JAM Building customerloyalty Journal ofArtsMarketing Theory andpractice Case studies www.a-m-a.co.uk Key issues

Issue 04 / January 2002 JAM We’re Jammin’

CONTENTS What is customer loyalty? Why does customer loyalty matter? What should the balance be between generating new customers and retaining existing ones? Jam Making If you have ever asked yourself one of these questions, then this edition of JAM is for you! Raspberries and Peaches 3 An important idea underpinning customer loyalty is the premise that ‘share of customer’ can be more Sticky Moments 5 important than ‘share of market’. The articles in JAM Spotlight on Wales 5 examine this idea in more depth. Tim Baker (page 6) What Gets My Goat! 21 considers what constitutes ‘loyalty’ in the arts. Malcolm A Day in the Life of… 22 McDonald explains the ‘CRM stool’ of strategy, marketing and IT on page 8. Kate Cripps explains how Book Shelf 24 the CRM process works in practice, and the potential to Classified 24 apply the principles online. Case studies from Theatre Royal, Newcastle, and Glasgow Film Theatre show how Building Customer arts organisations are working to move customers up Loyalty the ‘customer loyalty ladder’. Martin Christopher (page 17) argues that customer retention makes good business sense. Just how frequent is ‘loyal’? 6 If you would like to find out more about building customer loyalty then book for Stairway to Heaven, Q & A 6 a one-day AMA event at the Barbican, London on 13 June 2002. E-mail [email protected] On the right track 8 The CRM process 10 Getting on the Ladder 13 Bicycle made for two 15 We Hope You Like Jammin’ Too! You know it makes sense! 17 Martyn Cox (South West Arts) sounded off in JAM 03 about AMA members with what he believed to be a narrow approach to learning. Jam Pips JAM is edited by Pam Henderson Dear Martyn with assistance from Julie Aldridge I just thought I’d send a quick note to say how much I enjoyed reading your article in JAM today. It JAM is published by the Arts Marketing Association was absolutely spot on. I feel I have heard all those statements or something similar many times over

AMA the years. You’re right. Basically all those statements are just excuses for laziness and they are also ex- 7a Clifton Court pressions of ‘jobsworth’ attitudes which are so negative and yet so prevalent in arts organisations. How Cambridge CB1 7BN can anyone say the psychology of partnerships is not relevant to them? Only a hermit could say that! T: 01223 578078 F: 01223 245862 Bravo for daring to be positive about learning. E: [email protected] Jonathan Goodacre, Marketing Development Manager, Eastern Touring Agency Design by sugarfreedesign.co.uk

Advertising is managed by Angela Hastings at Make JAM for the AMA Baker Hastings T: 01379 651900 Had a ‘sticky moment’ you would like to share (page 5)?! Is there something that truly gets your E: [email protected] goat (page 21)? Would you be prepared to share your day with the AMA (page 22)? Or have you got JAM is published four times per annum. a good case study you would like to tell members about? UK subscription rates £16 per annum. Overseas subscription rates £32 per annum. E-mail [email protected] Future JAM issues will look at: Data analysis Becoming a manager Fundraising New technology We are always on the lookout for good ideas and new writers. If you would like to contribute, please © Arts Marketing Association, 2002 All rights are reserved and reproduction of any parts is not allowed without the written e-mail [email protected]. permission of the publishers. Opinions expressed in JAM are not necessarily those of the AMA and no responsibility is CORRECTION: At the request of the author, the following corrections are published regarding A short trip to planet Diversity accepted for advertising content. Any material (JAM 03 October 2001) by Wanjiku Nyachae: submitted for publication may be edited for • Jonas Ridderstrale is the co-author of Funky Business, ft.com, Book House Publishing AB (2000) reasons of style, content or available space. • In the section 7 seconds, Englishness and power tools, the sentence ‘Commentators on year 2020 (when the minority Meanings will not be altered without permission from the author. becomes the majority in Birmingham) should never assume the culture of “Englishness”’, should have been published as ‘Commentators on year 2020, when the minority becomes the majority in Birmingham, never assume the cultural ISSN 1474-1172 “Englishness” of the first majority baby, they speak of race.’

Journal of Arts Marketing FEEDBACK JAM

Raspberries & Peaches

Writing copy for events aimed at children presents an interesting challenge – who are we talking to, the grown- ups or the kids?

Peaches and Cream... (and not a single rasberry!)

A family theatre trip is the result of complex brochure describes their show for 3 to 5 year olds, be aroused by the invitation to sing along!). negotiation between the adults and the young Visiting Grandad, like this: ‘This new play uses people, even if those young people are under 8s. projections, puppets and pirates to explore The Listen Up series of music for young people We know from countless research reports that all the relationship between grandparents and in Leeds is very successful at creating programmes but the most confident theatregoers are anxious grandchildren’ before addressing the reader that will appeal to children aged 7 and over and that they will not enjoy themselves. But this anxiety directly: ‘Take off on a magical adventure with then describing them in a direct and energetic way. increases if you are making the decision to attend grandad. Where will you go? Who will you meet? Here’s the copy for The Good, the Bad and the on behalf of other people. Adults know only too well What secrets will you discover?’ The leaflet starts Ugly: that children have particularly high critical with an evocative poem from a child’s point of view Goodies and baddies, cops and robbers, heroes standards. Unlike their partners or friends, they will below a photograph of a kid dressed as a pirate and villains take to the stage, so don’t forget to boo not tolerate being bored. Worse still, if they are looking out conspiratorially at the reader. and cheer in the right places, and some of the bored, the kids will blame them and probably wrong ones too! And who is the ugliest creature of behave inappropriately (and embarrassingly). Most organisations use a combination of them all? Watch out for them there trolls… approaches, perhaps inviting the reader to respond Some promoters clearly feel that there are shows as they imagine a child would, or in the expectation It is possible, though, to find a tone of voice that that need no introduction. The A5 leaflet for Bradford that the adult will read the copy to the kids. Here’s appeals to both adults and children. Grand Union Alhambra’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs an example from Theatre Workshop in Edinburgh Orchestra produced a colourful and enthusiastic names the two headline stars and adds a single that immediately whisks the reader away into the A5 leaflet for Doctor Carnival that captured the strapline ‘with a fabulous supporting cast’ before familiar world of fairy tales, even though it is an flavour of the event perfectly: going on to set out a staggeringly complicated pricing example of what they call ‘round-the-world He’s the medicine man structure on the back. But which are the shows that storytelling’: With a trombone story need no copy? Leeds Grand’s leaflet for Peter Pan Long ago and far away a kindly bamboo cutter and He’s got skylark trumpet has one line of copy, ‘The fabulous family his wife found a tiny baby under a glowing tree. The He’s got saxophone fury pantomime’ and the layout and use of colour and little girl was the child they had always dreamt of He’s got sussed percussion typefaces is similar to dozens of other large-scale and in time she grew to be a gentle and beautiful He’s got steel pan glory pantomimes across the country. Leicester young maiden known throughout the land as You just can’t resist his potions Haymarket, though, has a virtually monochrome Kaguyahime, The Moon Princess. And his motions and his spells. piece of print for the same story that tells us: Set in Kyoto, Theatre Workshop’s enchanting new ‘An all time favourite, Peter Pan is about the boy Christmas story tells the humorous and magical tale But Catherine Wheels Theatre Company get the who wouldn’t grow up. Peter Pan and his friends of Kaguyahime and the cheating Japanese emperor biggest and the juiciest peach for their print for leave their nursery and fly high above the rooftops – and the five not-so-noble noblement – who each Red, a show for 5 to 8 year olds which has the best on a magical journey to Never Never Land. On their go on a crazy quest to win her love for ever. strapline ever: fantastic adventure they meet the Lost Boys, This is copy that tells the reader exactly what to In space no-one can hear you bicker… discover the beautiful shimmering mermaids on expect from the show. the South Sea lagoon and have swashbuckling fights with the evil Captain Hook and his pirates.’ It’s more difficult to do this when there isn’t a The difference is that this is a musical rather than story to tell. The South Bank addresses all its copy a pantomime ‘…in the best tradition of Leicester in the brochure for its family events directly at the Haymarket Christmas shows’. The assumption adults. Here’s the copy for: appears to be that everybody understands what Conducted by David Angus and presented by they will get from a pantomime and the key benefit television’s Chris Jarvis, the concert features the is seeing those particular stars. Anything else needs premiere of a brand new fanfare, music from more explanation. Sibeleius, Berio and contemporary film music, as Make jam for the AMA well as a new song based on Nordic myths for E-mail your peaches or raspberries to West Yorkshire Playhouse seem very clear that everyone to sing. [email protected]. their season brochure is aimed at adults and the Without the accompanying child’s drawing of a leaflets for individual children’s events are aimed conductor, the reader wouldn’t know that this was more at the children themselves. The season an event aimed at kids (although suspicions might

