Ken Davenport - Opinions from a Broadway Producer

What I learned about customer retention from a cruise line.

One of the greatest challenges of building an audience for Broadway shows is that our experience pretty much stays the same, so it's hard to get people to come back time and time again.  We're not a restaurant where you can try a different dish, or a vacation resort where every day is different.  Other than casting, most shows don't want deviate too much from opening night.  (Books and movies have it even harder than we do, because those physically can't change . . . however in both cases, if you buy them, you don't have to buy them again, unlike a theater ticket)

But non-profit and regional theaters around the country and around the world are another story.  There's a lot to be learned about customer retention, and not only getting them to come back, but getting them to come back more often.

Our annual Davenport Theatrical retreat was this past weekend, and this year the team and I took a weekend cruise to the Bahamas.  It was a lot of fun (if you're an Artistic Director or the head of any business, I strongly suggest retreats like this for team building and to focus on the upcoming year, and for just plain fun).  So, in the middle of our meetings, the buffets, and yes, one solitary trust fall for the one employee who had never done one, I also picked up a few tips on how to keep your customers from sailing away.

The cruise industry spends a lot of their dollars on trying to get you to be a repeater.  Here are a few ways that they do it, that can be adapted to what we all do:

1.  The Power of the Photo

Before you even get on the boat, the ship's photographer is taking your picture.  And the picture of every single guy & gal that walks up the gangplank.  When you eat dinner?  The photographer is there.  At the pool?  Guess who?  When you're drunk and stumbling around the deck . . . flash!  Photos are priceless marketing tools, because they are a physical representation of a personal emotional experience.  You literally see yourself in the photo . . . which means it's not a long leap to see yourself having that same experience again.

Encourage your patrons to have their photos taken and yes, even to take photos (at appropriate times), as much as possible.

2.  Future Cruise Consultant

This was one of my faves.  There are a couple of desks in the center of the ship that are staffed by two sweet salespeople.  Their job? To get you to buy your next cruise, while you're still experiencing the one you're on!  Why does this work?  The further you get away from an experience, the harder it is to remember how much fun it was.  If you're having an awesome time, and someone promises you another one, and when you book now you can save $$$, guess what you're more inclined to do?

Box offices should remain open as long as possible.  And if they can't, drop someone in the lobby selling subscriptions or your next show.

3.  Survey Says?

I was reminded to fill out my end-of-cruise "satisfaction survey" at least ten times before I disembarked.  Feedback is almost as important as lifeboats to the cruise industry.  They are constantly updating and changing their systems and their amenities based on what their customers want.  

Don't let an audience member go out the door without asking them their opinion.  And be diligent in getting responses. It's the audience member that doesn't want to fill out the survey that is the one you really, really want.

4.  Purchasing made simple.

If you've been a cruise then you know you carry around one of these charge cards that everything goes on, from your shore excursions to your fruity-umbrella drinks to casino chips.  When buying stuff is simple, more people will do it.  

What is your ticketing system like?  How quickly can you process an order?  How does your box office treat your patrons?  Painless purchasing is a must, especially for higher price items like theater tickets.

5.  They own an actual island.

I can't imagine what the staff meeting was like 30 years ago when someone at Royal Carribean said, "I'm sick of port fees and other vendors on shore making money off us.  Why don't we buy an island?"  I'd bet money that most of the people in the room thought guy or girl was bat-guano crazy.  This kind of big thinking created a whole new revenue stream for the cruise companies, and also keeps their customers inside their walls, giving them more marketing opportunities.

Whenever one of my staff members has a crazy idea, we preface it with . . . "I wanna buy an island!" . . . to remind us that the wackiest ideas may be the best.  Encourage your people to buy lots of islands.

 

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One Secret to Finding New Audiences, or What I Learned from Mohegan Sun.

Casinos have a lot on the ‘line’, which is why there is a lot to learn from everything they do.

I stumbled upon a simple little trick that I’ve started using for my shows already, and it has been so successful, I had to share it with you. 

It’s simple . . . if you want to get a new audience to the theater, you may have to get that new audience to the theater. 

The Mohegan Sun casino in Connecticut needs people to come to its casino constantly.  And they do.  But to really fill their craps tables they know they need a bigger market than the natural adopters . . . they need people who may have always thought about going to a casino, but would never make the effort on their own.

