The problem: Finding a new audience.
When I took over as marketing director for this highly-acclaimed theater company in 2007, they were suffering from a declining and aging audience, and increased competition from cheaper, more on-demand forms of entertainment. The company’s work had a broad appeal — it was spectacular, funny, and edgy — but we found the under-40 demographic was not considering high-end theater as part of its entertainment menu. To appeal to this more online audience, I produced one of the first movie-style (quick cuts, enhanced drama and spectacle) trailers for a Twin Cities theater, and followed it up with a very popular mock-interview video piece which expanded the possibilities of this medium.
I also instituted a new pricing scheme aimed at attracting consumers in their early 20s, for whom entertainment patterns as still being formed. These innovations increased under-25 attendance by 25% for the first production, and over 30% for the second. (Unfortunately, due to long-standing financial issues, the company folded at the end of that year.)