JAM 04 3

EDITORIAL JAM

STICKY MOMENTS SPOTLIGHT ON WALES

If you find yourself in a JAM then don’t delay – write to us and we will Wales is such an exciting place to be today! After try to find a solution for you! years of resource starvation there’s the buzz of real change. Q: ‘I am a marketing officer in a regional arts centre and I have been analysing our The National Assembly for Wales has agreed a database. I have found that 20% have attended two or more times in the last year, 50% 23% (yes twenty-three percent!) increase in have attended once and 30% have not attended at all. Where should I place my funding for the Arts Council of Wales from April (limited!) resources?’ 2002. ACW is restructuring by decentralising decision-making. A: Bearing in mind the Pareto 80:20 principle, I would suggest you begin by concentrating There’s a mammoth consultation into a raft of new on the 20% who come two or more times a year. With only ‘limited resources’ available grant schemes, a five-year arts development strategy you’re much more likely to be able to encourage their loyalty and frequency through direct and a ‘lighter touch’, as well as three-year funding marketing. You might try things such as offering discounts; up-selling through special agreements for all revenue clients. The new Research discount packages (i.e. buy four get one free offers) or introducing a loyalty card with a Department will resource audience development and range of benefits such as guaranteed discounts, offers, pay later, free programmes. To help prove the impact of the arts on all our lives. continue developing your ladder of loyalty and if you have any money left you might look Government grants to the four arts councils varies at the 50% who have attended once. To begin with you should filter out visitors/those over considerably: this year for every £1 per head of two hours drive time away. Then either try a test mailing to a small segment to assess their population in England, it’s about 85p in Scotland, response, or apply to your funding body for an audience development grant. You might be about 72p in Wales and about 63p in Northern able to persuade your board to invest some money in a TelePrompt campaign on a test Ireland. The entire arts community in Wales has long group (the success of TelePrompt is already proven so hopefully you won’t have too much clamoured for better recognition and resources and it trouble persuading them!). You have two choices with the 30% who have not attended at seems that our message has been heard! all – either ‘clean’ them off your database or – if you still have the time, energy and any Wales has nurtured many monumental changes resources left – try a Test Drive programme on a small segment. throughout history. We began the Industrial Helen Dunnett, Royal Liverpool Philarmonic Revolution, elected the first Labour MP, appointed the first Commissioner for Children, and created the UK’s first arts marketing consortium, Cardiff Arts A: Why is your database showing such low levels of attendance – for a regional arts centre Marketing (CAM) in 1983. Nine years later Valleys with a varied programme surely you would expect higher levels? Are there any statistics locally Arts Marketing (VAM) was born, followed in 1998 or nationally to help assess whether people should be coming more often? Can your database by Marketing the Arts in Swansea & give you more information about the types of work people are attending? If you think they Carmarthenshire (MASC), all partnerships with should be seeing more and more often, you need to find out why they aren’t currently. local authorities and arts organisations. Use desk research (complaint letters, FOH reports, internal and external feedback) to Mid and North Wales are targets now! We’ve look for any themes or recurring issues. Use self-completion questionnaires to gauge levels launched the arts’ first national training agency, Arts of satisfaction and to quantify dissatisfaction. It may be that attenders find the venue Training Wales, and the first national Touring unfriendly or unwelcoming or the service poor. It may be that they find the marketing Agency, Creu Cymru, uniting presenting venues in a communications irregular, insufficient or difficult to use. If you are treating them as a collaborative quest for real audience development. regular drama attender and only providing them with information on drama, they may be We’ve recently held our fourth national Marketing unaware of the other artforms on offer. Or it may be that the barrier to increased attendance Symposium. Wales is bouncing back! is around issues of transport, pricing, accessibility, etc. Again, analysing feedback from your audiences and incorporating some simple questions into your questionnaire will help you begin to identify and understand these issues. And being seen to respond to these issues and improving levels of service may be quick wins that do not dent your limited resources too much. David Newland, Director, Valleys Arts Marketing, Ivan Wadeson, Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester [email protected]

JAM 04 5 FEATURE JAM

JUST HOW FREQUENT Q&A IS ‘LOYAL’?

Q: What do we mean by customer Tim Baker explains that our audiences may not be quite as loyalty? A: Afraid it depends who you ask. For devoted as we might otherwise believe… the purposes of arts marketing and audience development, loyalty should be defined by the person/organisation If you ask people how loyal their audiences are, contribute 80% of your income, either by wishing to achieve it. In its most basic many will answer the question by citing the making the highest value purchases and/or by form, customer loyalty can be seen – frequency with which their customers visit. But attending more frequently. (See Table 1.) usually in some form of numerical loyalty and frequency do not necessarily equate. The significance of the Pareto effect is that it measurement – as the depth, breadth Think about the millions of people across the can have a distorting effect on our perceptions or frequency of involvement between an world who describe themselves as loyal of what frequency is and what our customers organisation and its customers. Manchester United supporters. How frequent are like. There is a small core that we get to is their attendance at Old Trafford? Neither is know and understand because they attend Q: Having defined loyalty in the a customer’s longevity always a function of regularly. These are the customers who are context of the specific situation, how loyalty. If you haven’t changed your bank responding to our marketing messages. But does one measure it? account in twenty years then you are just as these customers are actually in the minority. A: There are a range of techniques that likely to be a lazy customer as a loyal one! The 80% majority of our customers are less can be used. Before implementing any Ultimately loyalty depends on a personal visible because they are less frequent. of them, check first that you are able to connection or commitment and this can be Furthermore, those of us who work in the arts measure the variable required. For difficult to measure or quantify. So for the are usually part of the 20% who attend instance, if it’s number of occasions a purpose of this article we are going to talk about regularly: we are atypical of the 80% majority customer attends in a given period of frequency. of our customers. time, do you collect data on your Many of you will already be familiar with the Target group Index (TGI), the best data customers in a way that is measurable? Pareto effect. Italian sociologist Vilfredo Pareto currently available to most arts organisations, If it’s the variety of art forms a customer observed that 20% of customers are responsible supports Pareto in relation to frequency of experiences over a period of time, are for 80% of an organisation’s business. To put it attendance. It demonstrates that there is a those different artforms appropriately another way, 20% of your customers will minority who attend more frequently. flagged so that one can be compared with another?

