Project-Based Counsel

• Boston Symphony / Boston Pops

Intermediate Counsel

• Houston Grand Opera
• Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra
• Richard B. Fischer Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College

Comprehensive Counsel

• American Symphony Orchestra
• Kansas City Symphony
• Knoxville Symphony Orchestra
• Toledo Symphony

PROJECT-BASED COUNSEL:
Boston Symphony / Boston Pops (February 2000 – present)

Situation: The Boston Pops Esplanade receives both fees and a share of total revenue for its performances on tour. However, sales were inconsistent and unpredictable. Presenters with experience in ice shows, sporting events and rock tours were rarely prepared to attract and meet the expectations of a symphony audience.

Objective: Educate and lead presenters through the process of bringing a Boston Pops appearance to their market.

Process: CRStager marketing analyzed sales performance for the Boston Pops' last three national tours, ranking sales by attendance, market size and percentage of capacity sold. Recent historical sales performance could then be quickly indexed as a measure for future performance. Next, a comprehensive Marketing Handbook was created and distributed to presenters well in advance of their performance. The book provided background on the Pops, audience demographics, and specific marketing and PR strategies with timelines. We also developed relationships with each presenter agreeing on sales goals, following up with at least weekly updates by phone. Each presenter was required by contract to submit a detailed marketing plan. Variances between their plan and our recommended practices were reviewed with the presenter well in advance of the performance. Sales performance trends were captured to establish a likely Pops sales pattern.

Results: The presenters were given all the tools for success, on-going personal contact with CRStager marketing. As a result, the frequency of successful presentations increased during the Spring 2001 tour. Troublesome sales were identified six weeks in advance of the performance by the predictive sales model we built. When sales lagged in some cities, we compared the presenter's marketing plan against our proven timeline. Recommendations were made to correct the sales effort, and were often heeded with positive results. When recommendations went unheeded, and sales continued to lag, the Boston Symphony was aware of the trend well in advance and was not surprised on the evening of performance.

Follow Up: The experience of each tour has been incorporated into the Marketing Handbook, a fluid document that is continually updated. The experience of successful presentations is now reflected in the revised timeline. The predictive model now includes several years of experience as a measurement for future performances. Further, we have begun to study the relationship between each venue’s available capacity and the market’s critical mass of qualified buyers, issues of venue access, and new pricing strategies.

INTERMEDIATE COUNSEL:
Houston Grand Opera (March 2001 – October 2005)

Situation: By the spring of 2001, Houston Grand Opera had experienced three years of sharply declining subscription and single ticket sales. Joanne Labrecque-French, the company’s Director of Public Relations, had just recently been handed the additional responsibility for marketing by General Director David Gockley. Within days of assuming this responsibility, Jo called on CRStager marketing to help reverse the company’s sliding sales trend.

Objective: CRStager marketing was asked to audit Houston Grand Opera’s marketing efforts. We reviewed the past five seasons of sales and strategies, recommended improvements, and provided a marketing primer Jo could use in her new position.

Process: Following this comprehensive review we delivered our report, which identified the primary causes of the sales decline. Though Houston Grand Opera enjoyed deep market penetration, we were surprised to find that past attendees were not actively being solicited for subscriptions. Instead, expensive prospecting had been directed at a broad, unqualified market – and had gained few new subscribers as a result. We also found the renewal campaign to be minimal; many subscribers were not retained simply because of an inadequate process to do so. In reviewing creative materials, brochures were attractive but did not make a compelling offer requiring the recipient’s urgent response. We made several recommendations to correct the course of sales:

• Improve the renewal rate with more frequent and informative mailings
• Focus new subscriptions on the full-series with a compelling offer and pressing deadline for response
• “Right-size” the performance schedule relative to the opera’s popularity to maximize capacity utilization

A review of national opera company pricing revealed that the Houston Grand Opera had the third highest ticket price in the country. At the same time, the collapse of Enron was beginning to deeply impact the Houston economy. Rather than slash prices, we developed an offer to keep the cost of subscriptions (often in excess of $1000 for a pair) manageable. Houston Grand Opera introduced flexible monthly payments which allowed subscribers to spread the cost of their subscription over 9 to 12 months. Brochures trumpeted “Now you can subscribe for as little as $ 38 per month.” (Samples of that season’s campaign may be found on the creative materials page of the CRStager web site.) The company’s subscription discount strategy, the equivalent of one opera for free, was also leveraged. A compelling message was introduced: “Renee Fleming FREE when you subscribe. Finally, production schedules were established to assure optimal timing of marketing materials.

