Question

Topic: Taglines/Names

Live Theatre Tagline Needed.

Posted by Anonymous on 8/8/2010 at 2:29 PM ET 125 Points
Hi, I am volunteering as a marketing coordinator for a local live theatre. The theatre is owned by a not for profit charitable group of community players. They have never marketing the theatre just themselves putting on plays at the theatre. They also have youth theatre and musical theatre all putting on a couple of shows a year in the venue. All of this has been volunteer driven for 30 years, but sales are down 40% and we need to bring in a new hipper audience. We are working on plays that appeal to the younger and we are slowly moving into internet marketing which I am working on. The venue itself is a heritage building from the 30's slowly being brought back to life so there is a capital campaign being done on that. My goal is to market the Theatre first and to promote it to the community. Big problem is the neighbourhood, has a rough reputation as the "east end" of town no real trouble but it is truly a bit of a rough area with a lot of issues about revitalization. I really like the idea of Theatre as the original 3D. I saw somewhere a line something like that but wonder if that limits us as a tagline? Any ideas would be helpful.
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  • Posted on 8/9/2010 at 8:14 AM Author
    Hi, sorry I probably tried to squeeze too much into too little. The Theatre has never been promoted before all the marketing and media for the most part has been around the Theatre troupe that owns the theatre. This group is older and has been viewed locally as being rather cliquey and pretentious due to being "artsy theatre types". I am working on a 2 part marketing process, #1 to brand the theatre as a place to go to get fantastic entertainment at an incredibly low price ($25 per ticket). To promote the Theatre as a safe place to go regardless of the crappy neighbourhood (which is in the midst of revitalization but it has taken 30 yrs so far.
    The Theatre is located in a district that has taken a major beating over the years, it is surrounded by a mission, alcohol rehab, needle exchange, really rundown buildings with tenants who live in crappy conditions, a soup kitchen is across the road and lots of poverty type issues. We have no problem with the neighbourhood and know the people so we just don't "see" the drunks and hookers and yes they are there but not in huge numbers. Unfortunately thanks to mainstream media and a very very conservative mindset in my city we are perceived as a very dangerous area - which is just not true but difficult to change in this community).

    To work towards branding we have launched a new website with ticketing capabilities and are working on newsletters, social media marketing (hiring a young person to do that through a gov. program), linking the website to other sites and planning a marketing strategy to "brand" the Theatre.

    On the other strand we are working on a raft of ideas to get new people into the theatre. I am going to be posting a question on that shortly. Some of the ideas include: A BF ticket, buy one ticket for you and get one free for your BF (boyfriend or bestfriend), Get a free ticket if you are under 26 by filling out our survey, Facebook campaign, theme nights, a script writing competition based on video games or japanese legends (anime style), join the play choosing committee campaign and launching more events that younger people are looking for when we find out what that it.

    The theatre has been terrible at promoting itself and is generally ignored even though they have spent thousands on traditional advertising. They have no clue how to use the new social media, facebook, etc., to promote themselves and we are working on that angle. We have a newsletter campaign starting and a reminder to book your tickets epostcard campaign. We have over 1000 contacts in our email list that have never been contacted so we hope to generate some new responses from that.

    The reason I wanted a tagline is to find an identifier for the Theatre that people will associate with us and help create an image of our Theatre as the place to go.

    I hope that helps a bit.
  • Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on 8/9/2010 at 6:23 PM Accepted
    Put More Play In Your Life
    Let Us Entertain You
  • Posted on 8/9/2010 at 7:05 PM Accepted
    Hi...Good for your for taking on this project. Theatres forget that this is a business and marketing often becomes a side project, until they realize that no one knows they're there or in the seats!

    I handle marketing for several theatres. I understand your problem. In our big city, there are several theatres in run down areas. But they manage to survive.

    I think the first thing to realize is that potential audiences may be turned off by the location. You're not going to get the older crowed coming to an 8 PM show in an area that they don't feel is secure. You're best best (as you say) is to attract a younger audience that will not care about the area. I wouldn't worry about marketing the area...nothing you can do will "make it better" for audiences that care about this.

    Instead, focus on your product. People will come to see a good show even if it is in a closet.

    Get your show listed in every free listing - calendars, entertainment guides, chamber of commerce websites, etc. You get great exposure with free listings.

    Your promo ideas are great. Build your Facebook page. Make sure to get a page..this way you can contact all your fans with direct messages. Twitter is fine, but is really time consuming. If you don't have the manpower, focus one one (I suggest Facebook).

    Make friends with the word-of-mouth generators: hotel concierge, hair stylists, bartenders, nail salon folks...people who have a 'captive" audience where small talk happens. All you need is one fan to talk you up.

    About tag lines..I think they're great, but at this point, I think you need to concentrate on some other points. Now, as I'm sure you know, this is time consuming. To do it well, these things take time. And don't expect over night success. If your theatre has never had these programs, it will take a while for them to get up to speed..maybe even a year.

    All the best!
    Dan
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