Q: If customer loyalty is defined in % terms of ‘frequency’ of attendance or 100 experience, then what frequency is 80 regarded as good, bad or indifferent? A: Impossible to answer except on 60 a case-by-case basis. However, in almost every instance, if you talk 40 to your customers anecdotally or through formal research, you will 20 invariably be surprised to find that despite what you may regard as 0 infrequent and sporadic involvement Customers Income £

Table 1: The Pareto effect

6 JAM 04 Q&A

Art Form ‘Frequent’ minority Frequency of attendance % of those who attend Ballet 19% At least twice a year Contemporary dance 18% At least twice a year Opera 25% At least twice a year

Jazz 28% At least twice a year between those customers and the Classical music 16% At least four times a year organisation, in the eyes of the Plays 15% At least four times a year customer, they are far more frequent – possibly even regarding themselves Galleries /exhibitions 18% At least four times a year as regular. Customers experiencing Cinema 22% At least once a month one artistic event each year might still Source: BMRB International, TGI, GB, 2000 – 2001 regard themselves as frequent.

But 57% of arts attenders attend once a year described as an infrequent attender. This is Q: Are customers really loyal to an arts or less often. More than half of our customers! perhaps unsurprising given that they see organisation or are we deluding Yet our expectations in relation to frequency of themselves attending opera more frequently ourselves? attendance can be found in the way we choose than their peers. After all, only 6% of the adult A: Just as supermarket chains thought to analyse our audiences. The current obsession population attend opera at all. It is our the introduction of loyalty cards would with retention or churn is a good example. How expectations that are wrong by comparing the lead to monogamous relationships with many of us calculate our retention rate using the majority of attenders with our frequent their customers, so any arts organisa- following calculation: minority and describing someone who has not tion that believes it ‘owns’ an exclusive been back for a year as ‘lapsed’. relationship with its customer may No. of customers at year end who were I am currently undertaking research for The well find that promiscuity is but a customers at the beginning of the year transaction away. x 100 Bridgwater Hall in Manchester where the staff No. of customers at the beginning of want to develop more initiatives to get the year audiences to come back. But preliminary Q: Is customer loyalty worth pursuing? research findings show that the Bridgwater A: If ‘new audiences’ are what arts Many arts organisations using this Hall is indeed succeeding in getting people to marketing is about, then loyalty is calculation have become concerned with their return – it is just that they are often not something not worth pursuing. Like- lack of retention or levels of churn. But returning for at least 12 months. wise, many arts organisations and their perhaps the problem isn’t a lack of retention So what does all this mean? Well, maybe we customers already have something of but simply that customer behaviour needs to need to start by understanding just what a low an ongoing relationship with their be measured over a longer period and not an level of personal engagement the majority of customers (monogamous or not), and annual cycle. TGI tells us that 57% of our customers actually have with our in many cases the investment of time, attenders visit once a year or less often and we organisations and reassess our marketing money and effort over the years has must also assume that the majority of this 57% strategies accordingly. As Oscar Wilde once paid for itself many times over for both have a variety of arts organisations to choose said, ‘If you are not too long, I will wait here for parties. Those organisations would from. Therefore they may be attending our you all my life.’ Perhaps it is time to adjust our argue that it makes not only financial particular organisation even less frequently ideas of how long we need to wait before our sense to pursue such an objective, but than this. We need to adjust our perceptions customers will come back. from the audience’s point of view, it about what constitutes infrequent and learn to makes artistic sense too. Customers look at our audiences differently. have developed a deeper under- Research undertaken for Welsh National standing of the work, and are less Opera (WNO) demonstrates that arts prone to the ‘one night stand’ – a never- attenders who haven’t been back to WNO for to-be-repeated experience with an art two to three years do not perceive themselves form or organisation. as ‘lapsed’ and may be offended at being Tim Baker, consultant, [email protected]

JAM 04 7 FEATURE JAM

ON THE RIGHT TRACK

Whether CRM (customer relationship management) provides an opportunity or threat to your organisation is your call, says Malcolm McDonald

So what is this latest fad, CRM? The exact The simple truth is that CRM projects will cost – heaven! definition depends on who you happen to be spill out of enormous amounts of customer Much CRM literature states that the talking to – or who is trying to sell to you. data. Whether your organisation is able to success of any CRM project depends on key Definitions of CRM are everywhere, and make that data meaningful and turn it into strategic issues being agreed before any work range from ‘a continuous performance ‘information’, and then knowledge, depends is done. And, to be fair, those organisations initiative to increase a company’s knowledge on whether you know what to do with it. currently marketing CRM solutions do of its customers’ to ‘consistent high-quality Imagine (and this is a real example) that you mention other things that need to be in place customer support access across all discover the most important fact about the before (their version of ) CRM will work. communications channels and business Unfortunately, these ‘things’ are neither small functions and business partners’. nor particularly easy to put in place. The IT/systems backbone of CRM keeps Identifying the Maybe it’s time to learn from the pioneers peeking through the veneer – but we need to critical difference of a previous technological age. Imagine recognise CRM, at least as it currently stands, CRM as a railway track. Lay the lines and it for what it is. At the moment, CRM is being between what you will get the train to its destination quickly and delivered as a method of combining one or are making/selling efficiently – you may have to knock down a more of the IT systems that exist or can be few buildings standing in the way, but that is placed in an organisation. The idea then is to and what your surely a small price to pay. The nineteenth - slam (sorry – integrate, cleanse, unify and customers are buying/ century entrepreneurs soon learned that present) these systems together, thus enabling success existed less in knowing how to lay the the organisation to manage its customers using identifies lines and more in knowing where people flawlessly. Having different systems in the your organisation’s wanted the trains to go. So, do you know same organisation that do not and cannot talk where your customers want to go? You need to each other is lunacy. The fact that strengths and to. Battles will not be won by the best CRM marketing doesn’t talk to finance or sales is no weaknesses and its system, but by the organisation with the excuse for the systems to act as badly as the clearest idea of where they are going and how humans. But, does it all add up to customer real competition. they are going to get there. Simple, maybe, relationship management? but not easy. The fact is, we get CRM wrong and Ever since Theodore Levitt wrote customers leave, never to return. So, what is heaviest users of your communication service Marketing Myopia in 1960, the question of CRM all about? There is no doubt that CRM is that they are likely to be cat owners. Then ‘what business are we in?’ has vexed marketers can be a major factor in achieving competitive what? Embark on a joint promotion between to the point of forcing them to ignore this advantage. Whether it is the only factor is telecoms and cat food? Too many companies most fundamental of all strategic questions. another question. There are three legs to the believe that all they have to do is collect large Defining the industry and market within CRM ‘stool’: strategy, marketing and IT.Take amounts of similarly pointless data and they which your organisation is going to operate is just one of the legs away and it will fall over. will finally be able to meet those (ludicrous) central to any practical strategy. Until it is Try to build CRM on one leg alone and you cross-selling objectives. Ah, the power to properly answered, none of the tools and won’t even get your organisation off the floor. annoy more customers, faster and at greater techniques of marketing works. CRM

