Tag: marketing the arts

Marketing Plan

Assignment Description By the end of the term, students will have a completed marketing outline with a plan that can be implemented with direct reference to an organization. Note that students are not required to actually create marketing materials. Please refer to attached Marketing Plan Outline for expectations on the required information to be included in the final plan. A seven (7) minute oral presentation on each students’ marketing plan is required at the end of the term.

Marketing Plan Outline: Parts I & II

Marketing Plan Outline: Parts I, II, III, & IV A

Final Marketing Plan

Collect and Analyze Materials: Examples of TV/Radio commercials and Public Service Announcements

So, when I think of my favorite commercials, I immediately think of the Old Spice commercials with Isaiah Mustafa and I don’t believe I am alone.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owGykVbfgUE[/youtube]

This youtube video alone has 44 million views (already generating some revenue for Old Spice). When the first commercial came out, I remember everyone talking about it. It was the definition of going viral. And then they came out with the 2nd commercial, which was also an instant success. These commercials rock-stared Mustafa into instant stardom and even got him his first big movie deal. Then Old Spice launched a series of short videos in which Mustafa answered questions submitted through the internet. I remember some guy even had Mustafa propose to his girlfriend. Needless to say, these commercials were a marketing success. Everyone was talking about them and in my opinion, you would have to have no sense of humor not to enjoy them. But, then I heard a rumor that the commercials didn’t actually have big effect on Old Spice’s profit, so I investigated:

“The Old Spice campaign is considered a huge social media win, one that hundreds of social media experts have praised, but here’s where the story takes a bit of a surprising turn. I was sure that Old Spice planned to use the information it has on its almost 120,000 Twitter followers to start engaging with each and every one of them on a personal, meaningful level… As of September 2010, almost two months after Old Spice ambushed Twitter, the Old Spice account has tweeted only twenty-three times, and not one of the tweets talks or interacts with an actual person or user of the brand. Ad Age published an article that begins “Old Spice Fades Into History”… To me, it looks like Old Spice is a sprinter stuck in a traditional marketing mind-set, not a marathon runner living in the Thank You Economy. – Gary Vaynerchuk, March 2011, Fast Company: http://bit.ly/PD6lZm

So, while the rumor I heard was wrong: Old Spice sales rose by 107% after the 2nd commercial, they did not fully capitalize on their new-found internet glory. They had done everything right, but then forgot to maintain their fandom. According to Vaynerchuk, this lack of attention sends the message to consumers that:

“They’re glad that I, and thousands of others, spent our money with them, and now they’re just going to sit back on their laurels, enjoy the spike in revenue, and move on to a new campaign.” Old Spice may have had a short success, but they did not build a lasting relationship with their customers that would spark loyalty.

 

So, I don’t have a good example of a public service announcement, but I do have a great example of radio marketing: Radiolab.

All of Radiolab’s credits are either read by their listeners or people they interview. This tactic not only provides an opportunity for listeners to be involved in the show and actually hear their voice on the radio, but also keeps people listening during the commercials. It is true that they don’t let everyone read the credits, but it’s great way to build excitement over something that people usually wouldn’t care about. I think this would be an interesting model for a local public radio station to use. The station could post the PSAs on their website and people could call in and record their reading of the PSAs over a voicemail. Then people would listen for the PSAs in hopes of hearing themselves on the radio! Plus, it would save work for the station. I say, the more people are involved, the more they are invested.

Collect and Analyze: Brochures & Newsletters

I am not sure the difference between a brochure and a mailer. I believe you can mail brochures, so I think the definition blends. Regardless, this is a brochure for Unique Oregon I picked up a while ago:

 

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First of all, I love the design of the front. It’s eye catching and it makes you want to open up the brochure to see why these images are numbered. Then you discover that each image lines up with a place on the map! So, it becomes like a fun treasure hunt, matching all the images to place. Then you flip it over and see an adorable photo of local business owners and plea to give locally. I think this is very effective because first it draws you in with excitement and then it asks you to support them. If the front and the back had been switched, I don’t think it would work as well. Plus, because it has a map of all these cool places in Eugene, I’ve kept it as reference for shopping. Thus, it has helped me support local business.