So they have buses . . . for free . . . or with cash back incentives that are scheduled to pick people up from places like NYC and take them to the Indian lands of Connecticut for a little blackjack and maybe a little Jimmy Buffett. 

I started thinking about all the people in my hometown and nearby that would love to see a Broadway show (especially if they knew me), but the thought of planning it, figuring it out, and getting over the fear of coming to the city, was just too much on their own.  New York and Broadway seem far away, even when you’re just a few hours by car.

So . . . knowing that these folks would never come to a show without a little catalyst, we decided to make it easy for them.

We created BroadwayRoadTrip.com, and on Saturday, February 4^th, a bus full of people will depart Sturbridge, MA, come to see the Godspell matinee, get a talkback from me, and then return home that night.

The local papers have done stories on it (the hometown boy connection always helps), and this pretty small town is a buzzin’ about Broadway. 

You know what I love about this simple casino-concept?  This bus will sell out . . . and on board will be 56 people who never would have seen Godspell had we not set it up for them. 

And you know what else?  We will take a survey, but I bet over 90% of them will have never been to a Broadway show before. 

My hope and my dream is that they enjoy their day with us so much, that when we ask them if they want to come see another show in a month or two that they don’t have a personal connection to (translation: that I’m not producing), they’ll fill up another bus again, and bingo, bongo, we’ve got brand new multi-musical buyers. 

By the way, there are a few more spots left on this bus, so if you’re from Massachusetts and want to come to NYC for the day, see the show, and meet my Mom (who will be on board), click here.

Has this been successful so far?

Ahhh, yeah.  So much so that we’re doing another BroadwayRoadTrip from Washington DC on February 25th.

What’s so special about the DC area?   That’s where cast member, Nick Blaemire is from (Hometown boy angle again).   And if you know Nick, or have even seen the show, I’d bet money that the Nick Express Bus from DC is going to be one heck of a party.  Click here to get tickets for that trip.

We have to remember in this business that if we want new audiences, sometimes we gotta make it real easy for them to get here. 

 

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Forget CDs and MP3s, Broadway needs more Records.

And I'm not talking about the vinyl kind.

Although I'm not a huge football fan, whenever the Patriots are in the post-season, my New England roots kick in, and I find myself cheering my head off for Tom Brady, with a wing in one hand and a Coke-filled cozy in another.  

And while watching the games over the last few weeks, I noticed that those color commentary guys come up with a lot of records.  And they can be records about anything . . . 

• Most TD passes ever thrown in a post-season game.
• Coldest regular season game. 
• Longest punt return by a rookie.

You get the pic.

Some of these Most/Longest/Baldest statistics are a bit much, actually, and are only crunched to give the sportscasters stuff to fill the time.  

But a lot of it is fun, because the NFL knows that people respond to records.  And they make each game unique, and therefore memorable . . . so it stands out from all the others that the viewer may have seen.

And isn't that one of the rules of marketing?

As a Producer, look and see what is unique about your show and let the world know.  Maybe you have the youngest cast on Broadway, or the most ethnically diverse, or maybe one of your songs has the highest note ever sung, or the longest note ever held.  

None of these by itself are going to get you to the Superbowl of Success, but they just may help keep you top of mind, when you don't have much else to talk about.

Go Pats.

 

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How a crane reminded me about a call to action.

How many of you have played The Crane game?  You know, that crazy coin-operated carny-like game where you spend megabucks trying to win stupid stuffed animals worth about seventy-five cents just to show "your skill"?  

Ok, as you can see, I have a hate-hate relationship with The Crane . . . because I have never beat that little b*tch, and I've known too many people that could populate a small New England town with the number of stuffed animals they've won.

I bumped into The Crane on a recent stop at my favorite Friendly's Restaurant (yummmm), and while I lost about $7 trying to win a purple dinosaur, at least I did learn something.

If you've been in marketing for any length of time, you know that a call to action (ex. Buy Now, Download Today, Get Tickets) is a mandatory part of any copy.  But sometimes it's such a simple thing I've seen it forgotten.

Well, leave it to The Crane to remind us all that if you don't tell your customers what to do, there's a good chance they won't do it.  Being passive aggressive doesn't work in relationships and it doesn't work in marketing.  

