On a personal note...New Job at Arena Stage

After almost a year as the Director of Marketing & Communications at Americans for the Arts, I will be leaving the organization to become the new Director of Marketing & Communications at Arena Stage in Washington, DC. Arena Stage is the largest of the six major non-profit professional producing theatres in the metropolitan area. They currently operate three venues under LORT "B+," "B," and "D" contracts and see roughly 275,000 patrons per year. They are very close to finishing a $120 million capital campaign to build the Mead Center for the American Theatre, a 250,000 square foot, three-theatre complex to be opened in 2009-10. I will be responsible for leading their marketing, communications and public relations teams. Most exciting to me is the opportunity I will have to work on some amazing projects at a truly legendary theatre.

This is a bittersweet moment for me because I love Americans for the Arts. The organization does some amazing work on behalf of artists in the United States, however my heart belongs to the theatre. Americans for the Arts will always have my support and I will continue to assist the organization in any way that I can. I will continue to serve as a trainer for the National Arts Marketing Project including previously scheduled sessions in St. Louis and Delaware.

Future Speaking Engagements...

In the next few months, I have a couple of speaking engagements lined up. If you are in the area, I would love to see you at one of these events:

2007 Delaware Division of the Arts "Arts Summit"
October 1, 2007
Keynote Presentation: "Communicating in a Whole New World," Chad Bauman, Americans for the Arts
Other Speakers: Elena Park, Metropolitan Opera; Mark Brewer, President of the Community Foundation of Florida; JD Hixson, Patron Technology; The Honorable Ruth Ann Minner, Governor of Delaware

St. Louis Regional Arts Commission Marketing Training
August 31, 2007
Presentation: "The Role of Technology in Reaching Generation X & Y"

Artists in Second Life...

By now, most people have heard of Second Life, the virtual world sensation that is sweeping the whole world and has attracted millions of visitors. It has also attracted the attention of some prominent artists, including Molly Smith, Artistic Director of Arena Stage, who spoke about Second Life at the TCG National Conference in Minneapolis this summer. The past couple of months have seen some really exciting projects come to "life" in this virtual reality:

Second Front Performance Art Group

Jeremy Owen Turner, also known as Wirxli Flimflam, is an online performance artist and a front man for Second Front, a group that stages events and performance art pieces in Second Life. Second Front is a pioneering performance art group in the online avatar-based VR world, Second Life. Founded in 2006, Second Front emerged as the first performance art group in Second Life and quickly grew to its current 8 member troupe with artists from around the world including Italy, St. Johns, Canada, and the United States. Second Front found its roots in the theatre of the absurd movement, and currently stages performances that challenge notions of virtual embodiment, online performance and the formation of virtual narrative. Second Front is perhaps best known for their performance piece Breaking News, a text-based performance in which Second Front stormed the Reuter's building in Second Life announcing 'Breaking News' headlines about Second Front's “clandestine operations and notorious affiliations in-world.”

Artropolis

Artopolis is an artist colony like no other in Second Life. This tropical paradise hosts fifteen studios scattered around a flourishing jungle environment, with tons of places to sip a virtual Mai Tai with your closest Avatar friends while enjoying the sights. The goal of this simulated island is to promote all of the arts, which includes art, music, poetry and theater. This sim was created by the combined efforts of Filthy Fluno (Manager), Esch Snoats (Builder), Xtasy Veil (Terraforming and Landscaping) and Maxim Deharo (Financial Management.) It took about a month and a half to complete and is still considered a work in progress as the sim will always adapt to accommodate the community of artists who call it their home. People are encouraged to visit the artist colony, and while you're at it, you can also support the artists by purchasing their work. One of Second Life’s most influential artist-celebrities, Filthy Fluno (real name Jeffrey Lipsky), has a high profile gallery established on Artropolis.

Mixed Realities & the Andy Warhol Foundation

In the art world, the Andy Warhol Foundation has helped fund exhibitions and projects in Second Life, including the well-know exhibit “Mixed Realities.” "Mixed Realities" was an international juried competition that resulted in the commissioning of 5 networked art works to be exhibited/performed in 2008 at Turbulence.org; Huret & Spector Gallery; and Ars Virtua, a gallery in the online 3D rendered environment, Second Life. Each commission is $5,000. "Mixed Realities" challenges artists to created simultaneous exhibits in three distinct environments: the Internet (Turbulence), an online 3-D rendered environment (Ars Virtua), and physical space (Huret & Spector Gallery). The works will evaluate the concepts "virtual," "simulation", and "real" and will feature a series of experiences in which participants connect with one another and contribute to the creation of the work.

All Marketers are Liars. Well, we shouldn't be...

