GVSF Campaign

8/3/2019 GVSF Campaign

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Grand Valley

Shakespeare Festival

Public Relations Campaign

Grand Valley State University

Samantha Bourque

CAP 220

Prof. Kim


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2Table of ContentsSecondary Research..4

Primary Research...............................................................................10

-Focus Group10

-Survey.11

Action Plan...16

Tactics26

-News Release...26

-Facebook Page...27

-Door hanger..28

Evaluation..30

Appendix A...33

Appendix B.37

References.43


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3

Secondary

Research


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4FestivalThe annual Grand Valley State University Shakespeare Festival is put on by the

GVSU Theatre department and is collaboration between faculty, staff, and students

(Grand Valley, 2009). The festival has been occurring since 1993 and includes a main

stage production by William Shakespeare (Grand Valley, 2009). The festival also

includes a touring production which goes to local high schools, a symposium with guest

scholars, workshops, a student competition, and a renaissance faire (Grand Valley,

2009). Students and faculty run many of the aspects of the festival and strive to connect

the festival to the student body and university (Grand Valley, 2009).

Objective

The overall objective of the client is to raise the profile of the festival and

increase involvement by the student body, the university, and the surrounding

community (Bell, 2010). In the past years, attendance has been average, but not as

high as the theatre department would like. Student attendance and participation in

the festival as whole, tends to be low and does not bring in the funds desired by the

Theatre department. Creating intrigue and drawing the attention of students across

campus will help raise ticket sales and turn the festival into a more well-known event

that becomes an annual thing for students and community members.

Website

The Grand Valley State Shakespeare Festival webpage includes information

about the festival, including performances, contests, cast, and how to become

involved (Grand Valley, 2009). This information is not organized or made easy to

access on the website. The information on one aspect of the festival may be on an

entire separate page than another part. The information needs to be better organized


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5and easier to access for students. It also includes photos from the previous yearsfestival and the latest news in the theatre department involving the festival (Grand

Valley, 2009). The website has links to other pages that include information on

donations, guest scholars, about the festival and other information related to the

festival and theatre department (Grand Valley, 2009). The overall theme of the

website is simple and uses darker colors and simpler fonts (Grand Valley, 2009). The

theme of the website is not eye-catching and doesnt pull you in off of the front page.

The website should be revamped to include a better design and layout, and more

exciting colors that would draw a student in. The whole site itself is not easy to find, as it

is not off of a direct link from the universitys own webpage.

Contest

The contest is for all students, graduate and undergraduate, and welcomes any

and all submissions of writing, visual arts, dance, drama or music are welcome until the

beginning of October (Grand Valley, 2009). The submissions must be concurrent with

the Shakespearean theme, and the winners will receive monetary prizes (Grand

Valley, 2009). This contest is advertised through posters, flyers, and a page on the

Shakespeare Festival webpage. Contestants have the ability to submit their work until

the end of October and are invited to a free showing of one of the performances,

where an award ceremony will take place to announce the winners of the competition

(Grand Valley, 2009). Winners of the contest win monetary prizes up to $100 (Grand

Valley, 2009). The flyers used for the contest were not eye-catching or intriguing. The


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6flyers include a lot of information and are not designed well to flow across thepage. The flyer needs to be much simpler and direct, with much less words.

Focusing on the cash prizes may draw more students to the flyer, which should

then direct them to the website for more information.

Advertisements

The advertisements used by the festival include banners in Kirkhof Center,

posters, flyers and brochures (Bell, 2010). The brochures are sent out to anyone that

donates money to the program and are available at the box office for anyone who

purchases a ticket to the festival or any of its performances (Bell, 2010). The brochure

itself includes six pages and includes a lot of information on each aspect of the festival

(2009, 2009). Included in the brochure is information on the festival itself, each

production and any information on other events that take place during the festival,

including the student contest, renaissance fair and Shakespeare conference (2009,

2009). The brochure also includes a full calendar showing when each event and show

takes place and what time (2009, 2009). Pictures and information on how to donate

to the program, along with prices for the festival and each of its separate events are all

listed in the last pages (2009, 2009). The brochures created for this festival include a lot

of information about every aspect of the festival. This amount of information may work

for members of the community, but for students this brochure is too wordy and is not

simple and direct. These brochures need to be much simpler and to the point to be

handed out to students across campus. Including pictures, brief synopsis of the plays

and events and a website to learn more information would be noticed more by

students.