"Play till you win."  That's what The Crane was telling me to do.  Don't just play.  Play till I win.  

Simple, straightforward, and damn it, I listened.  

The theater is filled with smart and clever people that come up with intelligent copy and tactics that could probably win a lot of awards.

And while I love clever, you can't forget the two most important steps in any marketing initiative are:

1.  Ask yourself what you want your customers to do.

2.  Tell your customer to do it.  

Oh, and one more tip . . . trying to tip over the entire machine so that the purple dinosaur just falls into the win box gets Friendly's managers really, really irritated.

 

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10 surprising things overheard at Broadway focus groups.

If you've been reading my blog for a while, then you know that I'm a big proponent of research. We're one of the few industries on the planet that spends millions of dollars developing a project . . . but rarely test that project before going to market, or when we're in the market.

I don't do a show anymore without proper research to help guide me in my decision making process (and BTW, that's the key - to let it guide you - not let it drive you. You are the one holding the wheel, and the research just acts as a GPS that gives you the short cuts to where you want to go).

From what I hear from my peers, however, more and more focus groups and audience research reports are being done, which I think is fantastic. The more we listen, the more we learn.

One of the greatest reminders you get when doing a live focus group, where you sit behind a panel of one-way glass and listen to people talk about your show or Broadway habits in general, is how much people do not know. It's not that they are dumb, or ignorant or anything.

It's just that . . . we live in a bubble.

Since we constantly consume Broadway info, we sometimes assume everyone knows who is starring in The Mountaintop or how many weeks Darren Criss is in How To Succeed or that Darren Criss is even IN How to Succeed.

I thought I'd illustrate this point by listing ten surprising things heard by me and my peers over the last six months at a bunch of different live Broadway focus groups.

Fasten your seat belts . . .

 

1. "Priscilla closed. Yep, in October. I heard someone on the radio say it was the last day to see it."

2. "I heard a radio spot for Mandy Patumpkin and . . . some lady . . . I can't remember her name . . . but it's, you know, that lady has . . . been around."

3. "I want to see Spider-Man." "I want to see Spider-Man." "I want to see Spider-Man."

4. "I get all my tickets through Ticketron." (Ticketron disappeared in 1991 when it was acquired by Ticketmaster.)

5. "I went to see Priscilla because I thought Bette Midler was in it."

6. "The only show I want to see is Hugh Jackman." "It closed." "Really? Then forget it. I don't want to see anything!"

7. "I'd see any show by Andrew Lloyd Webber."

8. "I don't like to buy tickets in the winter. Because if there's a huge storm I can't drive into the city and I lose my money. Bloomberg always says, 'Despite the snow, Broadway is open!' Well, it's not open for me, and I don't want to be out that money so I stay home and watch TV."

9.  "I used to go to the theater all the time.  Then I had kids."

10. "Wicked plays television commercials all the time." (According to my sources, Wicked has never had a television commercial.)

 

 

Ok, now, the above comments were each said by only one person in a small group of Broadway theatergoers, so I wouldn't take any one of them as an indication of a trend amongst theatergoers (although that snow thing does make me think we need to do a better job of articulating our snow policy to ticket-buyers).

But I post them here to remind us all that just because we know something, doesn't mean our audience does.

What's the most surprising thing you've ever heard someone say about Broadway?

 

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Potential presidents can teach us something.

The Presidency of the United States could be one of the most valuable things in the world, which is why millions and millions and billions of dollars are spent on advertising and marketing, trying to win YOUR vote.

And when you've got such a prized possession on the line, that advertising and marketing better be damn good.  

I watch presidential politics very closely . . . 1, because I care where our country is headed, and 2, because I learn so much from watching the candidates' every move.  

Here's my marketing tip of the day.  

Sign up to receive President Obama's email newsletter, and Mitt's and even Newt's.  See what they are doing to get you involved . . . and get you to give money.  Check out the subject lines in their emails.  Check out how they get you to tell your friends to get involved.  Check out how they involve you in online activities and offline activities.  

Presidential politicians are all some of the best salesmen and women in the world . . . because what they are competing for is so unbelievably valuable.

And the marketing lessons we can learn from them are even more valuable.

Because let's face it . . . most of what they're selling is bullsh*t . . . and they actually get people to buy it.  

 

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The best selling iPhone apps and what they mean to us.

