Interesting article by Robert Simonson in the US publication Playbill about the success of the seasonal Broadway production How The Grinch Stole Christmas. In the two weeks of mid-December, its sales beat the current market leader Wicked, filling 96% of capacity.
How did they do it? The target audience was families and in this case that means Mum, who usually makes the decisions on family theatre choices. Thom Miller, the producers’ vice president of marketing, who is a mother herself, explains, "In my opinion, moms are the busiest people on the planet but, also, moms are the hardest people to reach. For Broadway shows, and especially family shows, they're the ones who make the decisions.
“We try to reach Moms throughout their daily life by traditional and non-traditional means. Of course, we do radio and print advertising. We strategically buy in newspapers that we think moms will read. We also partner with a lot of media and transit partners—the Long Island Railroad, New Jersey Transit, the MTA."
Taking their lead from the hugley successful Radio City Christmas Spectacular, they also run eight shows at the weekend, starting with 11a.m. and finishing with an 8p.m. for the older kids. Prices are lower than the typical Broadway musical to attract families rather than couples.
1 comment:
Interesting but it sounds very like the way we have sold panto in the UK for years. We know mums are the decision makers, we set low prices and we campaign on the local daytime radio etc. I don 't know what the equivalent of the Long Island railroad would be- perhaps we should stand outside schools during the school run putting leaflets under windscreen wipers.
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