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7Posters, flyers and banners are also used to promote this festival. The posters,flyers and banners all include the same design and information on all three (Bell, 2010).

The poster for the previous years festival, Romeo and Juliet, featured a green pattern

with only the name of the production in the main design with additional information,

such as times and prices, listed in a much smaller font on the lower half of the poster

(Bell, 2010). These posters are put up a couple of months before the actual festival, and

are covered up by other posters and advertisements by the time the actual dates

come along (Bell, 2010). These advertisements, while relatable to the productions

theme, are not eye-catching enough for students to see. Posters, flyers and banners

hung around Grand Valleys campus tend to become covered by other

advertisements. The design and color scheme used in these advertisements needs to

be enough to stand out amongst many others and catch the eyes of the students,

while also having simple information on them.

Attendance/Ticket Sales

The ticket sales for the 2009 Shakespeare Festival, which featured Romeo and

Juliet, sold a total of 2,057 tickets, 1,158 of those being student tickets (Bell, 2009). The

show brought in a total of $14, 320 for the entire festival (Bell, 2009). The year before,

which featured A Midsummers Night Dream, sold a total of 2,633 tickets, 1,543 of them

being student tickets and a total amount of $16,280 (Bell, 2009). Ticket prices for

students are lower than for general admission and community members. A student

ticket is $6.00, and a general admission ticket is $14.00 (Bell, 2010). Tickets can be

purchased on Grand Valleys campus at both the 20/20 desk and the box office, along

with online (Bell, 2010). The ticket price is set a reasonable price; however, adding an

incentive to the purchase of a ticket would help bring in more students. Offering


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8coupons or discounts on other things around campus, or on the show itself, would bemore intriguing to students. Also, the ticket sales need to be advertised more so

students know where to purchase the tickets prior to the show.

Other Universities

Other universities that put on similar festivals to the Grand Valley State festival

have similar approaches to advertising and promotions. DeSales University in

Pennsylvania hosts the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival every year (Pennsylvania,

2010). The festival webpage for this particular festival is similar to that of Grand Valleys

and includes the same amount of information (Pennsylvania, 2010). The Michigan

Shakespeare Festival, while is not put on exclusively by a university, is featured at many

Michigan universities, including the University of Michigan (Michigan, 2008). The

webpage and information on this festival was also very similar to that of the Grand

Valley State webpage.


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9

Primary

Research


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10Focus GroupThe focus group was held in Kirkhof Center and had three participants. All

three of the participants were female, GVSU students and between the ages of

19-22. The participants were asked questions about Grand Valleys Shakespeare

Festival and advertisements. When asked if they had ever attended Grand

Valleys Shakespeare Festival, responses included: Ive actually never even

heard of the Shakespeare festival so Ive never been to it, and Ive almost

gone a couple times. Id get to the point where Id be like ok, Im going then I

would be like no, I have too much homework so I wouldnt go. Respondents

were also asked what they believed would make the Shakespeare festival more

appealing to students and they responded with comments that included

targeting those students not only in the theatre department and promoting it

more as a festival than just the play. None of the respondents had heard about

the student competition when asked. When asked what should be done to

promote the student competition, the students responded with answers such as:

even just a flyer, I sit and stare at them all the time while waiting for class to start

so Id notice it then if there were flyers everywhere like on the boards. All three

of the respondents agreed that the student competition needs to be promoted

more. Similar to the survey, the three students did not believe that ticket price