Results: The recommendations of the written plan were implemented upon submission, and sales for the 2001/2002 season swiftly increased. Subscriptions grew 18% in that first year and single ticket sales increased 41%. While the season included the sure-fire box office of Renee Fleming’s first “Traviata” anywhere it should also be noted that sales increased for all productions in that season.

Follow Up: Sales remained strong in subsequent seasons never returning to the low experienced in the 1999/2000 season. CRStager marketing continued to work with Houston Grand Opera through David Gockley’s final season. During that time we built predictive sales models to project likely sales outcomes and adjust activity as needed. The subscription campaign timeline developed for that record season became a mainstay of Houston Grand Opera in subsequent years, consistently delivering strong subscription sales when optimally timed and executed.

INTERMEDIATE COUNSEL:
Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra (September 2000 – October 2005)

Situation: The 2000-01 season was a critical one for the Saint Louis Symphony. Facing a deepening financial crisis, strong ticket sales were needed to demonstrate and validate civic support for the Orchestra, and the service it provides to its diverse constituency. A recent controversy over ticket pricing needed to be overcome, and new audiences needed to be attracted to Powell Symphony Hall.

Objective: CRStager marketing was asked to help in crafting creative messages, single ticket marketing planning, media recommendations, and building predictive sales monitoring systems and reports. The Marketing Director of the Orchestra had a strong team in place, many managers familiar with the market if not with classical music. The efforts of CRStager would complement the team's subscription and cultivation initiatives.

Process: CRStager marketing analyzed the 2000-01 season programs for their single ticket potential. From this, and in a brainstorming meeting with the marketing team, a one-page marketing plan was developed for each concert. The plan identified the strengths and challenges of each program, and outlined ways to capitalize or overcome them. Primary and secondary media were selected based on the values of each program. Radio stations, print schedules, direct mail and internet messages were weighed for each concert to fully maximize earnings potential. Radio stations, not previously used for marketing the Symphony, were proposed to draw new audiences. CRStager also created a radio campaign for the Orchestra to showcase each program, to communicate urgency to motivate the sale, and to reinforce the value of the Saint Louis Symphony in the community and marketplace. Copy was provided early to the marketing department so that broadcast messages could be incorporated into in-house produced print advertising, direct mail, and Internet efforts. Consistency of message was achieved between all the media. Finally, sales reports were developed to measure performance and predict sales outcomes. These weighed sales data from several perspectives and points of reference to give the department a full understanding of current position, and to identify in a timely fashion concerts that were performing well or were experiencing disappointing sales. This allowed the staff to modify its tactics.

Results: The Saint Louis Symphony experienced a record-setting season for single ticket sales. The revenue budget of $1,000,000 was achieved by early February, 2001 and the season concluded in May with a $186,000 surplus in single ticket sales.

Follow Up: While the Orchestra faced many challenges during our collaboration, audience development was not one of them. Challenging revenue goals were addressed - and often met - with flexible media placement and creative materials supporting the institution’s values. The patron data base continued to grow. At the threshold of a significant artistic transition, the Orchestra’s marketing effort communicated with ever greater resonance its value to its community.

COMPREHENSIVE COUNSEL:
American Symphony Orchestra (November 2000 – present)

Situation: The American Symphony Orchestra, founded by Leopold Stokowski in 1962, performs six concerts each season at Avery Fisher Hall as part of the Great Performers at Lincoln Center series. The Orchestra's programming philosophy is to rescue and return unjustly neglected works to the repertoire. Previous marketing efforts had promoted a membership scheme in favor of a traditional subscription campaign. Consequently, the American Symphony Orchestra had no subscribers and a very small database of patrons. Ticket sales often accounted for less than 30% of the house.

