(or… How we got over ourselves, experimented in web marketing and sold out 3 out of 5 performances at Rogue 2007)
by Marcel Nunis
(independent playwright/director/producer)

(reprinted from theatrejnerique.com)

EDITOR’S NOTE: We have included this article  under the B.I.T.S. (Butts In The Seats) section. To read the first part of this series.. click HERE & HERE.

Mind you, even though the intent was to Create excitement (or at least intrigue) with the creation of a brand new play there was really no “diabolical” plan on how this would be accomplished. So, everything was just one step beyond the “willy nilly” stage. What would be the “hook”… apart from the fact that it was a new play? It was 4 months from “premiering” at Rogue 2007… and a completed play didn’t even exist yet.

Epiphany: You can’t sell a product that doesn’t exist!

Then… BOOM… one morning (after a 4 week drag) there was a sudden burst of creative energy in play writing. Within 7 days the play (at least the first draft) was completed. I can only guess that my creative doodling with the video helped unblock me.

*The success of our “art” has always been dependent on “buzz”.

So, now I had a product. (Yeah, chide me for calling it that… but ultimately, if you are selling tickets to a show… you have a product.) Now the promotional thrust began to take shape. 2 words came into play AWARENESS & INTRIGUE.

LET US BEGIN WITH AWARENESS

The show had been cast by this point (3 months and counting) and workshop readings were underway. I had asked the cast to post about their experience as the process of creation was taking place… warts and all! (The workshop and rehearsal process turned out to be a “love fest” but that’s beside the point… if things got challenging and ugly they had the freedom to blog about it.) Though it did take a while… the cast did finally warm up to the idea.

Blogging
Theatre J’Nerique has had a website since the late 90′s. It was pretty much a “static” site that operated as an electronic billbord of sorts. Since we hadn’t produced for a while all the “news” there was at least 3 years old.

Adding a blog to it (which is really easy to do) made the site a lot more interactive and immediate. The fact that readers can comment also gave the potential audience member a direct buy-in into the show. * The idea is that if you follow something long enough… you’ll want to catch the “final product.”

(* All “art” is the skillful craft of manipulating thought and emotion.)

Poster
A poster had already been created for the show. (2 and a half months before.) Instead of limiting it to just a “hard” print form… a digital form was also created and placed on our blog. Readers were actively encouraged to “steal it” for their own blogs or sites.

MySpacing
I had my own MySpace account that I never paid much attention to. I didn’t much care for their blog format (Blogger and WordPress seemed more accessible and immediate) and it always seemed like more of a “dating network for a 13 year old mentality”. On the plus side… everyone and his uncle has one and it seemed a great way to send out bulletins to a “captive audience”… if for nothing else maybe a way to get more readers hooked on to the blog at the company site.

The “target audience :

a. the usual suspects (local theatre nerds)
“Friending” target A:
Start with your friends in theatre… then move to “harvest” their friends. (Chances are they are into theatre themselves.)

b. a brand new audience.
“Friending” target B:
Hit “locals” (within a 50 mile radius) who are involved in other disciplines of the arts – poets, musicians, etc. (You’ll be amazed how many of those in the other disciplines have never been to theatre… this gives them the perfect reason to check it out.)

Then, just about anyone (within a 50 mile radius) that would respond to your request to “add” them. The rationale was that if only 20 percent of your “friends” took notice of you… that’s 20 percent more than you had before.

“Other” Sources:
Apart from MySpace bulletins… articles and notices were also posted in local “citizen journalism” e-zines and email forums from time to time informing of something “interesting” was occurring at our site. (BTW… owning our own domain provided a central and easy to remember location for people to check in to see what was happening at their own convenience.)

Video:
During the workshop period it was also decided that another VIDEO should be produced and posted. This brought even more immediacy to the awareness that “something exciting” was brewing and in the works.

AWARENESS COMPLETE
Two months before mounting the show our site was averaging 200-300 hits a day. All of this was successful in creating “intrigue” and an audience “buy-in” for the show.

As we got closer and closer to mounting the show a promotional VIDEO was produced which was sent out on bulletins on MySpace.

AND IN THE END…

… our run at the 2007 Rogue was a success. Through the buzz we had created via various means we sold out 3 of the 5 performances that were slotted to us. Plus good audience reviews also helped.

We didn’t have to sell our souls either… all we did was pour in an equal amount of energy and creativity into creating buzz as we did into creating our show.