Key themes

People are engaging with arts and culture more than ever – taking part, creating content, watching online,

joining discussions, writing blogs etc.

The internet means that consumers now have

expectations of customisation,

personalisation and convenience.

Is it time to change how we think about audiences?

• Digital attention is spiky – spikes of attention are driven by people choosing to pay

attention ie huge spike in Twitter activity at a certain provocative point in a TV show,

which is very different to previous broadcast model of four TV channels and little

choice.

• We are seeing new patterns of attention

• We’re moving from distribution to circulation

• Circulation depends on transgression

• Transgression makes it hard to design endings eg a piece of content designed for one

purpose, may be re-shared by someone else for a related purpose at a later date.

New patterns of behaviour

The binge • Self-scheduled• Metrics: subscriptions, sales, series-links

The pledge• Campaign & aftermath• Metrics:pledges, sales, shares

The long live event• Ambient and flocking• Metrics: Follows, views, participation

The report• Setting up, alerts• Metrics: Registration, goals, events, sharing

The Card• Sharing, saving• Metrics: Sharing, conversation

Relationships and journeys, not transactions and venues

Listen to your customers.

Two of Ikea’s most well-known

features – flatpack & self-service – were not part of the

original experience.

Know and articulate your value proposition.The mission has always been strong design at low price. This runs through everything – even

their instructions are visual and design-led.

Make customers your partners.Customer responses should influence the

design of the work.

A mission that draws in partners and customers.

Ordinary audiences are doing extraordinary things

Audience desire

Organisational drive

Cause:Affects

curation, exhibitions,

stories

Historic Royal Palaces are using segmentation to better serve and reach audiences.

HRP used MHM Culture Segments, in conjunction with TGI data and Mosaic profiling. This led to a new approach to public programming for their target segments, to better serve their desires and needs. By combining the three data segmentation methods, they were able to better plan their media activity.

Developing a compelling brand portfolio

MoMA segmented their audience by measuring their engagements levels using:• Frequency of visit• Depth of visit ie how many parts of the gallery they visited• Donations• Presence on social media channels

Uber Fan Casual Spectator

Measuring Audience EngagementWhen asking for feedback, you need to know what you’re going to do with it. It’s a big ask of your audience to take the time to do a survey.

Benefits to survey takers:• Allow them to compare their answers to other people’s at the end. This makes it a learning experience for the survey taker.• Clearly communicate why it is important to get this feedback and how it will help the health of your organisation.• Question of whether a survey incentive takes away the anonymity of response?

Research shows that talking about the experience enhances it for the audience member.

How do we capitalize on this once they’ve left the venue?We need to create content to illicit memories and create engagement and meaning.

More knowledge = increased impact: a new framework for audience engagement

2011 situation:Audience growth was flatSubscription booking was downTicket prices had increased but sales had not

Audience analysis identified potential growth in two main areas:1. Families who go to Nutcracker each year and say they have an interest in coming to the main season but have not done so yet.2. Young people

The research also found that those who had more knowledge of ballet had a higher level of engagement and attention. From this, SFB explored how audiences prefer to engage in order to inform the development of a comprehensive engagement strategy.

San Francisco Ballet has developed a new way of thinking about audiences through a big research project with WolfBrown.

Media-based activities are prevalent among SFBallet ticket buyers eg TV,

online.

Two thirds of buyers are involved in some form of participatory dance.

Majority of the Facebook fanbase are young, active dancers with high levels

of knowledge and experience. Fans also international, following the

page to engage with the artform, rather than SFB performances.

Most buyers said they prefer a moderate amount of context and post-

performance engagement.Digital engagement is age driven.

The programme and website are the key sources of information for ticket

buyers.

SFB is the sole source of dance for a majority of its ticket buyers

Knowledge level is a key indicator of taste diversity and frequency of

attendance. Therefore, increasing the knowledge

level of audiences builds appreciation, which leads to deeper

impact and stronger loyalty.

Key findings:

Findings led to:Definition of “audience”

shifting to include everyone engaged with

them, not just ticket buyers

Greater collaboration between Marketing,

Education and Artistic

SFB’s Five Pillars of Engagement:Provide multiple entry points Maximise choice and customisation of content Embrace participation Own their role as a Gateway to Dance ‘Sell’ engagement

#askadancer

Open company class viewings

Changing ‘Scholar’ classes to ‘Talk about Ballet’ which they promote to audiences who want ‘a good deal’ and have time and interest

Pre-performance emails include artist spotlight videos and previews

Post-performance emails include videos of favourite moments from the show for audiences to relive the performance

Nutcracker mobile site with Instagram competition – What does Nutcracker mean to you?

Pinterest competition – Help our dancers have a great time in Paris – upload your recommendations

Instant expert (both online and in programme) – What is a Romantic Ballet? Short bitesize pieces of information that online, creates a bank of content that can be re-used in other ways.

A Nutcracker tablet app that allows increased engagement with SFB, to hopefully lead to return booking from families. Developed this in partnership with their Education department.

SFB have received great feedback from those who asked for such content in their survey – “It’s like you listened to what I said”!

Content they have trialled, includes:

Key learnings and advice:

Start small Make time for reflection

Evaluation is hard