had a large effect on their attendance to the festival or play. When asked if

they remember seeing posters and flyers for last years festival, the three

students said they remember seeing them but do not remember them standing


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11out enough to spark their interest. All of the students also agreed that advertisingearly, such as move-in week, would help spark interest in students early. Also, the

respondents all stated that using other types of advertisements, such as

Facebook and local radio would help boost attendance and intrigue. When

asked what should be changed about the way the Shakespeare festival should

be marketed to students, the respondents gave answers such as: focus more

on the actors instead of the play, because theyre grand valley students and if

people see them they might recognize them and see the show, and focusing

more on informing the students and making sure they know what the festival is

and what its all about.

Survey

The survey was distributed to students who attend Grand Valley State

University and 52 completed surveys were gathered. The majority of the students

who finished the survey were women, with 76.9% of the respondents being

female. The respondents were asked where they lived in respect to their

distance from the Allendale campus, with choices such as on-campus, within 1

mile of campus, within 5 miles of campus, downtown Grand Rapids, and other.

The majority of the respondents lived either within1 mile of the Allendale campus

or on-campus. 43% lived within 1 mile, while 33% lived on-campus, in either

dorms or on-campus apartments.

When asked questions about Grand Valleys Shakespeare Festival, the

respondents knew more about the festival itself, then smaller components such


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12as the competition. When asked if they had heard about the Grand ValleyShakespeare Festival, 63% had responded yes. Those who responded yes were

asked how they had heard of the festival. Many of the students responded with

answers that included posters, flyers, or advertisements. Some students also

responded with word of mouth and information from other students. When

asked if they had heard about the student competition, 90% responded with no.

Those respondents who had heard of the student competition listed how they

heard about it as being in a member of the Theatre Department or program,

being in a theatre class, another student, or an email they had received.

Respondents were asked questions on the festival and certain outside

aspects that may affect their decision to attend the play or festival. They were

first asked if the play itself impacted their decision to attend. 52.9% said no, while

47.1% said yes. When asked if tickets prices affected their decision, 51.9% said

no, while 48.1% said yes.

The survey had one question on which type of advertisements the

respondents were most likely to notice. The choices given were flyers, banners,

Facebook, Radio/TV, and other. The respondents were asked to rate these five

choices on a scale from 1-5. With 1 being what they notice the most and 5

being what they notice a least. Out of the 50 of the respondents who

completed this question, 15 said that Facebook was the type of advertisement

that they noticed the most, with 18 respondents saying that banners were the


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13type of advertisement they ranked as a two. The majority of the respondentslisted other as the type of advertisement they noticed the least.

Results

Both the survey and the focus group gave similar insight into the Grand

Valley Shakespeare festival. While the majority of the survey and focus group

were women, both gave clear views that the festival is not marketed and

advertised to student enough. Those who took the survey and the respondents

in the focus group both had a majority of students who had not heard of the

festival or student competition before, and if they had, they had heard because

of their connections to the theatre department. The festival needs to be more

marketed to the campus as a whole and widen their target audience to try and

reach every student that attends Grand Valley. Also, the results of the survey

showed that other modes of advertising can be used as they are noticed just as

much as flyers or posters. The focus group responses also showed that

advertising to the whole campus early would also help spark the interest in

students for the festival. When asked about the student competition, both

respondents from the survey and focus group both had majorities that had

never heard of it and did not believe it was marketed well to the student

population. These responses show that the student competition, along with the

festival, needs to be marketed and targeted to a much larger portion of the

student population.


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14These results show that the campaign must focus on targeting our mainpublic, students, much better and work towards catching their interest. Creating

eye-catching, simple designs for advertisements will set the advertisements out

from others around campus. Advertising early and in waves will also keep

students reminded of the festival and keep their interest.