8 JAM 04 FEATURE JAM

certainly won’t. be trying to create. Most customers like to feel Identifying the critical difference between in control. Information flows, systems and At a Glance what you are making/selling and what your processes designed from the customers’ customers are buying/using identifies your perspectives might give you a better chance of organisation’s strengths and weaknesses and achieving the results you really want; happy CRM – the audit its real competition. Your objective should customers spending more and more often. also pinpoint where you want to be in the The CRM process that allows customers to • identification of the market future. Rather than expressed in financial manage the organisation is one that would be being served terms, this should be the role that your worth having. organisation expects to be playing in its In every developed market (both consumer • a quantification of the customers’ lives. and business-to-business), nine out of ten customer/process But don’t different customers want customers would prefer to buy on non-price dynamics within this different things? All CRM vendors make a criteria. That means the secret to success lies great play on segmentation being the key to in being different from the rest, not the same market today’s fragmenting and competitive – and for 90% of organisations, not the • an understanding of the markets. Absolutely true. The big problem in cheapest! Do you know how you want to competitive environment all this is that very few are talking about differentiate your offer from the rest? Because segmentation, spending more time talking if you don’t, you might end up with CRM that • an unbiased segmentation about classifying customers by the data that only allows you to do the same as everybody of the market can be collected from data warehouses. else. The inevitable result – commodity status, Segmentation is less about which customers price competition and death. • an understanding of do what and more about why they do it. How do we create a CRM process that will customer needs in each More meaningful customer data will reduce work for us, not against us? CRM is evidently segment communications and sales wastage and create the latest place to be. It’s fun, colourful and competitive advantage. full of promise. But is it where you want to • a realistic assessment of Spotting and serving the most profitable end up? Before you rush headlong into the the organisational customer has to be the name of the game. CRM game, think about devoting some of implications of introducing Applying segmentation strategically will the funds set aside for CRM for an audit. A CRM allow the organisation to decide where it CRM audit is an independent and unbiased needs to focus its activities for greater assessment of your organisation’s current • an outline plan for the returns. Tomorrow belongs to the credible customer position and requirements from any introduction of CRM specialist. Effective CRM will enable the CRM process. As Benjamin Franklin’s organisation to focus on the customer it famous quote might be adapted, ‘Drive your • an assessment of the likely wants to retain over the longer term, allowing CRM, or it will drive thee.’ costs and benefits of CRM the business to develop just those offers that for the organisation appeal to target markets. Almost everything written about CRM • an outline brief for CRM either talks about (or implies) the organisation suppliers, especially IT managing its customers/relationships. Much as it might be the preferred scenario, it just Professor Malcolm McDonald is Professor doesn’t work like that. Your customer manages of Marketing Strategy at Cranfield School of you. At least that is the impression you should Management.

JAM 04 9 THE CRM PROCESS

Kate Cripps explores the CRM cycle, and demonstrates its effectiveness online

Customer relationship management, or CRM, An online box office incorporates appli-cations cross-selling and reducing spend. In many cases includes all the tools, technologies and business that can collect, store, recall and compare you may need to consider a combination of processes to attract and retain customers, virtually unlimited information about individual actions. Never-theless, there is a discrete seven- prospects and business partners. It distinguishes customers, or groups of customers, and the way stage cycle, which incorporates all the essential itself from other sales and marketing systems, they behave. It can categorise an audience and elements of a comprehensive CRM strategy and such as sales force automation or contact customise their experiences, ‘remembering’ them can be used as a template for success. management, by its integrated approach and and offering information, and tickets, based on strict customer-centric focus. Membership what they did the last time they interacted with Attracting schemes, seasonal promotions and targeted your organisation. The Internet has removed the The first stage is to attract your prospective mail-shots all incorporate the customers and engage them principles of CRM. But while most in an online relationship. The arts organisations employ some sort aim is to channel the of customer service facility, very few It is of the utmost importance that you prospect or customer, who will monitor its output, let alone offer your customers reassurance may only be seeking inform- analyse it and feed this data back ation about the venue, or a into future marketing campaigns. throughout the ordering process of the specific per-formance or Fewer still will target their marketing security. ...This will substantially allay show, into the initial stage of activities on an individual customer the purchasing process. This basis. fears about the safety of their personal means custom-ising the look and financial data. It will also help to and feel of your website – in a Recently, advances in digital way that lends maximum technology and the development of ensure they complete the transaction exposure to theatre, prod- the Internet have revolutionised and will encourage them to return. uctions and your brand and CRM. Not only has the Internet best serves the needs of your presented marketers with a customers. comprehensive toolkit for building more effective relationships with customers and In order to do so, it is important that the prospects, saving both time and expense by need for time-consuming and costly processes, area of your website where transactions occur allowing a number of processes within the such as data input. At the same time, e-mail – your online box office – is fully integrated marketing mix to be automated, but it has also communication is extremely fast, cheap and with the rest of your site, so that there is a begun to change consumer buying behaviour. easily managed. smooth transition from one process to the next. It is crucial that the customer does not Electronic CRM or e-CRM means that, for the But while the opportunities presented by experience a ‘disconnect’ between seeking first time, individual customers can be treated as developments in technology are manifest, the inform-ation and making a purchase. By such. Organisations that sell tickets as a major part challenge is to develop a CRM capability that is supporting multiple online platforms, such as of their business are using technology to develop both appropriate and cost-effective – one that mobile Internet (SMS and WAP), you can offer ways of personalising the consumer experience. reaches a particular audience and solves your prospects and customers more This is being achieved through the introduction of particular business needs. For example, if you opportunities to access your box office. Today online box office systems that exploit new have spare capacity, you may need to the Internet, accessed via a desktop PC, is just technology in general, and the proliferation of self- concentrate on finding new audiences/ markets; one of various digital channels that your service channels such as the web and mobile whereas if you regularly sell out but are still customers might be most accustomed to phones in particular. unprofitable, you may need to concentrate on using.

10 JAM 04 JAM CASE STUDY 1

Capturing Capturing a customer – persuading them to part with their hard-earned cash – represents the second, and perhaps most important stage of the CRM cycle. The purchasing process should be as straightforward as possible. If it is not simple, and indeed intuitive, there is a strong chance the customer will give up and take their business elsewhere. Related to this is convenience. One of the great advantages of the Internet is its ability to be always open for business, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This is particularly important for overseas customers, who will want to make purchases outside conventional box office hours.

While breaches in online security are in fact rare, this remains the single biggest area of concern among consumers. It is of the utmost importance that you offer your customers reassurance, throughout the ordering process, of above and beyond their pur-chasing history. You Traditional online membership schemes issue the security. Provide prospects with the highest can effectively gather additional inform-ation by customers with a user name and password, possible level of encryption and give them the e-mailing out carefully structured questionnaires. which allows them to be immediately identified ability to check this at any time. This will This will help you to refine your online offering each time they enter your website. This allows for substantially allay fears about the safety of their and tailor it to the particular requirements of your special offers or discounts to be assigned personal and financial data. It will also help to various customer segments. Question-naires are according to the level of membership. Loyalty can ensure they complete the transaction and will invaluable market research tools, which will form be rewarded, or if a formerly loyal customer is encourage them to return. the basis of e-marketing activities, helping you to seen to be making fewer purchases, action can identify the things that your customers find useful be taken to draw them back into the fold. Managing or those that need to be changed. Once a customer’s details have been captured, a Expanding unique profile can be created which forms the basis Nurturing Having acquired a customer database, ordered of any future marketing activity. As well as contact A successful CRM strategy is all about building and added to it, it is then necessary to grow your details, build up a full purchasing history on each relationships with your most valuable customers business methodically by expanding customer individual. In fact, even if a prospect has not actually – those that are most loyal to your products and activity, based upon the information received, bought a ticket online, the information about what who make repeat purchases. In order to nurture and at all times to record and qualify your they do can prove invaluable in assisting you when these relation-ships, you need to monitor your successes and failures. This can be done through devising a targeted marketing strategy, to encourage customers’ requirements and reward their loyalty. promotional campaigns, such as a simple cross- them to make a purchase in the future. To achieve this you will need to create a range of selling exercise whereby the soundtrack or membership schemes that will help you manage programme to a particular event is offered to Refining customer interactions in volume, while also those attending, via personalised e-mail alerts. It is important to learn as much as possible about customising your communications and special What is crucial to remember is that the process the behaviour of your individual customers – offers by customer segment or type. of expanding customer activity is ongoing.