According to marketing guru Seth Godin, all marketers are liars. This is no attack on Seth, as I view him as a rock star in the marketing world, but I am writing this post to simply ask the question, wouldn't we be better off if we weren't liars? As I write this post, I am reminded of a second book, All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten. We were taught then that lying is bad, so why is it accepted now?

We might be tempted to "spin" the truth when things aren't going our way, especially in crisis situations. However with the speed of information these days, the more you spin, the more likely you will be caught and exposed. The role of the citizen journalist has become paramount in the information age, and due in part to the popularity of user-generated content and newer technologies such as blogs, anyone can write an expos'e. So if you are caught in a crisis, avoid the temptation to spin.

Tactics for crisis communications:

1. If you have made a mistake, acknowledge it as soon as you realize it. We all make mistakes, and we have all been in situations where we have had to apologize. The first step in any crisis communications plan should be to acknowledge the mistake, own the mistake, and publicly address it in some form (i.e. an apology).

2. Transparency is the key. Many media outlets love a good juicy story. However, there isn't a story to break if you are the one breaking the news. Don't let the media beat you to the punch. Be as transparent as you can be. Don't hide or restrict information flow. It will get out, and when it does, you will look like you did everything in your power to prevent it, putting you in a compromised situation.

3. Seek feedback from your key stakeholders. After acknowledging the situation, apologizing for the situation, and keeping your stakeholders (or customers) updated, seek their feedback. Invite them into the process. You only exist because of them. You are there to serve their needs. If you haven't done that very well or have offended them, find out how you can be a better partner.

4. Release an action plan. There are those who will be satisfied by an omission of error and an apology. There are others who could care less about an apology, but want to know that a similar error will not occur in the future. They want action, and you in turn want to avoid the same mistake as well. So examine the error or situation, consider the feedback you received from your stakeholders, and develop an action plan to address the situation. And don't be shy with it...share it with all.

Remember, business is about relationships. Relationships with the press. Relationships with your stakeholders. Relationships with your customers. There isn't a business in history who hasn't misstepped. How you handle the misstep will communicate a lot to your customers. Although unfortunate and damaging, it can also be a perfect opportunity to solidify your relationships.

In an attempt to personalize, make sure you don't offend...

I am a huge proponent of personalizing direct mail so that the recipient feels like the package and/or offer was developed specifically for them. I think the invention of PURL (personalized URLs) technology and digital printing have created great opportunities for personalized messaging. One word of caution however -- If you don't trust all the information in your database, be careful! When pulling information for personlized direct mail campaigns, make sure that the information fields you are pulling from are correct and complete, otherwise you might end up addressing the solicitation to the wrong name or no name at all. In which case, not only did you fail to personalize the package, you have also most likely offended the recipient.

The Arts Invade Second Life...

Would you like a very inexpensive way to display your artwork in front of over 7 million people? Can't afford a gallery space in the real world--why not open one up in Second Life. Check out this article in the The Art Newspaper about the art scene in Second Life.

For video tours of exhibitions and performances on Second Life, go to: http://www.theartnewspaper.com/www.youtube.com/theartnewspaper.

Developing a Participation Matrix...

During a session of the ASAE Membership Marketing Conference, one of the presenters encouraged attendees to keep a close eye on the participation levels of their members. His argument was that membership was about participation, not about revenue. Although I understood his point, membership and subscriptions are about both revenue and participation.

Keeping this in mind, I would encourage marketing directors who are responsible for growing membership or subscriptions, to monitor the participation levels of their "members" (for our purposes in this post, I will use the word members, but please note this includes subscriber programs found at most performing arts organizations around the country). I am in the process of building a participation matrix that gives quarterly reports on the participation levels of members. That way, I will know, especially with our important donors and members, how active they are with our organization. Usually a member's participation level is a steady predictor on whether or not the member values their membership, and subsequently decides to renew. If I notice at the end of the first and second quarters that a certain portion of our membership isn't participating, that will give me enough time to find ways to engage that segmentation before they are asked to make the decision to renew their membership for the following year.

I would also suggest sending a participation report at the end of the year to each member along with a renewal solicitation. Something along the lines of --

Did you realize during the 2006-07:

• 30% of your employees participated in member's only listservs
• your organization saved $1,400 by using your membership discount through bookstore purchases and convention registrations.
• you attended 7 performances at the magnificent PLUG THE NAME IN HERE theatre, which received 5 critics picks and 3 RANDOM Awards during the year.
• you enjoyed an evening with acclaimed artistic director SOMEBODY FANTASTIC and the cast of AMAZING PRODUCTION #5.

Keep your members involved, and remind them of the value of their membership when you ask them to renew. Members who don't use their benefits or tickets aren't likely to renew--so catch them early, and find a way to get them active.