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15

Action

Plan


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16Situation AnalysisThe Grand Valley Shakespeare Festival is an annual event held at Grand Valley

State University in the fall semester. The festival is put on by faculty, staff and students at

Grand Valley. This festival is open to students, faculty, staff and the surrounding

community and includes a main stage production from William Shakespeare, a touring

production, a symposium with guest speakers, workshops, a student competition and a

renaissance fair. The festival, as of today, is not well known among campus or the

community. Many aspects of it, including the student competition and renaissance fair

are not well attended and lack promotion. Without proper promotion of these separate

aspects, the festival as a whole is not successful.

The key public being targeted by this campaign would be the students of Grand

Valley State University. This public includes males and female between the ages of 18

and 25, who are also currently enrolled at the university as a student. This public is the

best to target because of their proximity to the festival and their relation to the

university, who is putting on the festival. This public holds a majority of the community

and by promoting to the students; the festival would begin to grow as more would

attend.

When surveyed, only 63% of Grand Valley Students had heard of the

Shakespeare Festival, with 90% of the students not knowing the student competition

existed. These statistics clearly display the lack of promotion done that the student body

relates and reacts to. The promotions that have been done are not well positioned

towards the target audiences, which are the student body and the surrounding

community.


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17The Theatre Department at Grand Valley State, in the past, has promoted thefestival by posting flyers, posters, banners around campus, along with placing

information on a website. However, the overall designs of the advertisements and the

website are not relatable to the desired public of students and community. The designs

do not stand out in the midst of several other posters, nor do they tell enough

information about the festival as a whole. Also, the time frame used for advertising is not

productive. The advertisements are put up and placed early in the school year and left

until the production. While this allows the flyers, posters, and banners to be visible, the

amount of other advertisements on campus begin to cover the festival ones. Also, the

designs of the advertisements do not make it noticeable among the many other

advertisements.

The main purpose of this campaign is to raise awareness of the

Shakespeare Festival around Grand Valleys campus. Our long term goal is to

turn the festival into being a recognized event at Grand Valley State that

students attend regularly, and that it will become a traditional event at the

university.

Objectives

This campaigns main goal is to change the views of students and the

community about the festival. The targeted public, as discussed, would be the

students of Grand Valley State University. For this main goal to be achieved the

following objectives should be attempted:


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18 Increase promotions about the Shakespeare Festival between themonths of August 2010 and October 2010 to increase student

awareness

Promote to students, through promotional material and classrooms,the overall idea of the festival to change their attitude to a more

positive view by the end of the 2010 festival

Increase student involvement in the student competition by at least50% at the 2010 festival

Increase student attendance at the main stage production by atleast 25% at the 2010 festival

Strategies

Increase promotions about the Shakespeare Festival between themonths of August 2010 and October 2010 to increase student

awareness

o Widen the time frame that advertising is done. Placeadvertisements and promotional material in waves, such as

once in the beginning of the year and then again closer to

the festival dates.

o Create advertisements that are more relatable to studentsand more able to stand out among multiple other

advertisements around campus.


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19o Use the cast and crew to create interactive advertisementsaround campus



o Use cast and crew to work interactively with classes andstudents to encourage attendance and participation in the

festival

o Advertise more heavily to the student body using class visits,posters, brochures, email, and Facebook and Twitter.

Increase student involvement in the student competition by at least50% at the 2010 Festival

o Advertise the competition as a separate aspect of the festivalo Promote the competition to the entire student body, while

also promoting the prizes for the competition

Increase student attendance at the main stage production by atleast 10% at the 2010 Festival

o Advertise to the entire student body through classes, posters,flyers, email, Facebook and Twitter

o Create advertisements that stand out on campus and arerelatable to the student body


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20Tactics Increase promotions about the Shakespeare Festival between the

months of August 2010 and October 2010 to increase student

awareness

Posters and flyers that incorporate the festivals themebut also use bright colors and a simple design that will

attract the attention of students

Distribute door hangers on all dorms, on-campus andoff-campus apartments that promote the main stage

production

Send news releases to the Grand Valley Lanthorn andGVTV

Take a small act of the play and use the cast and crewto act out the scene somewhere on campus, such as

Kirkhof Center.

