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10.12.2004
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Volume Two
Issue Three
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Welcome to our October Issue where "Marketer of the Month" Harry McFadden - Director of Marketing for Manhattan's New York Theatre Workshop - discusses the approach he is taking as the theater's very first Director of Marketing.
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Featured Arts Marketer: Harry McFadden
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Harry McFadden,
Director of Marketing at NYTW
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Harry McFadden has been with the New York Theatre Workshop since 2000 when he became the theater company's very first Marketing Director.
The Philadelphia native worked for The Philadelphia Orchestra, The Philadelphia Drama Guild and the Philadelphia Theatre Company before moving to Manhattan in 1986 to join the Marketing and Press office of the Manhattan Theatre Club. Harry has also directed marketing at BAM, planned and implemented direct mail campaigns at Metro Direct (currently MKTG Services), and served as an Account Executive with the Shubert Organization.
In the Q & A that follows, Harry discusses the shifts in marketing taking place at NYTW as a result of their adoption of e-mail marketing.
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Q & A with Harry McFadden
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NYTW on East 4th St, NYC
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TELL US ABOUT THE NEW YORK THEATRE WORKSHOP.
The Workshop was founded in 1979 to support and encourage outstanding new playwrights and directors outside the commercial area and to develop inventive new works for the theatre. Over the years, we have expanded the scope of our mission and activities significantly: increasing the number of main stage productions each season from one a year in its first five seasons to five to seven productions annually.
Over the past twenty-five years, NYTW has developed and produced over 100 new, fully staged works, including Jonathan Larson's RENT, Tony Kushner's SLAVS! and HOMEBODY/KABUL, Doug Wright's QUILLS, Claudia Shear's BLOWN SIDEWAYS THROUGH LIFE and DIRTY BLONDE, John Guare's LYDIE BREEZE, David Rabe's A QUESTION OF MERCY, Caryl Churchill's LIGHT SHINING IN BUCKINGHAMSHIRE, OWNERS/TRAPS, MAD FOREST and FAR AWAY, and Paul Rudnick's THE MOST FABULOUS STORY EVER TOLD and VALHALLA. The 2002 remounting of Martha Clarke's seminal work VIENNA: LUSTHAUS and subsequent American tour was one of the longest-running productions in NYTW's history.
NYTW supports artists in all stages of their careers by maintaining a series of workshop programs including work-in-progress readings, summer residencies, and minority artist fellowships.
I've been at the Workshop almost 4 years now, and in that time, I have seen the budgets and income projections nearly double. We're currently a $4.2 million dollar operation working out of a 188-seat space on East 4th Street.
YOU ARE NYTW'S FIRST DIRECTOR OF MARKETING! HOW HAVE THINGS CHANGED AT THE THEATER SINCE THE INTRODUCTION OF YOUR POSITION? WHAT CHALLENGES (IF ANY) DO YOU FACE IN THIS NEW ROLE?
I was brought on as Director of Marketing in response to the adoption of a fairly aggressive 5-year plan of growth by the Workshop. Prior to this, the position was described as an Audience Services Manager. To grow the way we wanted meant expanding our efforts beyond listings and neighborhood flyering. I think the greatest challenge in stepping up was overcoming the perception (both in and out of house) that we were a mom-and-pop kind of operation. Since late 2000, we have expanded our marketing budget/efforts to include signing on with Telecharge, creating a website (huge!), hiring Eliran Murphy Group as our ad agency, more targeted mailings, professionally produced mail pieces, e-mail efforts (obviously), and a box office software upgrade. We have been able to build a great marketing team (which includes a really crack front of house and ticket services operation) that understands the importance of a professional operation that keeps the personal touch required when working with members and patrons. And, of course, the position comes with staff Prozac...
HOW HAS THE MEGA SHOW "RENT" CHANGED NYTW?
Ah yes, RENT. I wasn't here for that one, but it has become legend: "I survived RENT at NYTW!" For better or worse, I believe RENT kicked up the profile of NYTW in the performing arts community nationwide, as well as raising the level of expectation for each subsequent production. And no, we normally don't do rock musicals!
AS AN ARTS ORGANIZATION ON A TIGHT BUDGET, WHAT MARKETING EFFORTS HAVE YOU FOCUSED ON TO GET THE BIGGEST "BANG FOR YOUR BUCK"?
I don't believe that there's any one magic bullet that's going to do it for you (except, of course, announcing that you have Meryl Streep in her one-woman show!). But, I do think it is a combination of direct mail, e-mail, print advertising, and word of mouth. That being said, I find I am more and more relying on e-mail blasts to get the word of mouth going. I am scaling down my direct mail costs by mailing less, but to more targeted groups. And with the NY Times so exorbitantly expensive, and their press coverage of off-Broadway so subject to whim lately, print advertising is used very sparingly - mostly limited to the daily listings and an ad supporting great reviews after we open.
NYTW HAS EMBRACED E-MAIL MARKETING RELATIVELY RECENTLY. WHAT'S BEEN WORKING FOR YOU SO FAR - AND HOW HAVE YOUR RESULTS BEEN?
The e-mail list gathered through PatronMail by far and wide, pulls better than the Times Ticketwatch, Playbill, or Telecharge e-mails. That would make sense, as those names have sought us out and requested to be notified of what's going on at NYTW.
HOW HAS E-MAIL AFFECTED YOUR PLANNING FOR MORE TRADITIONAL MARKETING EFFORTS, IF AT ALL? AND HOW DO YOU SEE YOUR OVERALL MARKETING PLANS CHANGING OVER THE NEXT YEAR OR TWO?
E-mail has definitely affected our marketing strategies over the past few years, most dramatically in the amount of direct mail we drop. I can only see that trend continuing - the cost differential is staggering. I also see us moving to communicate with our members more and more through e-mail as opposed to the traditional snail mail. And electronic newsletters are not far down the pike, either...
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Visit the New York Theatre Workshop's Web Site
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How Does Your E-Mail Look?
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Are you doing your e-marketing in-house? If you're using Outlook, your mail probably looks like the first image - not exactly the kind of professional image you'd like to project.
In addition, you're probably having to handle opt-out requests and bounced e-mail in your inbox.
If you're feeling that you'd like to move up from your "in-house" method, we'd welcome the opportunity to demonstrate PatronMail to you.
With PatronMail you can:
* Create and Send professional looking e-mails without knowing HTML
* Track & Compare your results with other arts organizations
* Build your list automatically on your web site
* Ensure your mail is not mistakenly blocked by ISPs as Spam.
* Manage undeliverables and "remove" requests automatically
We invite you to schedule a free 15-minute phone demonstration to see how easy and cost-effective PatronMail is.
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Click here to request a 15 minute PatronMail demonstration
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If you have interesting and creative initiatives that you would like to have featured or know of an arts marketer that you would like to recommend for one of our upcoming editions, please contact info@patrontechnology.com.
Please watch for the next edition of our Arts Marketer of the Month, coming November 9, 2004.
Note: The CAN-SPAM act mandates that all commercial e-mail contains a physical mailing address, and ours is: 850 Seventh Avenue, Suite 704, New York, NY 10019
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