JAM 04 11 Therefore, if a campaign is undertaken it must be costed and clearly A successful CRM targeted, and the results should be recorded and acted upon. So if the customer group or member type responds well to a communication, they system is an ongoing should receive similar campaigns in the future; if they ignore or reject it, process – it must then a different approach should be tried. make use of all Targeting available information Finally, a successful CRM initiative is one that understands that customers do not want to be treated equally; they want to be treated individually, and all the appropriate receiving personal, timely and informative communications. Nowhere is this tools, and it must more applicable than in the arts: the audience, and the services they require, are far more complex than in most other ticketing businesses, such always put the as the sports sector. customer at the centre

Identifying a specific group of customers and targeting them with relevant of the initiative marketing and communication campaigns saves you time and money, but also increases customer satisfaction. Targeted contact, combined with the ability to personalise your messages, should lead to an increase in customer satis-faction and an increased response. Feeding the results of promotional initiatives back into future e-marketing efforts will ensure that the seven-stage cycle is adhered to, while maximising the efficiency and effectiveness of the ongoing campaign.

A successful CRM system is an ongoing process – it must make use of all available information and all the appropriate tools, and it must always put the customer at the centre of the initiative.

While these seven stages provide the basis for a successful CRM strategy, each organisation will find that it needs to adapt these processes to suit its particular needs and those of its customers.

Kate Cripps, Marketing Communications Manager, [email protected]

12 JAM 04 JAM CASE STUDY 2

GETTING ON THE LADDER: THE DIY APPROACH TO LOYALTY

Katy Raines describes the work undertaken at Theatre Royal, Newcastle, to build customer loyalty

I don’t know about you, but over the years I have been to so many courses that is to say, to convert a new attender to a frequent attender over time – talking about ‘loyalty ladders’ that I thought it was about time I had a go we also want to encourage customers to cross between the ladders by at doing a spot of DIY and seeing if it worked. So here at the Theatre Royal joining one of our membership schemes, or supporting the work of the in Newcastle, we have adopted some very basic techniques to build theatre by making donations. It is important that the stages are realistic, loyalty, and then tracked the results to see if the notional ‘loyalty ladder’ and that it is acknowledged that the process is a medium-term one, actually works. because customers will move up (and down!) the ladder at different rates. The Theatre Royal is a 1, 300 capacity No. 1 receiving venue in the heart Here are some examples of the simple techniques we are using to move of Newcastle, presenting a mixed programme ranging from drama (RSC, customers up the ladders. National Theatre) to contemporary dance (Rambert, Mark Morris) and large musicals. With a mixed programme, we thought the opportunities for • We flag all first-time customers on the database for a certain event, and encouraging repeat attendance should be good. Our aims are as follows: send them a direct mail letter to hit the morning after their first visit. This can include welcome information about the venue, and/or special offers • to increase the number of first-time bookers to the Theatre Royal to attend a similar production (it is useful to put a time-limit on the offer • to encourage first-time bookers to re-attend within six months to encourage them to act quickly). • to increase the frequency of those already attending • We use the brochure mailing as a targeted piece of direct mail, rather • to increase the loyalty of the customer base, through membership and than a mass mail-out. Most mailing houses now have the facility to laser donations. print different letter texts to different segments of the database, so a different letter can be sent to those who attend infrequently (perhaps with We see our loyalty building in three inter-connected ‘ladders’ (See Figure 1). an offer), from those who are Friends or regular attenders. While we are clearly aiming to move customers up each ladder in stages – • We encourage all our free mailing list members to join the lowest level of

Event attendance Membership Donation

Frequent attender Friend (£40 per year) Regular donation

Regular attender Stage 2 (£5 per year) Single donation

Irregular attender

New attender Free mailing list

Non-attender

Figure 1: Inter-connected Loyalty Ladders

JAM 04 13 Most mailing houses now have the facility to laser print different letter texts to different segments of the database, so a different letter can be sent to those who attend infrequently (perhaps with an offer), from those who are Friends or regular attenders.

membership, by including an application form in every free brochure mailing. • We offer Stage 2 members the chance to upgrade to the Friends Scheme at the time of renewal, by offering them £5 off in the first year. Some of the ways we are also getting customers to cross between ladders include targeted mailings (quarterly) to regular attenders who have not joined the Friends scheme; and ensuring that booking office staff enclose a Friends scheme leaflet with tickets to people who are booking for two or more productions at the same time. We also ask Friends or Stage 2 members to consider making a regular gift to support the work of the theatre.

There are three other key elements in making all this work:

1. Planning We make these activities integral to our planning and campaign implementation, rather than thinking about them afterwards. 2. Budgeting We find creative ways to target the key groups as part of the marketing activity for each production, or in the way we mail our brochure or talk to our customers in the booking office. 3. Monitoring We monitor our results monthly and feed them back to staff and management teams. We then use these results to help us plan targets for the next year, as well as for useful PR and funding applications!

Results • The Theatre Royal has attracted over 30,000 new bookers in the last nine months. • 22% of new bookers have re-attended within six months of their first visit. • Stage 2 (our £5 membership scheme, giving priority booking) has grown in numbers from less than 1, 000 to over 3, 500. • Our Friends membership (giving priority booking and ticket discounts) has grown by 20% in the past year, and we are achieving a 10% conversion rate from Stage 2 to Friends at the point of renewal. • A recent campaign for individual giving achieved the highest yield per contact for any receiving venue in the UK (so far). Photo: Theatre Royal, Newcastle Our top tips for DIY loyalty building include the following: • Monitor what you’re doing and feed back the results. • Know who all your first time attenders are (and flag on your database). • Keep doing it for at least a year! • Use your existing marketing activity (e.g. brochure mailings and direct mail) in a highly segmented way in order to target those you wish to ‘move’. • Be clear with all your staff what the steps on the ladders are, and how Katy Raines, Director of Marketing & Development, Theatre Royal, you plan to move people up them. Newcastle upon Tyne, [email protected]

14 JAM 04 JAM CASE STUDY 3

BICYCLE MADE FOR TWO

Liana Marletta demonstrates the impact on customer loyalty when marketing and fundraising collaborate effectively

Let’s establish this principle from the start: marketing and fundraising should be in a symbiotic and complementary relationship like love and marriage. They should grow old and rich together and have lots of babies (i.e. patrons and donors). Even now, I am still shocked to hear of cases where marketing and fundraising keep an arm length approach like an estranged husband and wife leading totally separate lives, and, in worst case scenarios, operate as if in a competitive war zone! The bulk of donors will already be attenders who put their money where their art is. In cases where new donors and sponsors have been converted to the arts organisation by a missionary fundraiser (it does happen you know, fundraisers do aid audience development!), marketers can then happily add them to their list as actual attenders. It follows, therefore, that donors and sponsors are not aliens from Mars but are actually people who come to see shows or exhibitions, and the more they are cultivated, the more likely they are to become both committed donors and committed attenders. This means an integrated and holistic approach between fundraising, marketing and the box office, sharing databases and information, integrating publicity (paper and web), maintaining effective Photo: Glasgow Film Theatre Baz Luhrman and Ewan McGregor communication channels, and working on collaborative events such as ambassadors café bar within its existing premises in the late them. Each had their own story to tell about their schemes with donors bringing new friends along. 1980s. I had initially focused on trusts, seat dedication. Mothers, lovers, pets, favourite Bingo! We are into new bums on seats as well as companies and celebrities to come up with stars and film quotes, favourite pop bands, building up a committed donor base. quickly needed cash, but then I turned my Amnesty International; you name it, all were I would like to illustrate how marketing and attention to GFT patrons (inspired by a friend immortalised in the Valhalla that was their GFT. fundraising can interlink to cultivate patrons’ who asked if she could do her mommy’s seat Their stories were related in the GFT monthly loyalty by taking the example of the seat next to Dickie Attenborough …). The celluloid brochure with catchy film images and seat dedication scheme I developed at the Glasgow heavens ripped open with showers of patrons donors were listed by name. The media (press, Film Theatre (GFT). I am certainly planning one who wanted ‘their seat’ at the GFT and I found a radio and TV) went ga-ga for this scheme from for the Citizens Theatre in the very near future! gateway into the psyche of the GFT patron. I its initiation in Cinema 2 to when it later moved Seat sponsorship at GFT was initially linked to the made a point of meeting with everyone who (by most insistent patrons’ demand!) into the GFT Development Project, a major campaign to wanted to sponsor a seat over a nice frothy larger Cinema 1, this time to raise funds for GFT’s raise funds for a second cinema and new public cappuccino and spending some quality time with film and education programme. Media attention