It's easy to forget that our audiences have lives outside our shows.  They read books.  They go on vacations.  And they download iPhone apps.

And those books, vacations, and yes, even iPhone apps, can tell us a lot about societal trends, and what people are looking for in their spare time.

Today, I decided to look at the Top 10 Selling iPhone Apps of 2011 to see if there was something I could learn from what peeps were downloading.  (And BTW, the sales data of my own app has informed me that more theatergoers have iPhones over the other platforms out there.)

Here are those apps.  How many do you have?

1. Angry Birds
2. Fruit Ninja
3. Angry Birds Seasons
4. Cut the Rope
5. Tiny Wings
6. Angry Birds Rio
7. Words With Friends
8. Camera+
9. Doodle Jump
10. Plants vs. Zombies

So what do 9 of 10 of these apps have in common?

Yep, they're games.  And one camera.  They are not "to-do" lists or alarm clocks or even melon meters (that's a real app, by the way - you bang the phone against a melon in a grocery store and the app detects if the melon is ripe or not by the sound it makes).

They are games.  Designed for fun. 

And if you don't think that tells you a lot about what today's consumers are looking for, well, I've got a melon detector app I can sell you.

But that's not all I get from this list.  There's a marketing lesson in it as well.

Games are going to play a key part in the promotion of products in the next decade, as explained in books like this.  Want to get your people engaging more with your project?  Learn from foursquare, Groupon, and even old school attempts like Publishers Clearing House and . . . game it up.  

Our audiences give us clues as to what they want in their entertainment . . . we just may have to look in other places to find them.  

 

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What I learned about too many choices from Quiznos.

I was very hungry.

And then I got very confused.

Take a look at the picture in this blog and you'll see what I mean.  

This was the wall of a Quiznos I was visiting.  I call it, the "Wall of Promotions," or "What happens when a Marketing Director throws up."

There's a Chicken Bacon Dipper special, a Cheesesteak special, Chopped Salads (yeah, right?), Combo Deals, and more.  What's a customer to do with all these choices? 

Pick none of them.  

That's what I did, anyway.  I ordered my usual "classic Italian," which was cheaper than all of the stuff they were puking pitching to me through posters.  

It's very easy to want to give a customer a lot of choices that you think are great and a lot of entrepreneurs make this mistake.  It's actually one of my greatest flaws as a marketer, as I'm always wanting to add another product to my shelf.  (And in e-marketing, it's usually a good idea, as described in The Long Tail.)

But to the consumer, a lot of choices can actually make them shut down and stop shopping.  Unfortunately, our minds are not as open as you think (Somewhat of a side note - ever wonder why a phone number only has 7 digits?  It's because you can't remember more - click here to see what I'm talking about).

Don't believe me?

Lots of scientists have studied choices in the decision making process.  Here's a link  to one set of results from a researcher who studied the number of jars of jam offered to customers at a grocery story.  On different days, she either put out 6 different flavors or 24 flavors.  Sure, a lot more people stopped by her table when the Baskin-Robbins like 24 flavors were out (60% of passerbys) but only 3% of those actually bought jam.  When only 6 flavors were out, a smaller percentage actually stopped (40%), but a whopping 30% bought!  People were "6 times more likley to buy a jar of jam if they had encountered 6 than if they encountered 24." 

How can we apply this to the theater?

How many prices of tickets do you have in your house?  1?  3?  More than 3?  Warning light.

What about subscription options for you non-profit road houses.  Full season?  Partial Season?  Flex pass?  Bacon Cheesesteak Semi-Subscription with a upgrade?  

How about merchandise?  Do you have too many t-shirt choices that people aren't picking any?

Be careful about how many choices you offer your audience.  Focus on the few, and you'll get more conversions.  Don't, and, your audience may choose something else entirely.

And that will really make your Marketing Director throw up.

 

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This blog has been endorsed by Cameron Mackintosh.

I woke up yesterday morning to Senator McCain endorsing Mitt Romney for President (and I'm sure looking for a VP nod as well).  Since this is an election year, there will be more endorsements coming down the pike . . . for both parties.  Unions, celebrities and more.

But endorsements don't only work well in politics.  Famous figures "endorse" all sorts of products all the time.  We've seen athletes act as pitch men and women for all sorts of products, from underwear to deodorant to jock itch cream.  We've seen TV stars in ads for watches, perfume and even Proactiv.

