Results tagged “The Metropolitan Opera” from Life's a Pitch

It's that time of year: the city is completely covered in Metropolitan Opera opening night ads. Buses, bus stops, banners, phone booths...you can't swing a dead Venus worshiper without hitting one. This year, the campaign has a slogan: "Let yourself go", which I think is rockin'. It paints going to The Met as a guilty pleasure, a message that the sultry Renée Fleming Thaïs photo completely supports.  "Come on, you know you want to...buy tickets to the opera," Ms. Fleming seems to suggest with the one eye that isn't covered by kinked blond hair.

I've been thinking a lot about how, when a blockbuster movie comes out, you see imagery and actors from the film everywhere. If there is a feature on the movie in a magazine, there are also ads in the magazine. If an actor from the movie is on Letterman, the movie is advertised during the commercials of that broadcast.

Until recently, I thought that ads and press were interchangeable; that is, if we can get a feature on an album in this publication, we should put our ad dollars elsewhere. I don't think that's correct, though. Better to advertise in the publication in which the feature appears, so when readers flip the page, they see the ad and feel familiar with the product. The same is true in reverse: if they've seen an ad and then see the profile, readers/viewers feel like they "have seen that somewhere" and actually read the piece.

In classical music, we don't always (*ever?) have the luxury of ad dollars, but this can and should be done in some places. Local (and some national) blogs, student newspapers, etc. all still offer ad space within most presenters' and labels' budgets. Pitch stories to the outlets at which you can afford advertising, and also run ticket/CD giveaway contests. That way, your product will be visible in at least three spaces, so even if the publication or blog is not uber high-profile, you build a consumer base that recognizes your brand and is exposed to it repeatedly.

Fashion magazines often have Splurge/Steal sections; that is, an item of clothing or an accessory that celebs have (splurge) next to the version of the product that the rest of us can afford (steal).

September of two years ago, the Metropolitan Opera seemed to change overnight. In his blog, Through Rosen Colored Glasses, former Met board member and current chair of The Met marketing committee Ben Rosen outlines the three major initiatives undertaken by the Gelb regime: improve the product, create a major marketing effort, and add new sources of revenues and audience development. He goes on to outline exactly what measures were taken and the critical and commercial success that ensued.

He doesn't mention what all this cost, unfortunately, but let's assume The Met's operating budget is a "splurge" for the average presenter. So what can you do with little to no budget? Well, here you are - my best Glamour magazine impression:

Splurge: Replicas of Met sets at Saks Fifth Avenue.
Steal: Window displays using production props or music scores at your local bookstore or library. Example: If you're presenting The Rite of Spring, blow up copies of the premiere's scathing reviews, political cartoons from the time, and parts of the score, and arrange those along with biographies of Stravinsky and books on 20th century music. All the while displaying your venue, box office and performance information prominently, of course.


 
Splurge: Movie stars at opening night.
Steal: Community leaders at opening night. Restaurant owners, bar owners, CEOs, the superintendent of schools, your local congressman/woman, the mayor. OK, it's not Jude Law, but reaching out to the taste-makers in your community can only help build support for your organization, and everyone likes a special opening night invitation, red carpet or not.

Splurge: Gallery Met, a corner of The Met's lobby dedicated to works by contemporary artists.
Steal: Same as the splurge! Maybe William Wegman won't do a portrait for you, but opening the door to local visual artists will generate new audiences, enhance lobby aesthetic, and give your PR department an opportunity to reach out to critics from different genres.

Splurge: Total redesign of posters and website.
Steal: Fresh perspectives from outside your organization/usual freelance designers. Example: Reach out to local art students in your area and invite them to submit potential poster designs for your productions. This can be done in the form of a competition (the winner is automatically invited to do a poster the next season or gets a profile in the local paper) or as a general call for submissions. If you're trying to reach a college audience, why not look to college students for aesthetic guidance for your marketing materials?

Splurge: Free opening performance dress rehearsals.
Steal: Free opening performance dress rehearsals.

Splurge: Attracting specialized audiences (Rosen sites marketing Satyagraha to "New-age magazines, yoga groups, anti-apartheid organizations, India groups and South African organizations").
Steal: Again, the same thing, with the addition of creating a network of businesses in your community that will support all the premieres at your venue. To site McCarter again (I was their marketing intern), Small World Coffee in Princeton, NJ started creating a unique coffee for every new theatre production (I was especially pleased with "To Brew or Not to Brew: There is No Question" for Hamlet), and Triumph Brewery, also in town, created a new beer as well (and donated lots to us on opening nights!).

Splurge: HD live telecasts to movie theaters around the world.
Steal:  Oh dear. Let me think about that one.