Objective: CRStager marketing was retained to oversee the American Symphony's entire marketing effort. Key objectives were the establishment of a subscription audience, strengthening single ticket sales, enhancement of the data base, overall messaging, and development of the Orchestra's Sunday Matinee series at Columbia University.

Process: CRStager marketing analyzed single ticket sales for the past several seasons, ranking by gross and sorting by timing and day of week to aid the in season planning - scheduling programs with low single ticket potential on traditionally weak performance days, and avoiding whenever possible concerts in months that have historically experienced low sales. Pricing was analyzed as well, and discovered to be far below the market median. Prices were raised to a level comparable to the market, but still affordable, per the Orchestra's mission. Each concert was given its own identity to communicate its uniqueness and position it as an event. All materials - print advertising, direct mail, and program notes sent in advance to patrons - now share that identity. To build credibility, Richard Dreyfuss was engaged as spokesperson for the Orchestra's radio advertising. For the Orchestra's Sunday matinees at Columbia University, the sales campaign and message was refocused to attract mid-income residents in adjacent zip codes. For the first time, a subscription strategy for the 2001-02 season was implemented to meet dual objectives: attract new subscribers and capture names for the evolving database through a response card.

Results: In 2000-01, four of the American Symphony Orchestra's six concerts were among the highest grossing of the past decade. The Columbia University series also experienced significant growth. Name capture initiatives have nearly tripled the Orchestra's patron base. Subscriptions sales have grown each year and are now a significant and growing portion of the Orchestra's Avery Fisher Hall constituency.

Follow Up: Employing proven core marketing strategies, sales for 2001-02 (both at Lincoln Center and Miller Theatre) were the highest of any recent season. These results were topped in the 2002-03 season, and again in 2003-04. Subscriptions for 2004-05 surpassed the 2003-04 final in the first 12 weeks of the campaign. We have reconfigured available seating in Avery Fisher Hall for American Symphony Orchestra concerts, closing the second and third tiers and reducing capacity to 1,900 from 2,800. This concentrates distribution of the audience and creates scarcity for the Orchestra's innovative programs.

COMPREHENSIVE MARKETING COUNSEL:
Kansas City Symphony (July 2005 - present)

Situation: With the inaugural season of Music Director Michael Stern about to begin, the Kansas City Symphony's Classical subscription sales were not growing as anticipated. The Pops series subscription campaign was flagging, too, contributing to a substantial negative variance in overall subscription revenue. The outlook for single ticket sales, based on five years of history, was weak.

Objective: In July of 2005, the Kansas City Symphony called upon CRStager marketing to review its marketing activities and work with the marketing staff to improve the outlook for the 2005-06 season. Key objectives were to minimize the projected subscription revenue shortfall and maximize single ticket sales across all products. By September, however, two of the three key staff positions were vacated and CRStager's agreement was expanded to provide senior leadership for the department.

Process: CRStager marketing reviewed the subscription campaign activities, including direct mail and telemarketing. Changes to direct mail creative were made, framing the existing discount rate in a more compelling fashion and focusing attention on full series subscriptions (In markets the size of Kansas City, growing the subscriber base primarily through smaller and/or flexible packages is exceedingly difficult, if not impossible. Smaller packages renew poorly, and there is not a critical mass of qualified prospects to continually replenish the subscribers that are lost. The preferred strategy is to increase the average number of concerts per subscriber by attractively presenting the longer, sustainable subscription series.) The general ineffectiveness and high cost of the in-house telemarketing operation was brought to light, ultimately resulting in a switch to an outside vendor for the 2006-07 campaign. With the 2005-06 single ticket plan still in the formative stages, CRStager marketing seized the opportunity to completely revamp the way the Kansas City Symphony had positioned itself over the past few seasons. A tendency to spend money equally across all programs was scrapped for a "return on investment" strategy, concentrating financial resources on programs that could yield the most revenue. For the first time, commercial radio was effectively employed, and print and direct mail messages touted the most salient attributes of each program, and leveraged the new artistic energy of Michael Stern.

