I’m now up in Lake Placid beginning my Summer stint having flown from Boston to Saranac Lake with the Stanley Cup behind my left ear! (pictures are below). I thought part 2 was it, but for those who crave the young audience, I think we need to stop dreaming of the challenge of the unknown, and stop the crazy marketing schemes that don’t work. We need to make it a matter of inheritance….
Sometimes Orchestra’s marketing to the “young” is like the most ridiculous infomercial promising anything from no hair forever to getting rich and thin in just 20 minutes a day 3 times a week. The obsession with attracting the young audience includes trying anything from messages in cupcakes to Guitar Hero promotions to DJ’s in the lobby plus free booze before during and after the show. Throw in a cute poster and the expected results are a sustained audience of the young who forever will subscribe! It sounds ridiculous because it is and it doesn’t work. This isn’t targeted marketing, it is the buckshot approach.
What attracts the so called “young”? Well the answer is other young people of course. Think of it this way, certain movies and TV shows are for certain demographics, so are dining establishments, drinking establishments and so on and as soon as any place compromises what it does for the sake of attracting a different demographic, then it risks losing losing it’s core demographic. If a dining establishment is known for it’s intimacy and quiet dining experience then it would be foolish for them to start playing loud rock music so that they can snare a few young people just like if Spongebob Squarepants would start putting in product placements for denture cream or Centrum Silver…actually they might do that (Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy!) but you catch my drift. If a younger demographic is to be sought, then just like any hot new club, word of mouth and buzz needs to be established by those young people who already attend and the marketing to get those people in the door starts with your core demographic. It may not be cute but your best shot is to market to those people who are sitting right of you because they have the access to the young people who are most likely to attend.
There’s a survey that is summarized by the Princeton Center for Arts and Cultural Policy Studies that is nearly 10 years old but is an interesting snap shot that can teach us a lot. From the survey:
Does age affect attendance at classical music concerts?
According to the survey, age has only a marginal relationship with the likelihood that adults will attend classical music concerts. Of adults in the 55-64 age group, 19% indicated that they attended a classical music concert in the 12 months prior to the survey. Approximately the same percentage of adults in the 18-34 age group (18%), 45-54 age group (17%) and 65-74 age group (17%) attended a classical music concert over the same time frame. In contrast, the only about 13% of those in the 35-44 and 75 and over age groups had attended a classical music concert in the year prior to the survey.
So focusing on the demographic 45 – 54 (I’m getting close to being in that, yikes!), chances are the age of their children (using the various studies that the average age for first time parents is around 24 or 25) puts them near the end of college or just out, and possibly still somewhat dependent. This could mean anything from needing financial help, to help separating colors from whites when washing clothes (like I did….do). The point is, why not focus marketing on having those in this demographic who are subscribers bring their children for a shared experience, or even a chance to bond as a family. Make a concert an opportunity to be the “family outing”. Going to the 55 – 74 set and now we have the grand children starting to finish college and when the grandparents call to say hey I want you to come to a concert with us it is also an opportunity to see them is it not? . So why not a subscription incentive that gives a certain amount of free tickets for subscribers to bring their children/grandchildren. Just maybe then you have the beginnings of a sustained younger audience since the reasons to attend increase from being just about the music to also being about the shared family experience. Then it is those younger people who attend that might just say to a friend I would love to see you Saturday night but I’m going to a concert….why don’t you come too?
We give free booze to get people to buy a ticket. I would rather give a free ticket and chances are before, at intermission or even after the concert they might just buy the booze! Seriously though as musicians we focus so heavily on sincerity and authenticity in our approach to music making, so it is strange that we use the opposite approach to package ourselves in order to try and get people there. In an Orchestra it is like a family in that we might not always agree with one another, but in the end we play together for the greater good of unifying and being at our best and to be there for each other so we can give the best possible performance of great music. The younger audience is out there and the approach of making every concert a family concert might not be cute or sexy, but I believe it has a better chance of succeeding than sticking a DJ in the lobby and a message in a cupcake!
On a personal note, I have a new baby boy Benjamin Woods Spigelman who was born June 29!
Lord Stanley and Me!
