New Poll - publicity

Well, the results of the last short-lived and slightly flawed poll show that The Italian-American Reconciliation got noticed the most by people attending this website, followed by The Angriest Video Store Clerk In The World. I'm proud to note that if you add the votes for The Stones and On Our Selection together, Sam & I were seen by the most voters in total, but I think the real winner is Vagabond's Video Store Clerk because that show only started last week and is still running.

The Fringe is over (although you can still catch some of the shows), so time for a new poll.


I thought an appropriate choice after finding out who went to see what (or how many thousands didn't) is to try to find out what methods of publicising shows seem the most effective? Check any of the boxes that apply to you.


Cheers,
The Poll-Tergeist

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Hi there,

I've been doing publicity for Unseen Theatre Company for our last few shows, and we try and survey our audience to discover how they
found out about our show. This is done in the form of a 'door prize' which usually about half the audience completes each night.

And it's very useful.

From the last three plays, the statistics I've collected show the following trends:

- The majority of the audience knows someone in the
cast or crew
- A significant number of people are repeat attendees,
and were notified by postal or email mailing lists
- Posters are reasonably effective (if distributed widely enough)
- Virtually noone comes because of paid adverts in the newspapers.

Sorry I don't have some concrete figures with me, but that has been the trend I've noticed. It may be different for different theatre companies, or even in different states, but we've found that the best promotion is just the Cast and Crew telling all their friends... so if you're a publicity or promotions officer for a theatre company, you MUST push the cast and crew to publicise the production...

It seems a shame to me that advertisements in newspapers don't pull more audience members - because for one, they're expensive, but they are a necessary evil if you want any reviewers from the newspaper to come along to review the show... and even if you place a paid ad, you can't guarantee a review!

One technique that we've used with reasonably good success over the
past few shows too is the 'Poster Drive', whereby a particular day is designated for people to go around to the major shopping and cafe districts to put up posters in shop and restaurant windows. In a practical sense, picking a single day may not seem useful - as the locations people visit are all over the place - but if you just give each cast member a stack of posters and say "Here, put these up in " it won't get done.

So, if you see some people wandering around the streets of Adelaide on Saturday March 8th with 'Unseen Theatre Company' t-shirts and posters, say "Hi" and take a flyer, because we'll be doing our poster drive for "The Truth" then :)

For those of you who have good (and of course, cheap and easy to organise) methods of publicising your show, I'd love to hear them. Always good to try new things to increase audience numbers!

Seeya. Danny.

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Hello Craig

You missed on of the more usefull options "Theatre Australia Whats On"

Also it is a pity you ran out of space to fit in Ristorante Immortalle in the last poll as it was a great show.

Regards
Don

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Timely Poll!
As Publicity Officer for one (and at times two) of the local community theatres I have always had the impression that it's a combination of cast/crew and theatre members/subscribers in the main. The local newspapers also seem to be a good source, most of them are pretty good at feturing amateur theatre, especially if the Editor/Arts Ed is interested in 'the Arts'. We are fortunate in that our local Ed is a resident in the area and knows the theatre from way back.

I wonder whether the 'quality' of the poster, ie home done or professional glossy helps in any way. I tend to think not. Recent experience has confirmed my thoughts.

With permission from the "Poll-Master" I might feature this poll and its results in an article in the ITA LINK soon. (If nothing else it will fill a space - HINT HINT) As newly installed Editor of same I shall be desperately seeking items to fill eight pages every month.
End of plug

Thou loggerheaded plume-plucked minnow!

Danny Sag wrote:

> [newspaper print ads] are a necessary evil if you want any
> reviewers from the newspaper to come along to review the
> show...

Not true...

> and even if you place a paid ad, you can't guarantee a
> review!

I'm not sure how this works in Adelaide, but here in Perth, you get reviews by directly contacting the reviewer (preferably by telephone) offering comps, and asking if a review could be done, then making follow up phonecalls if necessary. This is exactly what the marketing people in major companies do - in smaller companies or co-ops you tend to do the whole shebang yourself so it feels a little more awkward. Just be confident and you should be OK. I'd say the majority of reviews that run in papers in WA do not, and have never had, accompanying print ads in the same publication (e.g. all Blue Room shows). If nothing else, you'll get a free plug in a 'What's On' section somewhere.

Hopefully this may save you a lot of money in fruitless print ads if this was your aim!

And I notice you're in Adelaide...come and see Perth's own Barking Gecko Theatre Company performing 'The Cat Who Ran' for the Adelaide Come Out Festival, March 10-22. Don't have the full details yet but I'll put them up on this site as soon as I find out.

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Don Allen wrote:
>
> You missed on of the more usefull options "Theatre Australia
> Whats On"
>
> Also it is a pity you ran out of space to fit in Ristorante
> Immortalle in the last poll as it was a great show.
>


G'day Don

No - Theatre Australia IS definitely included on the list ...just to save space it's listed as "Theatre Oz".


And in the previous poll, because there was limited space in the poll engine, I made an executive decision to only include local product, not companies from overseas. (I did state that the poll was kind of flawed).

