John Slattery, Cynthia Nixon, Tyne Daly and Mary Catherine Garrison in the 2007 Pulitzer Winning Rabbit Hole. Photo by Joan Marcus.
When MTC was expanding its operations from two Off-Broadway stages on the lower level of City Center to three, and needed to bring customers from its home of 20 years to a new larger Broadway theatre (the Biltmore, recently renamed Samuel Friedman), it retained Audience Research & Analysis to find information that would help:
- Grow its subscription base
- Double sales of single tickets
- Understand the perception of its new location
- Refine MTC’s positioning
- Evaluate marketing tools
ARA conducted four focus groups with current MTC subscribers and single-ticket buyers, subscribers to other non-profit theatres, and theatregoers who attended MTC plays that had transferred from its City Center home to Broadway.
With regard to marketing materials, theatregoers wanted concise, useful information that was as complete as possible (at the time of publication) and included storylines, playwrights, and actors. In terms of physical attributes, they responded best to a brochure that, even when unfolded, was not too large, not too busy, and use colors that reflected the experimental nature of the theatre.
In the groups, we reviewed marketing materials to see what informattion theatregoers found most useful to make a purchase decision and the layout and appearance that they responded to best and reflected their perception of the theatre.
ARA also tested several campaigns (developed by the ad agency) to announce the new theatre. The results pointed to “I Want My MTC,” an obvious play-of-words that featured images of well-known actors associated with MTC such as Nathan Lane and Laura Linney. The acquisition brochure similarly featured actors in upcoming productions.
We evaluated positioning statements, drilling down to the level of individual adjectives, to see which words and phrases were most persuasive and fit with MTC in describing the attributes of the theatre. At the same time, we looked to see what language conveyed negative associations or were generally disliked.
The results informed MTC’s most successful print ad ever. With the tag line “New York’s home for new theatre,” The New York Times ad resulted in 400 new subscriptions. In the Biltmore’s first season, MTC attracted 10,000 first-time subscribers.
In addition to the focus groups, ARA conducted an in-theatre audience survey among 731 attendees at the eight productions presented on the two City Center stages. In addition to demographics, sources of information and media habits, the survey identified the most important factors in ticket-buying and examined how theatregoers responded to corporate sponsorships in terms of their attitudes toward the companies and interest in buying their products and services.
ARA also mailed a questionnaire to several thousand MTC subscribers (achieving a 40% response rate) to better understand the factors that drove subscription and how subscribers perceived MTC.
In pursuit of the highest possible standards of service, MTC engaged ARA immediately after the Biltmore opened to conduct an onsite intercept study on a seat-by-seat basis to identify any previously undetected problems in the newly renovated space.
ARA continues to work with MTC to help the theatre position itself in response to changing times and programming.