Results: With record Classical single ticket sales, including the Orchestra's first-ever sold-out Classical concerts and several sold-out Pops concerts, the overall 2005-06 revenue goal was exceeded. Classical single ticket revenue grew from 2004-05 by 50%, with six of the 2005-06 programs among the all-time Top Ten performers.

Follow Up: CRStager marketing planned and executed the 2006-07 subscription campaign, which exceeded the 2005-06 final revenue by more than 30%. Classical Series subscription admissions have grown 26% from 2005-06, and Pops Series subscribed percentage of capacity is a record 78%. Our collaboration with the Kansas City Symphony continues, renewed as an open-ended contract. Recently, the Kansas City Symphony has expanded its relationship with CRStager to include development and fundraising counsel.

COMPREHENSIVE MARKETING COUNSEL:
Knoxville Symphony Orchestra (October, 2006 - present)

Situation: In October of 2006, the Knoxville Symphony was without a Director of Marketing, without an Executive Director, and substantially behind in its 2006-07 season revenue goals. The Orchestra engaged CRStager marketing to turnaround its marketing effort.

Objective: CRStager was charged with improving the outlook for the current season. Key objectives were to minimize the projected subscription revenue shortfall and maximize single ticket sales across all products.

Process: CRStager first reviewed the sales goals to identify opportunities and challenges. CRStager associate Chuck Kocal had served the Knoxville Symphony as Director of Marketing from 1999-2001. Three significant opportunities were revealed: 1.) The Holiday Concert was budgeted for $70,000, but had regularly generated $90,000 - $100,000 in previous seasons. 2.) Masterworks Series performances of Carmina Burana were budgeted for $15,000, significantly less than what large-scale choral works had done in Knoxville in previous seasons and not reflective of the work's general popularity. 3.) Pops Series concerts featuring the popular Beatles tribute "Classical Mystery Tour," were budgeted for $19,500 - the same as other, far less popular, programs in the same season. With significant opportunities to exceed goal identified, CRStager crafted marketing strategies to take advantage of these opportunities. Marketing budgets originally earmarked for concerts with less potential were diverted to Clayton, Carmina, and Classical Mystery. Additionally, direct mail and print efforts were adjusted to build strong advance sales for these three programs.

Results: The Holiday, Carmina Burana, and Classical Mystery Tour performances all substantially exceeded their goals, and a $25,000 negative single ticket tracking variance in October was turned into a $30,000 positive variance by season's end. Holiday sales finished at $103,290 - a 78% increase over the previous year and the best outcome since 2002. Carmina Burana sales finished at $31,379 - the best outcome since the renovated Tennessee Theatre opened in 2004. Classical Mystery Tour finished at $39,511 - the highest Pops outcome of the season, nearly 70% higher than when this same program appeared on the Pops Series in April of 2001.

Follow Up: CRStager is managing the Knoxville Symphony's 2007-08 subscription campaign, which is presently on track to enjoy unprecedented growth.

COMPREHENSIVE MARKETING COUNSEL:
Toledo Symphony (September 2003 - Present)

Situation: The Toledo Symphony is deeply integrated into its community and can boast market penetration of over 6%. The primary venue, the Peristyle, located at the Toledo Museum of Art, offers a compact 1,700 seats. After years of erratic ticket sales and frequent turnover in the marketing department's leadership, Robert Bell contacted CRStager marketing to analyze and stabilize the situation.

Objective: CRStager marketing was asked to review past sales history marketing activities, and provide a set of recommendations to grow ticket sales and capitalize on the high market penetration.

