Culture Change

in Arts MarketingBecoming data-driven and structuring for success

Lucy Sinclair

Director of Audiences and Media

Royal Opera House, London

● World class productions● Culture: the show must go on● Highly loyal, fierce, core fan base● New leadership with clear vision

(international, open up, digital media)

● World renowned brand

● Economics / Funding models● Political mood● Failure to improve change-resistant

organisation culture

● Data driven audience insight● International co-creations● Modernise marketing and

communications plans● Measure ROI, be agile● Brand development● Integrated, flatter team structure

● Unclear data strategy● Over-catering to the converted● Siloed teams● Inward-facing content strategy● Very tactical/promotional● Brand struggles for permission to

be contemporary● Missing financial targets

STRENGTHS

WEAKNESSES

OPPORTUNITIES

THREATS

2 years ago: brief SWOT analysis

ROH were over-serving each end of the spectrum and rarely looking at our data

Reactive, single issues, complaints

“My favourite

seat wasn’t

available

"I don’t like the change

you made"

“I don’t like the

cast sheet"

I love ROH exactly as it is and

want nothing to

change

Super fans

And we had a really complicated data segmentation that no one understood

Reactive, single issues, complaints

“My favourite

seat wasn’t

available

"I don’t like the change

you made"

“I don’t like the

cast sheet"

I love ROH exactly as it is and

want nothing to

change

Super fans

Really

ComplicatedSegmentation

In order to get data-driven, we first needed to simplify everything and understand what was actually going on

Enthusiasts (50k)

Come lots, know lots

Fresh Fans (500k)

Been once, know a bit

Culture Vultures (2.2m)

Not been. Don’t know much, but open to persuasion. Key Target for Open Up, Cinema, Big Screens, Live streams and social media reach

Experience Seekers (1.1m)

Not been. Know nothing. Potential target for some new products or experiences

Learning & Participation groups (30k) (teachers, schools, kids, disadvantaged, special interestetc)

Current and potential audience

Source: A&M Audiences & Analytics team. Tessitura and TGI modelling

What we want them to do

Book a ticket Visit us

We changed our skillset and structure

Director of Audiences and

Media

Head of Analytics and Audience Data

Head of Marketing

Head of Communications

Head of Digital Products

Head of Creative Studios

Head of Audience Labs

Head of Distribution

and Broadcast

Director of Audiences and

Media

Director of Marketing

Director of Communications

Head of ROH Media

old

new

11

We aligned our thinking to audience touchpoints rather than to our own products

Cin

emas

REACTIVATE

Big Screen

s

CREATE OPPORTUNITY

CREATE DEMAND GROW VALUE

R&

D N

ew P

latform

s

R&

D N

ew Fo

rmats

ON-BOARD & DELIGHT

Influ

encer o

utreach

Pu

blicity &

press

Om

ni-ch

ann

el camp

aigns

Social m

edia

Engagin

g con

tent

Ticketing p

rocess

Pu

rchase p

ath

Web

& A

pp

exp

Perso

nalize

d C

RM

Pro

gramm

es & m

aterials

Up

-sales

Cro

ss-sales

Packages

Friend

On

-bo

ardin

g

Friend

Ben

efitso

ffers

Feedb

ack

Dyn

amic p

ricing

Friend

Recru

itmen

t Reen

gage camp

aigns

REWARDLOYALTY

‘Alw

ays on

’ dialo

gue

Co

nsisten

t bran

d vo

ice

Friend

dialo

gue

Television

& R

adio

Streamin

g & V

OD

& Sales

We allocated budgets and resources very differently

Before From now on

Marketing

technology

Admin

Promoting

Productions

and

Individual

showsBrand

GROWREACH

GROW INCOMEwhilstREDUCING COST

We focus ruthlessly on two things

In order to fulfil our purpose

In order to balance our budget

Audiences & Media – 2022 VisionIf we are successful as a department in helping the ROH achieve its goals, this is what will have happened:

1. We hit box office and cinema revenue targets, all venues – see target for each production – and grew the box office potential overall

2. We maintained or grew mainstage (96%), Linbury (78%), BP Screens, UK cinema and special event occupancy or digital engagement / streaming targets

3. We hit secondary net revenue targets where applicable (retail, catering, Opus ArteProducts and digital distribution)

4. Reputation: Our fans still love us, but more people also love us

5. The team really enjoy at least 70% of the work they are doing

6. The team feel as though there is space for us all to be brilliant, succeed and progress our careers

7. We saw improvements in our staff survey responses about local leadership, team culture, clarity of objectives and collaborative ethos and respect from other teams.

