- SWOC Analysis Summary
Strengths:
- Product (Dontrell who Kissed the Sea): The play is a new play, which can be attractive to many audiences. Because OCT’s performance will be part of the “rolling world premiere” it has an extra draw as well. Furthermore, the subject matter that the play tackles (coming of age, family dynamics, falling in love, ancestral connections) are all relevant and interesting to a modern audience.
- Price: OCT’s pricing structure gives a variety of options to people depending on where they want to sit as well as if they qualify for a discount. There are student and senior prices available as well as flex passes for the more devoted subscriber. If most of the tickets are out of one’s price range, they also offer very cheap tickets on preview nights (the Wednesday and Thursday before a show opens).
- Place: OCT is right near the heart of downtown with many different kinds of bars and restaurants nearby, making it easy to access for date nights or outings with friends. Because of that, they are also close to public transportation. Their lobby space is relatively large and inviting and their theatre space is intimate and personal.
- Promotion: They tend to fill 90% of their house, so they are doing something right. They promote in diverse media channels and have struck up deals with the Register Guard and Eugene Weekly that help them be featured more prominently. They have regular email outreach to their members to keep them involved.
Weaknesses:
- Product (Dontrell Who Kissed the Sea): The play is unknown, and will not have the draw of a familiar play to audiences. While normally a premiere is a strength, the author is unknown, and has no previous reputation.
- Price: OCT needs to employ more price scaling.
- Place: Parking is difficult in downtown Eugene. The theater itself is a small venue/space. The theater also has tech limitations.
- Promotion: OCT has a strategy that clearly works for their returning audiences, but they do not reach students, and other smaller/ more specific audiences in the Eugene community. They do not have any targeted marketing. Though the audience is constantly large enough to fill 90% of the house, the expansion of that audience is not happening.
Opportunities:
- Product: Because of the subject matter of this play, they have a big opportunity to create concurrent events with it such as pre or post-show talks with students or families or conversations with the actors.
- Price: Depending on the play, they could set up special discounts for certain people; in Dontrell’s case, it could be the UO/LCC Black Student Union and/or Ethnic Studies Department.
- Place: They have the opportunity to increase their seating capacity, which should be considered as they tend to fill 90% of the house. Because their lobby is so nice, they could increase their concession options as well to make it a more inviting space for people to spend time.
- Promotion: Because of their prime location, they could work with their neighbors in the food industry to help promote shows by offering “date night packages.” Also, depending on which actors are in a certain show, they could use them in ads (if they are a known name in the community).
Challenges:
- Product: People may be interested in the play because it is unknown, but most of them never heard of Dontrell who Kissed the Sea. It is not accessible to people, and this makes the product less appealing to many audiences.
- Price: Price competition with other theatres, is a large challenge in Eugene, there are many other theaters. The ticket prices at OCT are not the lowest, so audiences might choose other entertainment by comparing price.
- Place: OCT is near the heart of downtown. Rent for the building is likely high. Moreover, parking is another challenge for OCT guests. It is difficult for customers to park in Eugene downtown, particularly on a Friday or Saturday night.
- Promotion: Because of budget limitations, their promotion strategy can be limited. Many traditional marketing strategies, like printing poster, broadcasting on TV, take lots of money. So the financial condition is a promotional challenge.
- Outline of a marketing strategy specific to Dontrell who Kissed the Sea
- Goal: Increase audience diversity for this show, specifically targeting the black community in the greater Eugene area and Lane County.
- Techniques/Implementation: First of all, the imaging of this show should highlight and celebrate the fact that the cast is almost all black. In modern media, there aren’t enough representations of non-white family/friend structures and highlighting that for this play is important (especially in Oregon). Specifically we hope that OCT would use pictures of their own cast in marketing materials (from rehearsals, and photo-shoots). Once Dontrell is cast, they would be able to take him to the coast and create their own unique imagery for the show. Using pictures unique to the OCT production may create more interest. If the images needed for marketing end up being illustrated, the Viking ship with Dontrell in it would be a striking image to highlight on materials and posters. Even with targeted outreach, there is no way to reach everyone that you want, so having intentional imagery for this show would draw people in who might not have been reached by the outreach. The other main strategy for marketing to the black community would be targeted outreach to key groups that could help start word of mouth marketing. These groups include the Eugene/Springfield chapter of the NAACP (Dontrell would be a good project to help the “Back to School/Success at School program), Student groups at UO/LCC such as the Black Student Union, the African Student Association, Black Women of Achievement, The Multicultural Center, and key departments such as the Ethnic Studies Department and theatre department. If OCT can forge a partnership with any of these groups and get their membership invested in the play either through targeted discounts (for student groups perhaps) or co-sponsored events (like actor talkbacks), then the play will even have more of a draw for a diverse audience.
- Involvement with a yearly event called ACT-SO put on by the NAACP, would be very important to our strategy. Within the event/competition, there is a theater, oration, and dance section. High school students put on their own performances. Using the theme of “getting ready to go to college,” which is a big part of Dontrell, would help connect the high school performers connect to the play.
- Sponsor ACT-SO in the future
- With the Dontrell cast in particular, help find mentors for the program next year
- Have the cast practice with performance groups (provide help, critiques, and suggestions)
- Have a show for the ACT-SO performers, have a discussion/networking opportunity after so people can talk and learn from each other
- Use OCT as a space for practice
- Having OCT and the Dontrell cast as resources for the students
- Educational workshop for all ACT-SO students who want to participate, Dontrell cast included