Have cast and crew dress as their parts during theweek of the festival



Have cast, crew or volunteers attend certain classesand speak to them about attending the festival


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21 Posters and flyers should be placed around campus inareas with large traffic by students. Kirkhof Center,

Kleiner, and multiple academic buildings are all heavily

populated.

Emails, Facebook groups and events, Twitter updatescan be used throughout the entire semester to keep

students updated on the festival and all of its aspects

Increase student involvement in the student competition by at least50% by the 2010 festival

Have separate posters for the competition that areseparate from the festival advertisements

Send a news release to the Grand Valley Lanthorn andGVTV about the competition and its prizes.

Advertise cash prizes through posters, flyers, emails,Facebook and Twitter

Advertise and promote the different materials studentscan enter into the competition

Increase student attendance at the main stage production by atleast 10% by the 2010 festival

Posters, Flyers, email, Facebook, and Twitter. All of theseadvertisements should include a simple design with


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22colors that will stand out among multiple otheradvertisements

Send news releases to the Grand Valley Lanthorn andGVTV

Calendar

Budget

The budget for this campaign is $5,000. This budget will be split between

advertisements and promotions for the festival and the other aspects of the event, such

as the student competition. $3,000 of the budget will be rationed towards flyers, posters,

banners, door hangers, and other promotional hand outs. $1,500 will be directed

towards any newspaper and radio advertisements in the Grand Valley Lanthorn and

local radio stations. Facebook and Twitter advertisements do not need any funds, so

there will be an extra $500 to be used for miscellaneous promotional items or as an

emergency fund if one of the other parts of the budget go over their allotted budget.


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23Promotional Item Total Cost

Flyers, Posters, Banners, Brochures, Doorhangers, etc.

$3,000

Newspaper/Radio Advertisements $1,500

Facebook/Twitter Promotions $0

Miscellaneous Promotions/ Funds $500

TOTAL $5,000

Evaluation

Increase promotions about the Shakespeare Festival between themonths of August 2010 and October 2010 to increase student

awareness

o To evaluate the success of this objective, the amount ofpromotions and promotional material should be more than

that of last years festival. Students around campus should

also be surveyed in August and again in October to gage

their awareness of the festival. If the amount of students who

were aware of the festival in October is greater than in

August, then the objective is successful.


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24 Promote to students, through promotional material and classrooms,the overall idea of the festival to change their attitude to a more


o To evaluate the success of this objective, students on campusand off campus, should be surveyed in August and again in

October to gage their attitude and feelings towards the

festival and its various aspects. If the overall attitude is more

positive in October than in August, the objective is successful.

Increase student involvement in the student competition by at least50% by the 2010 festival

o To evaluate the success of this objective, the amount ofstudents participating in the competition in last years

competition needs to be compared to the amount of

students participating in the current competition and if there

is growth by at least 50%, the objective is successful.

Increase student attendance at the main stage production by atleast 25% by the 2010 festival

o To evaluate the success of this objective, ticket sales from lastyears production needs to be compared to ticket sales from

the current production and if there is a growth of at least 25%,

the objective is successful.


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25

Tactics


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26GVSU brings Shakespeares time to life

Shakespeare Festival features As You Like It, and student competition

ALLENDALE, Mich. Grand Valley State University will be hosting its 17th

annual Shakespeare Festival Oct. 1

through Oct. 10 at the Allendale campus. This years main stage production will feature As You Like It, and will

run through the length of the festival.

The festival also produces a touring production of Bard to Go: Love Struck, which will run through the month of

October. A student competition and scholarly presentations are also in the weeks events.

The festival is a long standing tradition at Grand Valley, GVSU Theatre professor Jim Bell said. Students and

faculty work hard all year to put on a wonderful festival for the Grand Valley students and the surrounding

community.

The student competition will feature students submissions on creative pieces from Shakespeares time and will be

judged for monetary prizes, up to $100. Students can enter any piece of writing, visual arts, music, drama, or

dancing.

