's a lot easier and a lot cheaper than you think. Check out this company which handles all of my numbers (1-877-RAD-PROM, 1-888-MY-1-TIME, 1-877-ABOYZ-411, 1-877-OFF-IS-IN, and a few more).
800 #s build consumer confidence. They give the perception of a larger company. And people will call you. They'll call for information, to give you feedback, to ask for directions (I don't understand big companies who bury or don't publish their 800 #s on their website, trying to avoid customer contact. If you don't want to talk to your customers, then that means you're afraid to talk to them, which means you have no faith in your product).
They'll call because they need something. That's when you can get what you need from them.
And as Malcom Gladwell points out in The Tipping Point, the people that call these #s are usually exactly the people that you want to talk to, because they've got to be pretty passionate about your product to be calling.
Will this one idea get you over the wall and to the finish line? Maybe not.
But coming up with ideas and ways to deal with the obstacles that stand in front of us is a heck of a lot better than just staring at the wall and cursing at it.
What ideas do you have to to establish a direct line of communication with our customers so that we can rely less on third parties? Comment away!
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All right, let's see who's got game! It's time to pick your winners for The Producer's Perspective Tony Pool.