But we rarely see endorsements/spokespeople for Broadway shows.

Why?

Is it because it's an "artistic" enterprise, and we don't want to seem like we need that kind of hard sell, or is it because it's hard to get people to stand up for something like a show (and we don't have the kind of money to hire someone that could move the needle).

You tell me . . . what would sell a Broadway show to you  . . . seeing a simple moving headshot TV spot for a straight play, or listening to a celebrity or major NY figure talk about how they saw that show and they feel every New Yorker should see it too.

I'm not sure that I know the answer to this . . . but I certainly would love to see it tested.  And one thing I guarantee, it would be different.

And in a community where there are only three advertising agencies designing all the campaigns, it's important that the media doesn't become homogeneous.  And I got news for you . . . it's not the agencys' job to prevent that from happening.

It's the Producer's.

(BTW, Cameron Mackintosh didn't really endorse this blog - but seeing that headline got your attention, didn't it?)

 

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The problem with hard "trade" tickets.

There's an advertising practice that has been going on for a number of years that . . . well, has to change.

It was a great one to start off with, and it helped both parties, but now, as is usually the case with anything that is working well . . . a third party has come along and screwed it up for everyone.

Let me explain.

Often, media companies, from television stations to certain newspapers, etc. will accept "trade" for advertising . . . sometimes in addition to cash, sometimes in lieu of cash.  That's right, if your product is valuable enough, people will give you "free" advertising in exchange for your stuff (in our case, tickets).  If you've got the inventory, and the media company has the inventory, it can be a great deal for both sides.

What happens next is that the media companies either use the tickets for themselves (gifts to employees, clients) or they place the tickets in barter networks like this one, where they can trade them again for other products/services.

All good, right?  You get advertising, they get tickets . . . everyone's happy.

Well, not so fast, my friends.  

There are two ways to deliver these "tickets" to the media companies:

1) Hard tickets (which are actual tickets for specific performances with seat locations and everything)

2) Ticket vouchers (which are usually valid for weeks of performances, but need to be reserved in advance with your company directly, and therefore validated, before they can be used.

Without a doubt, #2 is the best scenario for both parties.  It provides the most flexibility for the "tradee", because it allows the user to see the show on multiple performance dates and times.  And it allows for the "trader" to have flexibility as well, in case the President of the United States decides to show up to a performance, and you need to control the inventory.  

Additionally, when someone is given hard tickets for a specific performance . . . and can't use them . . . you end up with a block of empty seats in your house.  It's an eyesore, and an inventory-sore, because those are seats that went dead, that someone knew were going to go dead and you had no chance to resell those seats.

But for some reason . . . some companies refuse to take vouchers instead of hard tickets.  Well, I think I stumbled upon the reason why.

On at least four occasions in the last twelve months, I have found "trade" tickets in the hands of secondary market sellers (i.e. brokers) that have been selling them to consumers.  A customer ends up with a ticket that says "COMP" and yet has paid sometimes more than face value for that seat.  One associate of mine found himself in this situation at a very high profile final performance that was sold out . . . but his seat money went to a secondary seller and not the show.  The worst part?  That show had in no way near recouped.

Somehow the trade ticket had fallen into the wrong hands. 

If someone insists on "hard tickets" for a trade you're involved in, ask them why, and ask them where they are trying to distribute them.  Then explain the benefits of a voucher system to both parties.

I have often offered companies 125% of the trade value if they take vouchers instead of hard tickets (and if they refuse, that's when I know something is really up).

Vouchers won't solve the problem entirely, but they will make it a lot more manageable, and offer road blocks to those people out there trying to profit where they shouldn't be.

The trade system is a great one, but the time has to come to regulate it so that it does what it was originally intended to do before it puts more money in the wrong hands.

 It's time for Producers, Marketing Directors and Advertising Agencies to tell their partners . . . hard tickets are no longer an option.  Vouchers only.  If we take this stand as an industry, they'll have no choice.

They should get used to it anyway. Because in a few years, we'll all be using e-tickets, and they'll have no choice.

 

(Got a comment?  I love 'em, so comment below!  Email subscribers, click here, then scroll down, to say what's on your mind!) 

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FUN STUFF:

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