JAM 04 15 was of course helped by a succession of celebrity introducing a large variety of clubs to GFT such as A large variety of clubs patrons to the scheme such as Robbie Coltrane, the Glasgow Elvis Presley Society (eternal in their Bill Forsyth, Robert De Niro and Ewan McGregor, hope that Elvis would turn up and sit in his seat), joined such as the and by GFT patrons dedicating seats to their the Frank Sinatra Society, the Humanist Society, a Glasgow Elvis Presley favourite star. One patron dedicated 35 seats. The Star Trek club, a Rambling club, schools, scheme provided a vehicle for much-needed universities, trade unions and businesses, many Society (eternal in their media coverage and profile raising at a critical of whom launched their seat sponsorship with hope that Elvis would time when I was seeking to raise a large amount special film events bringing members and friends of capital for the development of our premises as who were new to GFT. Where I saw marketing turn up and sit in his well as developing a marketing strategy for an opportunities, I often followed up the seat seat), the Frank Sinatra expanded twin screen cinema and a developed dedication with a ticket discount scheme for some conference space. It also made patrons feel that of these organisations extended over a period of Society, the Humanist they were engaged in the changes that were time to attract new attenders. The GFT also Society, a Star Trek taking place at GFT. became host to gatherings linked to the I found myself using the seat dedication christenings, birthdays, weddings and funerals of club, a Rambling club, scheme as a very useful source of focused our patrons: again we cultivated this notion of GFT schools, universities, qualitative research. In meeting with seat being passed down the generations and being not sponsors and maintaining dialogue with them just a cinema but a way of life. trade unions, through our brochure, and at cultivation events, I I have given the example of seat sponsorship businesses, many of got to hear why GFT was so important to them, but the same goes for other fundraising and what their favourite films were, how GFT was membership schemes. Think of corporate whom launched their ‘passed down the generations’ within their membership and sponsorship: potentially, they seat sponsorship with families, and how all the GFT staff were so friendly can bring to the theatre, wait for it, their and such interesting people. I got to learn that employees, their clients, their suppliers, their special film events women from 18 to 80 felt comfortable coming on business contacts, their families and friends. bringing members and their own to GFT, and was also fascinated to learn Think of it as the ‘six degrees of separation’ theory, that this issue seemed equally important to men. where we are all interconnected through a chain friends who were new As one young student put it, ‘You don’t feel like a of up to six people. The potential for marketing is to GFT pervert coming on your own to the GFT!’ All of this bounteous and the value of the sponsorship or information shed more detailed light into our corporate membership fee becomes multifold if formal marketing research and fed both our marketing and fundraising departments work marketing and fundraising strategy. For long-term together to exploit these connections fully and loyalty, the key is to think of our patrons and nurture long-term relations with patrons. sponsors as people, people whose opinions and criticisms matter, people whom we do not take for granted, and making sure that within the organisation every department and every individual is informed and engaged in good Liana Marletta, Development Manager, customer relations. Citizens Theatre, Glasgow (formerly Head of The seat scheme also helped with new Development and Marketing, Glasgow Film audience development and niche marketing, Theatre), [email protected]

16 JAM 04 FEATURE JAM

BUILDING CUSTOMER LOYALTY – YOU KNOW IT MAKES SENSE!

Martin Christopher argues that customer retention is the first building block in estab- lishing customer loyalty, and demonstrates how high retention makes good business sense

Customer retention in mature markets impact those events have on their audiences marketing. If we get it right, they effectively When markets are growing, companies focus and visitors. Some companies, however, have become our sales team and refer new customers on winning new customers, particularly in the abandoned brand management and put to us. They are also less price sensitive so we no FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) sector. together cross-functional teams to work longer have to discount. This strategy arose from work by the Boston closely with their major retail accounts. They Increasing the rate of customer retention has Consulting Group which in the 1970s in talk about category management instead. This a significant impact on customer lifetime and particular demonstrated that there was a is because they have realised that retained therefore on profitability. An 80% retention direct relationship between market share and customers are more profitable than new ones. rate means that 20% of customers will be lost profitability. In mature markets the cost of Why are loyal customers more profitable? each year. In five years the whole of the winning new customers is prohibitive and so Frederick Reichelt in The Loyalty Effect has customer base will have turned over with each the focus has shifted from the absolute level analysed the impact of the purchasing customer having an average life of five years. If of market share to the quality of that share. behaviour of loyal customers. He has found the retention rate is increased to 90%, it will The key issue is about loyalty, about that, over time, they will buy more often and take ten years for the whole customer base to customers who keep coming back. We see spend more with us as they become more turn over as we lose 10% of customers every nowadays that profitable organisations are the confident in the relationship and as we start to year. The average customer life will have been ones that may not have a high volume of cross-sell. The stronger the relationship doubled. These two ideas brought together are customers but which have high levels of becomes, the less we have to spend on the real power of retention. loyalty. Those that are constantly having to chase new business are finding their profit margins under pressure. This isn’t new. Back in 1983, Theodore Customer Retaining customers is extremely profitable Levitt wrote that ‘The purpose of a business profit is to create and keep a customer’ (The Marketing Imagination, 1983). Price premium Most of the energy of marketers, though, Referrals used to go on the first half of that statement. Reduced operating It is only latterly that we have come to costs understand the importance of hanging on to Increased purchases what we’ve got. It’s the customer that creates balance growth the profit, not the product. We’ve come to call Base profit this relationship marketing. Many organi- sations today like to claim that they are marketing focused and customer driven. In reality they are product focused. They talk about managing brands, not managing 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 customers. I suspect that arts organisations are Source: Bain Customer Retention Model, Bain & Company similarly focused on events rather than the © Bain & Company 1990

JAM 04 17 Profit impact for a 5% points increase in retention

125%

60 Company profitability is 55% Profit increase 50% dependent upon a relatively (%) per customer 45% small proportion of the 40 40% 35% 35% customer base. Typically 80% 28% 25% 26% 20% of total revenue comes from 20 just 20% of customers – the

Pareto Effect is alive and well! 0

Auto Source: Company Accounts, Bain Software Client Analysis, Bain Customer Credit card Mail order Retention Model, Bain & Company service chain Office buildingmanagement Transportation Business banking Credit insurance Industrial laundry Insurance brokerageIndustrial distribution

