Broadway taps into Black Audiences

Interesting article appeared Monday in the Times looking at how the producers of the musical "Memphis", "Fela" and other shows are trying to engage African-American audiences.

Producers of these shows believe the black audience hasn't been “tapped out” and are using more research and targeted marketing techniques to capture it. The efforts have become more important with general show attendance down. Producers hope they can offset those trends by diversifying the audience mix. African-Americans normally make up around 25-30 percent of Broadway show audiences, but for the shows that are reaching out to minority audiences the attendance increase is noticeable.

Check out the full article here.

Kaiser's tour winds down

I've talked about Kennedy Center president Michael Kaiser a number of times on this blog. An update on Michael Kaiser's Arts In Crisis program appeared today in the NY Times. Since starting last year Kaiser has visited all 50 states and has had more than 800 groups apply for his free counseling. He'll finish his tour of arts groups later in July.

More info from the article is here.

Kaiser's website for the program, is artsincrisis.org

Facebook solid because of older demographics

Great article that's being passed around in our office today from the New York Times on why Facebook hasn't gone the way of Friendster and other here today, gone tomorrow sites.

Here's an excerpt from the article:

"More than demographic stability favors Facebook. The site has shrewdly emulated the “network effects” strategy used by another brand that has long held a dominant position in the computer industry: Microsoft Windows.

Economists use the term network effects to refer to the way the value of a product or service increases in tandem with the number of people who use it. If you’re one of only 10 people in the world with an e-mail account, its usefulness is limited; add a billion more, and the practical value of yours increases apace.

A Facebook member enjoys immediate benefits when each friend joins — these are direct network effects. But the average user already has 130 friends, so unless the user is unusually gregarious, the direct effects won’t increase drastically beyond a certain point.

For an individual member, the most powerful network effects may be indirect ones that come from the huge number of unknown other people in the Facebook world. Their mass attracts, in turn, suppliers of complementary products and services."

Full article on nytimes.com here.

Side Effects of the Economy

Fascinating article in the New York Times this past weekend concerning corporate collections appearing as full fledged exhibitions.

And Now, an Exhibition From Our Sponsor

MOMA sees opportunity with locals

Last week I wrote about combatting a downturn in tourist attendance by focusing on your local market.  Looks like the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art was a step ahead of me.

The museum has started a campaign to bring New Yorkers into the museum.  The highest profile part of this campaign is their work in a Brooklyn subway station.  The MOMA has plastered the Atlantic/Pacific stop with images of work from their permanent collection, creating an underground gallery complete with audio guides.

The New York Times covered the story this month and you can also get an idea of the experience with this virtual tour.

Social Marketing

Social media outlets are certainly hot topics for marketers these days.  Just at our agency we're creating social networks ranging from a Facebook page for a South Carolina hospital to a Ning community for truck drivers sponsored by Volvo Trucks. 

As a marketing tool we're all learning what seems to be right for our particular market as we go.

I found the Christmas day New York Times piece  on how Broadway is using social marketing very interesting.  Even bigger shows like Shrek are moving slowly as they figure out how they want to use web 2.0.  Check out the article here.