Entering its seventeenth year, the Grand Valley Shakespeare Festival is the oldest and longest running Shakespeare

festival in the state of Michigan. Produced by the Grand Valley Theatre department, the festival continuously

welcomes professional actors and scholars to help with the productions and give lectures.

The Grand Valley Theatre department consists of students, faculty, and staff. The department puts on many other

productions year-round.

MEDIA NOTE: Cast and crew of the production will be building sets and rehearsing during the week of Oct. 3.

For more information on the festival, production or student competition: www.gvsu.edu/shakes

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASESEPTERMBER 30, 2010

Contact:Samantha BourqueGV Shakespeare FestivalPhone: (203) 555-0100

Jim BellGV Theatre Dept.Phone: (616)-234-5678

GVSU Shakespeare Festival


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27Facebook PageInfo: In this section I will include information about the festival and the productions. All of

the dates of both the main stage and touring production will be included along withdates for the student competition and workshops.

Photos: Photographs from past festivals will be in this section, including pictures fromproductions, the student competition and any other events during the festival.

Throughout the weeks prior to the festival, the page will be updated with photos ofstudents and faculty working on the festival and all its aspects, such as set building,

rehearsals and promotions.

Video: Similar to the photo section, videos will be taken throughout the weeks comingto the festival. Videos will include cast and crew creating sets, rehearsing and any other

backstage details. Videos trailers of the play may also be put up and allow studentsand fans of the page to get a small feel for the production.

Wall: Students and other fans of the Shakespeare Festival page will be able to post theirown photos and videos about the festival as long with posting comments and questions

about the festival.

Events: A calendar will be included that has all of the production times, along with anydeadlines for the student competition.

Twitter: This facebook page will also include a link to the Twitter page dedicated to thefestival. The twitter page will have constant updates from cast and crew about

anything that may happen during rehearsals and any events.

The Facebook page would look similar to the one below:


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28Door Hanger


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29

Evaluation


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30EvaluationFor this campaign to know if it was successful, the objectives must be evaluated

before, during and after the campaign occurs. The main goal of this campaign was to

change the views of students and the community about the festival. The following

objectives were created:

o Increase promotions about the Shakespeare Festival between the monthsof August 2010 and October 2010 to increase student awareness

o Promote to students, through promotional material and classrooms, theoverall idea of the festival to change their attitude to a more positive view

by the end of the 2010 festival

o Increase student involvement in the student competition by at least 50%at the 2010 festival

o Increase student attendance at the main stage production by at least25% at the 2010 festival

To evaluate these objectives, surveys should be distributed to students on and off

Grand Valleys campus to evaluate attitude and awareness. Students should be

surveyed before the festival to gage their feelings towards it and to gain a starting point

to begin the campaign. Once the campaign has run and the festival has occurred,

students should be surveyed again with the same survey questions. If there is a more

positive feedback on the attitudes of the students and their feelings towards the

festival, the campaign was a success.


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31Comparing the ticket sales and student involvement at the main stage productionof As You Like It and the student competition from last years festival with this years

festival will help evaluate growth. If there is an increase of 50% involvement in the

student competition, the objective was a success. An increase of 25% in ticket sales at

the main stage production will also show success.

Monitoring and comparing the amount of promotions around campus and at off

campus locations will allow for evaluation of awareness. Media coverage in

newspapers, radio and TV will help evaluate the amount of awareness the public and

campus has of the festival.


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32

Appendix

A


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3328%

72%

Are you male or female?

Male Female

58%

42%

Have you ever heard about GV

Shakespeare Festival?

Yes No

28%

37%

10%

9%

16%

Where do you live?

On-Campus (dorms, Laker

Village, GVA, etc.)

Within 1-mile of the

Allendale campus

Within 5 miles of the

Allendale campus

Downtown Grand Rapids

Other


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3410%

90%

Have you ever heard of the GVSU

Shakespeare Student Competition?

