Life's A Pitch

For immediate release: the arts are marketable

Put a little more Belle Jolie on

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My Entourage is corrupted, and since I Am My Own Geek Squad, I am —>freaking out<—. The only logical thing to do while the database rebuilds is Google Image Mad Men.

MadMen1.gifFortunately, I have an actual reason to be doing this, not that only having a perceived reason has stopped me in the past. This just came in, from that place everyone knows how to get to on 57th street:

Carnegie Hall will host a vintage attire contest for ticket holders of the Max Raabe and the Palast Orchester concert on Thursday, March 4 at 8:00 p.m. Elegance is back,
so join us to recapture the style and wit of German Weimar-era cabaret
culture from the 1920s and ’30s and flaunt your own vintage style at
the concert. The contest will take place during intermission.


Participating ticket holders will have their photos taken in the main
lobby during intermission. The next day, the photos will be posted on
Carnegie Hall’s Facebook page, where fans can vote for best attire and
in a number of other categories. The Grand Prize will be a 2010-2011
subscription concert series package for two for the New York Pops.
Other prizes will include the Max Raabe CD: Das Carnegie Hall Konzert; the Max Raabe DVD: Live in Berlin; Carnegie Hall Notables Prelude Memberships;
and other prizes to be announced. For the most up to date information
on the contest, please visit the Carnegie Hall Facebook page at facebook.com/carnegiehall. Carnegie Hall Facebook fans will vote
between March 5-12, 2010.

Hm…20s and 30s, you say? OK – no real reason to Google Image Mad Men after all, but if sorority parties and Halloween have taught us anything (and they sure have), everyone likes to play dress-up once in a while. I doubt Carnegie’s costume contest will sell more tickets to Thursday’s concert, but it will drive traffic to their Facebook page and perhaps open them up to different press coverage opportunities (fashion blogs, for example), all of which will, (hopefully) in turn, sell tickets in the future. 

I’m also completely obsessed and conflicted about whether we could all sell more tickets if classical concerts were promoted as special occasions–events to dress up for, to go out to dinner before, to celebrate birthdays and anniversaries at–or if we encouraged everyone to come-as-they-are. On the one hand, the pressure of going to a Fancy Place, Dressed Up, for a Special Occasion is intimidating. On the other, we have lots of opportunities to wear jeans and American Apparel V-necks, and maybe not so many opportunities to wear that sleeveless Dolce & Gabbana white floral print silk dress with the ruche detailing we bought at a sample sale seven years ago and most likely no longer fits. Just…to throw an example out there. I like this Max Raabe promotion because it encourages concert-goers to think about the concert they’re going to and what the atmosphere is going to be like before they’re in their seats with a Playbill at 7:45. Greg Sandow has some good discussions about concert attire over on his blog from September 2008: his posts are here and here.

I leave you with this. Happy Tuesday!

MadMenJoan.gif

Comments

  1. Yes!!- I do think one could market going to concerts as an opportunity to dress up and feel it as a special occasion. I’ve suggested it before to the American Symphony Orchestra League. Think about “Moonstruck”.I think women at least want the concept of going out on a “date” to be sometimes a bit special. Although observing the attire of most young men doesn’t remind me of “elegant attire”!

  2. I like this post, Amanda. From my perspective, promotions like this are right-on. We know from research that higher levels of anticipation are correlated with higher intrinsic impacts for the performance.
    See Alan Brown’s “Assessing the Intrinsic Impacts of Live Performance” commissioned by the Major University Presenters consortium: http://www.wolfbrown.com/index.php?page=books-and-reports
    Getting audience members to think about the aesthetic of the concert in advance helps heighten anticipation, and makes it more likely that the performance will be meaningful for them. In addition, the dress-up promotion should help attract people who are seeking that kind of an experience — an excuse to put some creative energy into costuming themselves, and be transported to another era. If they enter with that intention, this performance will absolutely deliver.
    We’ve presented Max Raabe and the Palast Orchester at our venue and the show is a delight: Max is a captivating performer, and the performance makes for an enchanting experience. However, it’s not the easiest thing in the world to market, so I’ll be interested to see how this tactic goes for them.

  3. Reminds me of the ‘Music from the Movies Night’ by the Vancouver Island Symphony. They laid down a red carpet and encouraged people dress up and walk the red carpet as camera light bulbs flashed. Those who didn’t walk the carpet could sit on the sidelines and watch.
    The logic of all this is that this experience might not necessarily sell more tickets for this show, but the fun people have more likely encourages them to buy tickets for a future show. (from the RAND Behavioral Model of Participation)

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