Response from The Roundhouse Theatre

I finally got a response from one of the theatres I have tried to contact in relation to my project, to try and gain more understanding of the market place and audience the theatres are currently trying to work towards.

The response was from Ranjit Atwal, the Marketing Manager and Performance Arts, and various others from the marketing and creative team at the Roundhouse Theatre. He was also involved with the marketing campaign for "The Dark Side of Love", seen and discussed in one of my earlier posts.

THE RESPONSE

Marketing
What promotional methods do you currently use? 

We use a marketing and PR mix that is tailored to a specfic campaign from direct mail, e-marketing, social media, tube, print  and digital advertising

Have you tried using "gorilla" style marketing approaches outside of the theatre walls, e.g. go out on the streets to use promotional methods. 

Yes we have used ‘gorilla’ style marketing and programming from Talking Doorsteps which iare pop up spoken word events to working with street teams to promote a show.

Do you know about the online platforms or groups that try to make Shakespeare current (Chicken Shop Shakespeare, MyShakespeare etc.) 

We have a database of bloggers, key tweeters that we update on a regular database however this is an area that os continually expanding.  

Are these new platforms of marketing (online video trailers etc) successful in bringing in new customers? If so, any specific age ranges? 

It is hard to measure ‘success’ specifically if a video trailer brings a certain type or age group of audience however if we look at why people book then we we know that audiences like to to get a sense of what they are coming to see, experience etc. We track all our video and digital content so can tell how many people view, listen to it and generally content of this type people

For a new marketing tool, would interaction be an important element? 

Not sure I completely understand what you mean but if you are referring to engagment then that underpins the most successful social media campaigns  


Audience
What age range audience do you currently try to target? 

As a multi artform venue with music gigs, to circus to childrens festive show we have a wide audience base

What age ranges are the most important to target? 

We have a commitment to working with 11-25s across all our work with our creative centre for 11-25s 

How are you currently targeting a younger audience (School children and young adults)? 

We currently target them using a mix of marketing methods from facebook, twitter, e-marketing, print, advertising depending on what we are marketing, we then work with over 3,000 11-25s each year which means we cross promote when they are in the building, through our designated 11-25s e-list. We work with other youth organisations to target and cross promote work. 

In your opinion, which age range is more receptive or beneficial in targeting, school children or young adults? 

It really depends what you are offering, if we are talking about theatre then school years are an opportunity for schools to really get young people passionate about theatre and theatre making. Targeting young adults to theatre is considered to be one of the harder to reach audience segement, however many venues put particpation with this age at the core of what they do and this helps in building and engaing younger audiences.

On "The Dark Side of Love"

What did you use to market this show other than videos for the Roundhouse website?

Digital campaign lead with strong video content placed on platforms such as Time Out, social media campaign, we worked with The Space who created the final video trailer which has it’s own deisgnated audience base. Direct mail campaign as the show was part of World Shakespeare Festival and LIFT2012, print and digital advertising, youth launch event to get young people excited about production, recipraical marketing with other organisations, print distribution and exit flyering at other targeted events, contacting and sending information to other Brazilian orgainsations, direct mail campaign to schools, colleges and univerisities and working with a PR agency to secure press previews, interviews with director and cast and reviews.

    

What age range were you aiming for?

Generally the show was suitable for a 12+ audience, however we were targeting a non traditional pan London theatre going audience, mid 20s to late 30s who go to see more unusual work.

What was the intention of using materials such as projection and sound and lighting in the production? What did they have over more basic/ traditional methods (when deciding to use them)? 

That is really an artistic decision that came from the producers and director.  

Who was in charge of making Shakespeare's material 'current', and why did they want to update the words? 

The production came about from dialogues with the Roundhouseand RSC with international aspirations in mind as the production was part of WSF and London 2012 Festival (see attached programme for statements from RSC, RH etc)

How did they tackle the issue of making Shakespeare current? 

Through working with a cast of 11-25s that were involved throughout the entire devising process of 9 months.

Would you consider taking elements of the show outside the theatre's environment, directly to the public audience? 

Yes this is something we have done previously but it sometimes depends on time commitments of the cast and creative time.