Yes No

49%51%

Does the play itself have an impact on

your decision to attend?

Yes No

41%

59%

If the ticket price was lower than it is now,

would it influence your decision to attend?

Yes No


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3527%

23%31%

19%

0%

Types of Advertisements Noticed the Most

Flyers Banners Facebook Radio/TV Other


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36

Appendix

B


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37Transcript of Focus Group 2/18/10Mod: Have you attended the Shakespeare festival in the past? How many

times? Did you attend as a college, high school, or middle school student?

EO: Ive actually never even heard of the Shakespeare festival so Ive never

been to it. Ive never seen the people dressed up on campus either.

KH: Yeah, I dont know anything about it either.

SW: Ive almost gone a couple times. Id get to the point where Id be like ok,

Im going then I would be like no, I have too muchhomework so I wouldnt go

Mod:

Do you use the website Twitter?

SW: Yup

EO: No, I do not actually

KH: No

Mod:What do you think would make the Shakespeare festival more appealing

to you as a student?

EO:Well I myself is I think Im not generally an artsy like theater type person so I

think it just needs to be interesting to people with other interests too not just the

artsy-fartsy people. Otherwise someone tells me a play and Im like whatever,

just in one ear and out the other. It should be more diverse.

SW: I think it should be more like Shakespeare festival week because normally

what I have heard about it is just the play, where I didnt even know the

renaissance festival was connected to that. So I think if it was a week of

Shakespeare stuff it would be more appealing, that would actually promote it

more as a whole week of events as opposed to just this random play, then Im

like eh maybe I wont go to it kind of thing

Mod:Have you heard of the student competition before now?

EO:I hadnt heard of the competition either

Mod: What do you think would be a good idea to raise awareness of the

student competition?


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38SW: Even just a flyer, I sit and stare at them all the time while waiting for class tostart so Id notice it then if there were flyers everywhere like on the boards.KH: For some events they actually have people come into the classroom and

talk about it and I think that something like that [indistinct] come in at the

beginning of a class and say hey this is going on

SW: like the literature or writing classes

KH: yeah, like artsy type classes that have people that are actually interested

Mod: If you had heard of it before, would you have entered the student

competition?

KH: What kind of prizes are there? Because I bet if they did like 30 lesser cash

prizes more people would want to enter because otherwise its like oh I cantmake top three why bother?

SW: Yeah thatd be nice, because I consider myself a mediocre writer, although

the writing competition probably gets the most because thats the easiest.

KH: maybe if they made it mandatory in some classes, or like for specific writing

classes it was extra credit for participating.

SW: yeah like the teachers who are participating [in the festival] could do that,

get it out, make it fun. I have a tough time with self pacing so even if I watned to

I would be like oh Ill do it tomorrow and then I never get around to it unless its

mandatory. So if it was mandatory or extra credit I would probably enjoy it a lot

more because Id actually do it

Mod: Is price a concern when you consider attending the play?

EO: Oh yeah, definetly, plus im pretty stingy so spending even 5 dollars is like oh

dang it, so yeah definetly. If it were like pocket change Id be like yeah

definetly Ill go

SW: for me price isnt really a factor, its more I just run out of time or something.Its just getting up off my butt to go to the play when nobody is bothering me to

go. But for the renaissance fair thats definetly a price thing, because the most

interesting part is the flea market area and thats expensive.

KH: just like a small factor


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39Mod: Do you think if they were to start promoting it earlier you would plan betterfor it and buy your ticket in advance?EO: Yeah probably because Im not spontaneous and if someone tells me hey

youre doing this and its going to take up 3 hours of your time I would be like

well I dont want to but if I were planning for it Ive already set the time aside.

KH: If you bought your tickets in advance and they were like $3 and then like $8

at the door then more people would buy them right away because its

cheaper.

Mod: do you recall ever seeing posters around campus for the play and not just

when the put the flags on the light posts?