them

us

CRM Strategy

Fuel Social Media Advertising Collateral Product Collateral Website Optimization Strategic Campaigns

What we are doing…

Objective: Grow social reach across all platforms

Strategy: Harness the power of timely and culturally tied in video content on Facebook through traditional hosting and Facebook Lives

How success is measured: Reach and engagement achieved for the individual posts on social platforms

Objective: Provide assets for the paid advertising machine

Strategy: Generate strong visual imagery for every production in a variety of formats including, where ever possible, video

How success is measured: Individual assets will be assessed on their performance in driving click through rates

Objective: Support the Cinema broadcasts

Strategy: Leverage behind the scenes footage and star support to enrich the cinema experience and improve overall product proposition

How success is measured: Broadly, cinema sales. More specifically, NPS scores for the cinema experience

Objective: Improve website journeys and landing pages

Strategy: Ongoing A/B testing using different copy lines/image assets/layouts to iteratively improve the performance of the website

How success is measured: A/B tests will be assessed individually as this is a continuous process

Objective: To support a defined strategic campaign

Strategy: As part of the new strategic campaigns process there may be a need for content to support paid, owned or earned media strategies

How success is measured:The campaign owner will be responsible for ensuring the asset is leveraged

What we’re not doing…

Content to ‘Educate’ Editorial strategy SEO/Keyword targeting

Why?• The exception is our Learning Platform. But for all

other content…• We have no plan for the distribution of this content• Given our limited resources, we need to focus on

content that supports sales and campaigns• It’s very difficult to meaningfully measure

effectiveness when the goal is to deepen engagement outside of a campaign or sales goal

Why?• We’re not prioritising views on the website as a KPI

for reach because we are not a publisher and eyeballs for ads isn’t our business model

• We therefore don’t have any editorial objectives beyond those contained within a campaign or communications goal

Why?• The website is already a major authority in the

eyes of search engines, and the new site is being built to continue that

• Search volumes for long tail keyword terms offer only a minor opportunity at this stage

• We’re too niche and not enough of an authority to compete for the most generic search terms e.g. ‘what to do in London’.

DATA-LED CONTENT STRATEGY

They aren't old, and they're not ageing

We don’t have a problem attracting new audiences

• Average age of our audience is 48• That age and age-band spread has been stable for at least 10 years (the

data we have)• 45% of our Fresh Fans (people who’ve been once) are aged under 40• Our biggest age-band is 26-30s (13.45%)• 40% of tickets are sold to new-comers every year (18% international)

DATA-LED MYTH-BUSTING

Reputation-building, multi-channel, thematic Campaignseg Open Up: Feel Something New

CRM Strategy

Digital Marketing, data-driven, always on

EmailPaid

search

Organic search

Paid social media

Digital advertisin

g

ROH website

Tickets Visits

Users who browse but

don’t make a purchase

are re-targeted via digital advertising

Users who browse but don’t make a purchase are re-targeted via triggered

emails

Purchases & sign ups

Ticketing Catering Retail Membership Fundraising

CRM Strategy, data-driven, always on

• Welcome• On-sale• Production campaigns• Reviews & reactions• Production page

abandonment• Cart abandonment• Offers & promotions

• Welcome• Pre-visit reminder• Eat & drink page

abandonment• Individual restaurant

abandonment• Offers & promotions

• Welcome• Post-visit up sell• Product browse

abandonment• Cart abandonment• Similar product suggestion• Seasonal promotions

• Welcome• On-sale• Friends e-news• Production campaigns• Renewal reminders &

lapsed win-back campaign

• Recruitment campaigns

• Welcome• Donation thank you• Appeals & campaigns• Grand & golden draws

Publicity, always on

Press & offlinemedia

Social media

• Welcome• News• Engagement• Excitement• Reactions and

dialogue

• Production publicity

• Season Guide• Leaflets• ROH Magazine

BRAND&

REPUTATION

DAY TO DAY

SALESREVENUE

NEWS

LOYALTY

REACH

Info

Focus marketing on outcomes not inputs

New, user-centric, mobile-first website

A few of the results

• Doubled original projected footfall to our daytime venue

• 100% ticket sales for virtually all new daytime events

• Record-breaking evening ticket sales: 2017/18 was the ROH’s highest ticket sales and revenue ever

• First quarter 2018/19 achieved its revenue targets 6 weeks early

• 25 million impressions and nearly 1 million active engagements (likes, comments and shares) via social

media

• 3.5% year-in-year increase in website traffic since the new pages were launched

• Average 2.3% conversion rate for the website, above past performance

• Return on marketing investment averaging 500-1000

• Halved the marketing costs spent on selling tickets

thank you