Process: The in-depth audit process reviewed 13 years of subscription and single ticket sales experience and marketing practices. This led to a series of actionable priorities. We recommended that subscription renewal efforts be expanded with more mailings and greater frequency to increase the subscriber renewal rate. In so small a market the potential pool of subscribers is very limited and those that are lost are difficult to replace. Therefore, we recommended that the subscription campaign focus on the full ten concert series rather than harder-to-renew half series. To make it attractive, we delivered an urgent and compelling offer ("Itzhak Perlman FREE when you subscribe by May 31"). We proposed there be greater effort in re-energizing the interest of long, dormant patrons rather than simply relying on prospecting. We recommended an outside vendor for the telemarketing campaign to replace a weakening in-house effort. To improve single ticket sales, we proposed a media strategy that aligned print, direct mail and increased radio advertising with sharper messaging and coordinated timing.

Results: This strategy outlined above delivered dramatic growth in subscription sales, and, with deeper series commitment, renewal rates increased substantially. In our first two years with the Toledo Symphony, subscription seats grew by 25%. Changes to the media mix and improved messaging drove growth in single ticket sales, up 41% from our arrival.

Follow Up: In 2005-2006, our second full season with the Toledo Symphony, subscriptions continued to grow 5% above the previous season's record levels. Single tickets sales, too, remained strong. By the end of the 2005-2006 season, we had helped guide the orchestra to seven of its top ten best classical sellers. Subscription trends for the 2006-2007 season continue to be strong. As a result of our work, CRStager was also engaged to provide counsel and planning for the Toledo Symphony's Annual Fund, which grew donors by 14%. In the fall of 2005, CRStager was asked to help guide the orchestra's long-range financial plan for greater financial stability by the 2010-2011 season. This plan, delivered to key community constituents, was directly responsible for the restoration of a quarter-million dollar gift from a former funder.

INTERMEDIATE COUNSEL:
Richard B. Fischer Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College
(April 2003 to April 2006)

Situation: In the spring of 2003, the Richard B. Fischer Center for the Performing Arts, the nation's first Frank Gehry-designed concert hall, opened on the campus of Bard College. That fall, the American Symphony Orchestra would establish its residency there, performing three pairs of concerts. Obviously, the new 900 seat house had no subscription base. Marketing began at zero base.

Objective: To build a sustainable, renewable subscription base for the American Symphony Orchestra's concert series in its first season and for seasons to come at the lowest possible cost of sale.

Process: In close collaboration with Chris Schimpf, the American Symphony Orchestra's Director of Marketing, the immediate and surrounding market potential was researched. It was quickly ascertained that there was no significant history of performing arts in the region, thus no lists were available for trade. This presented two conflicting conclusions: 1) the region was ripe and ready for the quality of live performing arts that the American Symphony Orchestra's residency would provide, or 2) there was an overwhelming disinclination to attend or support the performing arts in the market. The region was profiled to identify the best pockets of affluence, education and home value. Direct mail lists would have to be based entirely on these demographic criteria. Lisa Carfagna of Direct Resource Group (DRG) recommended both purchased and lifestyle demographic leads for two mailings of a brochure during the summer. The brochure itself, designed by Karen Spencer (which can be viewed at crstager.com on the creative materials page), focused on the new hall's striking design. Secondary messages played to the series' accessible programming and its compelling discount offer: 3 concerts for the price of 2. 85,000 brochures were mailed to the lists recommended by Lisa Carfagna.

Results: Within three weeks of the initial mailing, the series had sold out completely on subscription. The American Symphony Orchestra's residency remains the hall's consistently best selling event. Though planned, no second mailing of the brochure was needed, so the marketing effort was significantly under-budget with a cost of sale on this brand new subscription series of just $0.20 on the dollar. Response rate equaled 1%.

Follow Up: The second season renewal rate exceeded 80%, even with a significant price increase. Only a brief “clean-up” subscription campaign was needed to return the series to “sold out” status, achieved through a slightly modified version of the original brochure, supplemented by telemarketing to the previous season’s waiting list. For the 2005/2006 season, strong renewals left only a handful of seats available for new subscription sales, the third consecutive sold-out season.