EO: I thin Ive seen a couple but none that really stood out a lot especially

because when youre in the buildings theres so many posters, like you canteven process them so I dont feel like they were distinct or stood out.

Mod: So if the posters were more eye catching that the rest do you think that

would influence your decision to attend?

KH: possibly

EO: Oh yeah

SW: It would remind me

EO: And I like associate images with what my interest would be in that say like

same thing when Im picking out a book. Like when I go to the library and I

check out a book, Im not going to pick it if the cover is really boring, I totally

associate the cover with whats on the inside. So like if you see a boring poster

you might be like oh the play must be evendumber

Mod: This years play was Romeo & Juliet, do you think that had anything to do

with the decrease in student attendance?

KH: I think so because people might be like oh Ive seen that play like 15 timesIm not going to go another time

SW: Like last year they did Midsumer Nights Dream, I think if they did

shakespearian comedies maybe.

EO: Yeah totally


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40SW: Like I loved the Twelfth Night when I read that, So I would be super excitedto go to that.Mod:How early would you have to know to plan ahead of time?

EO: like a month or two ahead of time

KH: Yeah

SW: Yeah

Mod: So if they started their advertising maybe around move-in week people on

campus would start seeing it?

EO:Oh yeah, for sure, especially because when youre moving in like,

everythings so new to you, you want o try and find new fun stuff to do. So if you

see them when youre moving in youre like oh cool this is something that could

pertain to me. I think its a good idea to start during welcome week because

when I was moving in I was looking for fun stuff to do and I was like oh this is

gvsu Ive never been here before

SW: A good place to advertise it I think, would be if they could get themselves

into transitions transfer and freshman orientation. if youre into arts heres the

Shakespeare festival, its coming up.

KH:Yeah theyre excited to try new things

Mod: Do you think radio advertisements, on popular stations, would boost

attendance, even outside student attendance, a little bit?

EO: Yeah thats a really good idea actually. Thats a really good idea, you hear

them advertise clubs on there all the time and it attracts peoples attention.

KH: I didnt even think about that, yeah.

Mod: For the twitter user, do you follow any of the Grand Valley twitters?

SW:I think so, I think I follow the general Grand Valley twitter. They dont really

update that much though. They would need to update like 3 or 4 times a day

[about gvsf], I get so many updates, I follow like 200 people, so they need to be

prominent


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41Mod: Would a facebook event or ad get your attention?EO: Yeah definetly, like louie the laker sends out events to me all the time,

maybe he could send out the Shakespeare festival.

KH: Yeah or emails

SW: Yeah thats what almost got me to go a few times, one of the cast members

Im friends with would invite me to the event and Id rsvp maybe. Thats what

would remind me.

Mod:What would you change or add about the way they relay their message

to students?

SW: I guess they just need more mass advertising. Theyre not going to get more

people if theyre only sending it [flyer] out to people on a list

Mod:How would you change the way GVSF is marketed/publicized to student

SW:Focus more on the actors instead of the play, because theyre grand valley

students and if people see them they might recognize them and see the show.

KH:I think its a good idea to put a table near the 20/20 desk to draw attention

to the play and inform students that the tickets are available right there.

EO: Romeo & Juliet is such a Shakespeare chick flick. Even if you havent read it

or seen it you know what its about, nobody wants to see that.


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References


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43ReferencesBell, Jim. (2009). Shakes Ticket totals09. Grand Valley State University.

Bell, Jim. (January, 19, 2010). Grand Valley State University. Personal

Communication.

Grand Valley State University. (2009) 2009 Sweet 16 Season of the Grand Valley

Shakespeare Festival.Grand Valley State University.

Grand Valley Shakespeare Festival (2009, September 22). Grand Valley State

University. Retrieved from http://gvsu.edu/shakes/index.cfm

Michigan Shakespeare Festival (2008). Retrieved from

http://www-personal.umich.edu/~rlindsay/MIS/

Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival at DeSales University (2010). Retrieved from

http://www.pashakespeare.org/

GVSF Campaign

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