Most newsletters I get are through email. In fact, I signed up for so many mailing lists in Portland, that my regular email is completely overrun. However, there is one newsletter I always click on:

 

For one, GOOD is an amazing organization. All of their articles are incredibly interesting and they do great work supporting the arts. Though it was their newsletter that first pulled me in. I started reading them obsessively because they always had some interesting topic I wanted to know more about. Plus, they get you to go to the website by only giving you a small clip of the article. If you click on the title, it directs you to the website, and then you see a list of the most popular articles and you get sucked in. And there are things you can do, like on this newsletter, you can nominate a teacher or sometimes they have challenges such as building your own tool kit. My only complaint is the newsletter comes quite often, but at least it always has good content.

Logbook Entry: February 4th

Logbook Entry: List the risk factors associated with your product. Define ways to decrease risk for consumer’s decision-making process. What strategic marketing activities could lower perceptions of risk associated with your product or event?

As mentioned in previous posts, there is a big time commitment for Beats & Brushstrokes and a high risk factor because the quality of art is dependent on what art is submitted. Thus, our event is associated with a high level functional risk. I know that in previous years many people who came to buy art came specifically to support ELAN and not particularly for the art itself. Thus, most of our consumers are basing their decisions on internal factors like past experiences and association to the organization. These people have a higher motivation to attend the event and purchase art even with a high degree of risk and involvement.

However, we can not continue to depend on those that will support us regardless of risk. Furthermore, we could potentially loose these people if we continually disappoint their expectations.  This is difficult because we have two main consumer bases that we are trying to satisfy at the same time: the party crowd who spend a lot of money on beer and the sophisticated crowd who will spend more money on art. It is my assumption that we will end up making more money on beer than art. This leaves the question: is it necessary to continue to market the silent auction portion of the evening or should we focus entirely on the party? Since we are a professional arts organization, it makes sense to uphold both aspects of the event to represent our mission. Thus, we need to figure out a way to be professional and yet fun (this is also something I’ve always found difficult to present through social media).

I believe the key factor in getting more people to come to Beats & Brushstrokes this year is spreading good reviews from last year. I personally haven’t been to the event, so I am basing my opinion entirely on others. According to all the reviews, this event is the best thing ELAN does all year. Everyone I’ve talked to reports having an amazing time, including professors and students. Thus, I believe we need to build the hype for this year’s fundraiser by advertising these good reviews. I am going to try to use social media to do this. I have also been handing out fliers at arts events in town (First Friday and the JSMA opening) in order to attract an older or active arts community. Hopefully, if they look up our event, they will then see all the good reviews on our Facebook or twitter and use a subordinate decision making process to lesson their perceived risk of attending. In the meantime, we’ll continue to market that $5 admission includes drinks and food!

Collect and Analyze Materials: Mailers & Flyers

As I mentioned in class, I don’t get many mailers. I’m not sure why, but I did receive my friend’s wedding invitation in the mail and I think it could make a great design for a mailer or a brochure.

It has four pages that are truncated so that you can clearly see the basic details of the wedding on the front. And then if you flip each page open, there is a picture (all beautifully matching in black and white) and more detailed information about the wedding, location and accommodations. There is a consistent elegant design to the format and type. All of the information is easy to find and they have their website clearly marked if you need more information. I know that wedding invitations are usually expensive, but they might be a place to look for good design for mailers.

I also think a good design for a flier is one that you keep, and I’ve had this flier for the UO University Theater since the beginning of the school year.

It may not be the best design color and flow wise, but I think it is a great use of space. It’s the size of a business card and manages to fit all the dates of the plays this season, a map of the theater and free parking (didn’t know that!), info about their box office, and advertise that tickets are free for students. That’s a lot to fit on one business card, but they did so without it feeling too forced. Also, the visual guide for the calendar and the map is very helpful. I know that I got lost trying to find the theater. Lastly, the image on the front does catch my eye even though the color might be a turn-off.