Cheers,
The Poll-tergeist

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Amanda Chesterton wrote:
> I'd say
> the majority of reviews that run in papers in WA do not, and
> have never had, accompanying print ads in the same
> publication (e.g. all Blue Room shows). If nothing else,
> you'll get a free plug in a 'What's On' section somewhere.

mmm...

:-\

I'd have considered the Blue Room the exception rather than the rule. Xpress will print a review and so will the Post, but they're weeklies. Our only daily paper rarely prints reviews for anything other than paying advertisers.

On the question of paid newspaper ads, I remember running an experiment a couple of years back where we ran an ad in the Arts section in The West. It advertised a different phone number to the rest of the publicity (which probably confused the hell out of a couple of punters) so that we could track physical calls as a result of that ad alone. We ran the ad for three weeks and had four calls. We didn't cover the cost of the advertisement.

My impression has been that, while the "community" papers will sometime give you editorial space or even a photo, this results in very few bookings.

I know fuel4arts.com.au had a bit of a run on this discussion a while back. Did anyone else follow it? Pick up any key points?

Cheers
Grant

PS. Does anyone remember this?

http://theatre.asn.au/read.php?f=24&i=306&t=305

Thou pox-marked doghearted minnow!

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mmm... right back at ya.

Grant Malcolm wrote:
>

> I'd have considered the Blue Room the exception rather than
> the rule. Xpress will print a review and so will the Post,
> but they're weeklies. Our only daily paper rarely prints
> reviews for anything other than paying advertisers.

Thats not true. Most co-op shows, not just Blue Room (who incidentally work very hard to keep a relationship with Ron to ensure this happens) get a review (although reviewers don't just turn up) the exceptions are during festivals when there is so much on.

Also some major companies are not advertising in the West anymore but still getting reviews.

The Australian also reviews shows in Perth (and co-op shows too) and you don't have to pay for that right. And the Same with the Sunday Times when it had an Arts section.

Ron dosen't review community theatre. No amount of paid advertising is going to help that. Why? I don't know. I expect he had to draw the line somewhere. Where would people suggest he drew it? Seeing it does cost to send a reviewer and there is only two to four pages of Arts, a week, a line has to be drawn somewehre.

And before i become a Pariah. im not personally saying that is the right decision.

> On the question of paid newspaper ads, I remember running an
> experiment a couple of years back where we ran an ad in the
> Arts section in The West. It advertised a different phone
> number to the rest of the publicity (which probably confused
> the hell out of a couple of punters) so that we could track
> physical calls as a result of that ad alone. We ran the ad
> for three weeks and had four calls. We didn't cover the cost
> of the advertisement.

I agree but i also feel no one promotional tools going to work alone. Peopl need to see a poster, pick up a flier then see an article or some other tool. Its acombination. So maybe people saw the ad then the poster and rang the poster number. Nothing short of a FOH survey is going to find out where they are coming from.

But the sad fact is at the end of the day over half of your audience are going to be friends or theatre club members or some other associated individuals.

Cheers

I have done the publicity and promotion of each of the Collective Unconscious shows and have found different methods work for different styles of shows, and as Dave said, no one thing is best. I have also found the choice of venue and the target audience will influence the choice of method. Then again, it must be taken into account whether the publicity is to get bums on seats or is it also to increase long term profile of the group?

However, presuming firstly that money is not plentiful, and the main aim is to get higher audience numbers, I have found the most effective means have generally been, in order:

A good review, (The West has always given us a review but we also give them lots of notice, a media release, a comp ticket, and a reminder call)
Word of mouth to family and friends
Direct mail out/email with reduced ticket prices to loyal and repeat audience members
Notices outside venue
Notice on this site, especially of special prices on quieter nights
Articles in local newspapers
Radio interview (RTR YES!)
Ticket give-away competitions to X-PRESS, radio stations and community newspapers
Notices and links on all possible web sites, eg SCOOP
A few posters in strategic places eg if your play is about art, then posters should be in as many art galleries as possible. Owners are usually very helpful, especially if you give them a comp ticket.
Flyers at nearby cafes, and to anyone you think may be remotely interested.
DonÂ’t forget complimentary tickets to potential future sponsors/funding bodies.
Of course a bit of controversy does wonders too!
I know this all takes a lot of time, so itÂ’s ideal to have someone enthusiastic and prepared to explore all sorts of interesting angles.
If it's you, good luck!

Tina Jack

Mmmmm. Bogey up left nostril.

> And I notice you're in Adelaide...come and see Perth's own Barking
> Gecko Theatre Company performing 'The Cat Who Ran' for the Adelaide
> Come Out Festival, March 10-22. Don't have the full details yet but I'll put
> them up on this site as soon as I find out.

I'll try, but that is the week before we bump in for "The Truth" and I'm already running short of free time, plus there's a lot of other shows on in Adelaide that I'd love to go and see around that time too....

But I will pass on the info to our members if you like.

Seeya. Danny.

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Hello Danny

I have come across the Australia Council For The Arts web site at http://www.ozco.gov.au which has a Resources > Pulications section http://www.ozco.gov.au/resources/publications/index.htm Have a look at the publications in this section. One that is relevant is Miles Ahead that includes a section Tips From The Road that covers advertising methods and merits.

Worth adding to the knowledgebase on publicity and promotion.

Regards
Don

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