In industry after industry, marketing to their distribution channels, in some cases determined attempt to understand the strategies are focusing on customer retention. actually taking it over. They are more lifestyles, needs and desires of 20% of their Over the past six years or so, Ford has moved demanding about how dealerships are customers, their Business Class customers. away from being volume oriented and managed and staffed and the way they relate This is why they offer so many frequent flyer concentrated on market share. Previously, to consumers. In 1990, Rover didn’t know the schemes and executive clubs – they are their strategy was to go after the big fleet name and address of a single customer. collecting data. businesses and the car hire companies. They Dealers had that information but very few This is a dangerous strategy. It may be that will still do that (after all in our enthusiasm made any effective use of it. In the space of these customers are no more likely to remain for retention we must never forget that we nine years, that has all changed with loyal to us. However, I believe that if we try to also need to win new customers). Their manufacturers managing right down to the spread our marketing activity thinly right retention rate, though, was only 60%. They point of sale and, most importantly, the point across the whole market, we won’t have any realised that each additional percentage point of service. Nine times out of ten, customers effect where it really counts. We need to ask: on top of that was worth an estimated $100 changed the make of their car not because ‘Do I really understand how my audience million in profit. In 1999 their annual report they were fed up with the car, but because they segments?’ and ‘Am I able to track and trace showed the highest profit in their history, were unhappy with the service they were their purchasing behaviour?’ against industry trends. getting from the dealer. If we know the answers, we can identify Instead of a blind pursuit of market share, The worth of a retained customer varies how much we should be spending on each Ford has asked the question ‘What have we significantly from industry to industry. Credit different type of customer. Maybe we should got to do differently to hold on to the card companies are willing to spend a great be asking ‘How much am I prepared to invest customers we’ve got?’ Many of their deal to win new customers because their in retaining this customer?’ competitors are now doing the same and lifetime value makes it worthwhile. A successful organisation in the US, with a discovering something that we’ve known for But not all customers are equally profitable. presence in the UK, is Domino’s Pizza. They years – customers don’t have relationships Company profitability is dependent upon a have always believed in the lifetime value of the with organisations, we have relationships with relatively small proportion of the customer customer. Part of their basic training scheme for people. The weak link was that Ford had very base. Typically 80% of total revenue comes every employee talks about the $10,000 pizza little control over the people the customers see from just 20% of customers – the Pareto rather than the $10 pizza. This is the value of a the most: the dealers. Car manufacturers are Effect is alive and well! British Airways’ customer who stays loyal for the life of a typical now taking a much more proactive approach change in direction has been guided by a Domino’s Pizza franchise. If the company can

18 JAM 04 FEATURE JAM

Analysing customer defection and taking corrective action to improve retention follows three broad steps

Step 1 Step 2 Step 3

CORRECTIVE CUSTOMER CAUSE ACTION TO RETENTION OF IMPROVE MEASUREMENT DEFECTIION RETENTION

...there’s an awful lot of switching going on. Brand loyalty is not instil that mental picture in employees, they are share 30% of their customer base. These are what it used to be. more likely to focus on the customer care issues promiscuous shoppers. The stores are now Most of us have a that lead to customer loyalty. focusing on trying to capture those shoppers because even a small percentage will transform portfolio of brands we Improving customer retention the market place. But I want to emphasise that buy from, although Once we have understood our audience’s the classic loyalty scheme is not the same thing purchasing behaviour, like Ford, we need to as customer relationship management. A we may have a ask the question ‘What must we do differently relationship involves customers seeing preferred brand. to hold on to the customers we’ve got?’ We themselves as part of what we do. They are, in need to understand in some depth why people effect, sharing in what we do. If our preferred brand are leaving us to understand what we can do to In summary, to improve customer retention is not on the shelves keep them. Loyalty is not a normal we need to: characteristic of buyers out there in the market for some reason, we place. If you look at people’s buying behaviour, • measure retention by type of event and are perfectly happy to there’s an awful lot of switching going on. by customer type Brand loyalty is not what it used to be. Most • find effective ways of categorising and pick up an alternative of us have a portfolio of brands we buy from, segmenting the customer base because we’ve used although we may have a preferred brand. If our • recognise that around 20% of customers preferred brand is not on the shelves for some are responsible for 80% of the business it before. reason, we are perfectly happy to pick up an • communicate this information and its alternative because we’ve used it before. importance to employees The issue is, how can we capture more of • understand the root causes for customer Martin Christopher is Professor or those choices? The first solution is to make defections Marketing and Logistics at Cranfield sure that our product is available at the time • put in place a customer retention School of Management. This article is and place our customer wants it. It is about programme that addresses the question taken from his presentation at Revolving making it easy for people to do business with ‘What must we do differently to keep the Doors and is available from the AMA us. I have seen a statistic that indicates the two customers we’ve already got?’ and so website at www.a-m-a.co.uk largest grocery retailers, Tesco and Sainsbury, improves customer satisfaction.

JAM 04 19 MA in ARTS ADMINISTRATION AND CULTURAL POLICY MA in DIRECTING MA in PERFORMANCE

MA in PERFORMANCE AND CULTURE For details, please contact

MA in THEATRE EDUCATION Admissions Enquiry Unit Goldsmiths College MA in WRITING FOR PERFORMANCE University of London New Cross MA in MUSICAL THEATRE* London SE14 6NW *SUBJECT TO FORMAL APPROVAL tel 020 7919 7060 or individual. innovative. in london. 020 7919 7537 (24 hours) fax 020 7717 2240 e-mail [email protected] www.goldsmiths.ac.uk

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goldsmiths Penketh Image artist: Andrew Goldsmiths aims to be pre-eminent in the study and practice of creative, cognitive, cultural and social processes.

Do you work in Does your job Do you want to Do you long for Join the organisation the arts and involve persuading be kept up to a network to cultural sector in the public to date with new share solutions that is creating a the UK? experience developments? and problems? professional future… the arts?

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WHAT GETS MY GOAT!

Rebecca Farrar, from children’s theatre company Oily Cart, shoots from the hip.

OK, lets get this straight from the start. funding bodies have made the sector a (b) taking place in schools to an ‘invisible’ When it comes to the status of children’s strategic priority and as such more public audience. theatre there is a whole herd of goats ready for money is, as we speak, winging its way to Similar tales are frequently shared in meetings airing. I mean, where shall we begin? What producers working in this field. of children’s and young people’s theatre about Saturday mornings, where the But, in spite of all this, there is little if any companies. There is the artistic director who children’s show has to perform on the set of debate about the sector, or critical analysis of attended a course to improve press relations and, the evening? Very encouraging to these young the work, taking place in the media. The state having been taught all the failsafe secrets of how ‘audiences of tomorrow’. Hello? These are the of the West End, the new regime at the to win the critics’ and editors’ hearts, mentioned audiences of today and they deserve better National and up-and-coming new writers for the problems of getting editorial and reviews for than this. However, today’s goat is a adult audiences can be covered at length in children’s work and was told by the esteemed complaint about one specific and key aspect the broad sheets, on Front Row or the Late tutor ‘Oooh yes! That is a tricky one. I don’t of all this: the status of children’s theatre in Review. But you try and get some debate or think I can help you there – let me know if you the media. critical analysis going about children’s theatre, crack it.’ Or what about the annual Take Off I’ll let you into a secret. Children’s and particularly if it is taking place in schools – festival of children’s theatre this year where there young people’s theatre is a vibrantly alive, yes actually, go on, try … and let me know was not an arts editor or reporter in sight. Press highly creative sector. It has to be good and how you get on. officers, marketing and general managers do slick because young audiences are invariably When I first started my current job with battle with this wall of apparent indifference on a not afraid to tell you what they think, often in Oily Cart one of my early initiations into the daily basis and it is time for change. the middle of the show! Like all theatre, it can situation was the following cautionary tale. A What’s the problem? Is it a crime that it be challenging and moving, entertaining and highly regarded national theatre critic had takes place during the day and often in educational. Much of the work taking place in been very interested in Oily Cart’s work schools where there are no bars to prop up or the sector has been praised by funders and taking place in hydrotherapy pools of special people to impress? All very possible. But audiences and indeed the government and arts schools. The work was targeted directly at whatever the reason there seems to be a children with profound and multiple learning vicious circle; the sector has a low profile in difficulties, an audience woefully under- the industry and the media, the media fails to provided for in terms of accessible give the sector quality coverage, generate or theatre. It was innovative in being cover debate and discussion, the profile and multi-sensory, participative and public debate remains low… involved actors performing to just two So it’s time that everyone involved in the audience members at a time, adapting performing arts aimed at children and young the piece as they went, to accommodate people – the performers, the programmers, each child’s own abilities and preferences. the promoters and the producers – made a The work was also starting to inform unified call for high quality debate and our work in mainstream schools and discussion, for children’s work, wherever and theatres for very young children. whenever it is taking place, to be critically The critic concerned wrote analysed. I for one am looking forward very around three pieces, all of much to the day this happens. which were spiked by the arts editor; they were not interested because it was (a) Rebecca Farrar, General Manager, children’s work and Oily Cart, [email protected]

