Forget about Independence Day. Start thinking about Black Friday. If not, you could be missing out on your biggest opportunity of next season. The holiday season starts NOW for arts managers. Don’t let the heat of summer lull you into thinking holiday shows sell themselves—there’s a lot to do. It’s time to dust off and refresh your marketing plan for The Nutcracker, A Christmas Carol, your holiday concert, or whatever hot ticket event you have this December. In this free one-hour webinar you’ll hear from arts marketers like you who have maximized their holiday programming and gone on to break revenue records. Just when these arts administrators thought their perennial programming couldn’t garner any more, new highs were reached. These experts as well as the consultants from TRG will share the newest best practices for turning up the heat on the holidays. You’ll learn: -        What, when, and how often: how to optimize campaign timing and frequency, and content strategies for an event that’s repeated annually -        Why a good marketing campaign is nothing without a pricing strategy that allows revenue goals to be met--or exceeded. We’ll explore how the two work together for high-demand programming. -        The importance of realistic budgeting and revenue projections as well as the basics of matching revenue expectations to historical data

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CHRISTMAS IN JULY
TURN UP THE HEAT ON THE HOLIDAYS
Copyright © 2016 TRG Arts
All Rights Reserved

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Amelia Northrup-Simpson
Director of Strategic
Communications
TRG Arts
Scott Belford
Director of Marketing
Charlotte Symphony
Jim DeGood
Director of Client Services
TRG Arts
Steve Knight
Director of Marketing
Actors Theatre of Louisville
Jennifer Weissman
Chief Marketing Officer
Boston Ballet
Keri Mesropov
VP of Client Services
TRG Arts

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“Holiday events practically
sell themselves.”

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“Holiday events practically
sell themselves.
“I can have a big impact.
”
”

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Today
The Roadmap
1. Campaign: What, when, and how often
2. How campaigns and pricing work together
3. Realistic budgeting and revenue projections

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Charlotte Symphony
Explosive growth for Magic of Christmas
Scott Belford
Director of Marketing
Charlotte Symphony

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Budget Expectation Grew in 2013
Why?

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Cost of sale
How to calculate it
Expense
Gross
revenue
Cost of
sale
100% = break even
Less than 100% = you made money
More than 100% = you lost money

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Cost-of-Sale Low

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Channel Investments Misaligned
Plus robust email program; expenses not tracked by concert.

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TRG said: Mail earlier,
and more often
$15,000 in revenue – earlier than ever
6% cost-of-sale

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119% of
budget
attained
2015-16

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Results with TRG
budget attained
119%
revenue growth
31%
increase in
cost-of-sale
19%
18%growth in new
households

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What you can do
Budgeting

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Budget and Invest Appropriately
Align expectations, resources
1. Are your revenue budgets realistic?
o Data-driven, or emotion-driven?
2. Are you investing enough?
o What was your paid capacity last year?
o At what cost of sale did you invest?
3. How are you balancing prospecting with building loyalty?
o Very different campaign orientations

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What you can do
Campaign Orientation

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Campaigns: Advance Planning
If you’re not already selling, start selling!
1. Begin selling holiday productions as early as possible
o February/March immediately after holiday show?
o Incentivize early purchase
2. Frequency matters
o You’re in it for the long haul
3. Plan pan-organization
o Early on-sale opportunities for VIPs
o Get ahead of annual, predictable fire drills

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Actors Theatre of Louisville
A Christmas Carol beats expectations
Steve Knight
Director of Marketing
Actors Theatre of Louisville

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political
reactive
Pricing is emotional

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political
reactive
Pricing is emotional
Data makes emotional
decisions logical.

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Pricing should drive
patron behavior.

23. #heatupholidaysEnsemble of A Christmas Carol. Photo by Bill Brymer.

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Patron
Services
Front-Line
Staff
Artistic/
Executive
Marketing &
Development
Organizations
make decisions
in siloes. Patrons

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Patron
Services
Front-Line
Staff
Artistic/
Executive
Marketing &
Development
How ATL
does it now
Patrons
Revenue
Pacing
Meeting

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Proposed Single Ticket Prices
A Christmas Carol FY15
Top price from
dynamic pricing:
$70
Current Avg
Price
Price
Jump
Proposed
Price
+/-
Change
Price
Jump
PL 1
51.50$ 12$ 60$ 9$ 15$
PL 2 40.00$ 9$ 45$ 5$ 10$
PL 3 -$ 35$ 35$ 10$
PL 4 31.00$ 25$ (6)$
Single Tickets
33% admissions
55% revenue

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Growth in revenue for
ACC and Dracula
since 2014
36%
Single ticket
revenue up
since 2012
55%
Single tickets
up since 2012
26%

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What you can do
Optimize Revenue

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Optimize Revenue
Do this today, before singles go on sale
1. Evaluate your scale-of-hall and pricing plans
o Are they aligned for optimizing revenues?
2. Formalize revenue pacing meetings
o Set agenda, begin practicing
o Key metrics for review weekly
o Brief Executive, Artistic leaders for their needed role
3. Use data to drive dynamic pricing decisions
o Build flexibility into ticketing system now
o Evaluate sales velocity through sales cycle to guide decision-making

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Boston Ballet
Optimizes Nutcracker Revenues
Jennifer Weissman
Chief Marketing Officer
Boston Ballet

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unit increase
since 2014
12%
revenue up
since 2014
19%
per-cap up
since 2014
10%

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What you can do
Putting it together

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Putting it together
Start now.
1. Start strong, keep going
o Sustained volume in the marketplace, all cylinders firing
2. Strong campaigns and pricing work together
o When houses fill early, dynamic pricing heats up
3. Implementation matters as much as planning
o Obsession with monitoring and evaluating pacing
4. Entrepreneurial culture
o Incentivize teams to working together.
o Goal: maximum revenue

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Can we help?
Consulting Sprints help you get results
PRICING SPRINT
1.5 day session + data analysis
Full re-scale + inventory plan to
help you maximize revenue
CAMPAIGN PLANNING
SPRINT
Day-long session + planning doc
For subscriptions, tickets or
annual fund

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CHRISTMAS IN JULY
TURN UP THE HEAT ON THE HOLIDAYS
Hosted by:
Amelia Northrup-Simpson, TRG Arts
Keri Mesropov, TRG Arts
Jim DeGood, TRG Arts
Scott Belford, Charlotte Symphony
Steve Knight, Actors Theatre of Louisville
Jennifer Weissman, Boston Ballet
Copyright © 2016 TRG Arts
All Rights Reserved