JAM 04 21 JAM A DAY IN THE LIFE OF...

Nostalgia and technology go hand in hand for Christine Brown as Customer Communications Manager for BBC Information & Archives

It’s a cold Wednesday in October and it’s freezing outside. Once back at the office, I receive an e-mail from a high After grabbing my first coffee of the day I make my way to profile colleague who is requesting a tour of the archive. We the BBC television archive in Brentford, to a noisy editing arrange a date and specify which parts he is interested in area where trolleyfuls of television footage are copied, edited, (the department is too huge to cover in a day and spreads stored, digitised – you name it, they seem to do it here. I’m across various London sites as well as Bristol, Manchester at the archive to select various comedy and educational clips and Birmingham library and archive services). It’s agreed from our vast TV collections in the BBC to put on a that a good mix of the old and the new, from the latest digital promotional CD-ROM for customers, which is anyone who is databases to the old cans of film stored in basement vaults, involved in the production making process across the would be best. corporation. Its the 75th anniversary of the BBC Then I get in touch with our press office, where our media pronunciation unit this year, and we are launching a relations officer discusses the various press coverage that we pronunciation database in the new year that ‘speaks’ correct will have to close our BBC Treasurehunt campaign. Paul pronunciation to the customer – hence my research for this Fiander, Head of Information and Archives, will be appearing promotional item. The clips selected therefore involve a on the Today programme and Breakfast News; and the historic view of pronunciation (and comic campaign will be featured in various articles moments of mispronunciation) which date covered in the national press. The BBC as far back as the 1950s. So the morning recovered a number of items from starts with a few good giggles! television and radio, including two editions Once the clips are finally selected and of Dad’s Army, four classic radio episodes transferred I visit the picture archive at of Hancock’s Half Hour, and various 1960s Television Centre, where I’m faced with dramas to name but a few recoveries as a selecting photos of characters from the very result of the campaign’s success. I set to beginnings of the BBC history – Lord Reith, work on writing an article and providing the Dimblebys – and have to choose various images for our internal website. This site ones for the cover of our CD. Having chosen informs BBC staff on how to use us as a the most striking photos, I grab lunch and department – where to find, collect and use head back to the office. our material. I am currently developing a To further celebrate the launch of this screensaver for the site, with classic BBC database my colleague (the heavily pregnant images that customers can download. The Julie) and I are organising a celebratory event screensaver promotes our services through to be held in early 2002 to show customers what is now illustrating the vast nature of our collections and how to available online, and provide them with information on how access them. to gain training in the system. The event will show high profile I finish the day off by checking customer e-mail enquiries BBC individuals how the department has spent project that are directed to the site. Where do I go to collect film funding, and demonstrate the system to various new transfers in White City? Can I borrow a sound effects CD for customers as well as ‘super users’ of our present systems. more than two weeks? Does the department have any The BBC has many short-term contract staff, so customers promotional footage that can be used as part of a corporate need to be reminded constantly of our collections and training video? These e-mails get answered by myself or my services through regular promotion via our website, events, colleague, or redirected to the appropriate department. I pop training and demonstrations. Feedback is the key, and we a copy of our promotional DVD in the post to a fellow chase up training session offers and information packs to communications manager and then it’s time to go home … I customers who request them daily. wonder what’s on TV tonight?

22 JAM 04 76% prefer buying online

Your audience is growing up using the internet. It is their first choice when they are looking for information about what’s on, where to go and what to buy. And research carried out in the UK in June this year, showed that 76% of 1500 respondents preferred buying their tickets online using ticketingsolutions to buying over the phone from the box office.

Your audience demands convenience, simplicity and speed when buying online. You need the security, reliability and comprehensive functionality of a proven and widely deployed solution.

So call us today and talk to us about how using ticketingsolutions can help you reach and interact with your audience more effectively.

Tel: + 44 (0) 1865 856100 or email [email protected]

Visit our website, http://www.ts.com JAM BOOK SHELF CLASSIFIED JAM

REVIEWS

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It was fun, but even the most Naturally, this leads them to talk about the Merlin Stone et al (2000) radical arts organisations do occasionally role of leadership in getting the organisation Kogan Press 0749427000, £14.99 want somebody to look at what they are to deliver its side of the relationship. doing; most need to sell lots of tickets for Relationship Marketing has the following financial reasons. great advantages for busy arts marketers: it’s IfARTS you INTELLIGENCE would like LTDmore information about th And, of course, it would be nice if people fairly short, it’s written in plain English, it’s forthcomingPlanning a research ‘Fast project? Track’ For the programme highest quality pleaseresearch contact W came more than once. Not just because (as easy to dip into, and it has some killer services, including realistic project planning and design, Forrestcompetent at management, ITC. [email protected] thorough data analysis and thoughtful everyone knows) it is much more expensive statistics and diagrams. For example: in a interpretation, call Brian Whitehead or Liz Hill. to recruit a new visitor than retain an existing cross-industry survey the profit increase of Tel: 01954 250600 one, but also because you may want to see an improvement of just 5% in customer e-mail: [email protected] some development in your audience’s retention ranged from 20% to 125%! I LABAN CENTRE LONDON understanding of what you are doing. For wonder where your organisation (or mine) Leading centre for professional contemporary dance training. financial and artistic reasons it is a good would fit on this scale. Well worth a flutter. Courses for all ages and abilities and diverse theatre thing for there to be an ongoing relationship programme. 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The challenging the way in which we interact with print, advertising, new media. premise behind Loyalty.com is that most customers; and why these new challenges Contact: Howard Sherwood tel: 0118 930 6603 e-mail: [email protected] companies trying to build customer loyalty require us to develop new skills. are going about it in completely the wrong Loyalty.com is essential reading for WORK IN ARTS MARKETING? way. He argues that most points schemes, anyone trying to implement one-to-one Why not join the Arts Marketing Association? loyalty cards and discounted offers are relationship marketing in the Internet age. For more details, phone Julie on 01223 578078. missing the mark – customer loyalty simply e-mail: [email protected] Website: www.a-m-a.co.uk can’t be bought. Julie Aldridge, Arts Marketing Association So how do we bring customers back to our [email protected] Your listing could go in here. Call Angela organisations? 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He explains how Members Matter TO HEAVEN developments in Internet technology provide Crispin Raymond (1992) the opportunity to develop information from ISBN 0-7287-0638-5, £5.00 www.a-m-a.co.uk