Customer centricity at Bangor Symphony Orchestra
The Bangor Symphony's executive director, Brian Hinrichs, recently shared an update on LinkedIn outlining the strategies that helped the BSO sell out their entire 2022 Nutcracker run.
With permission, I'm sharing his post below, because it contains so many great examples of a more customer-centric, Outsider-friendly approach. (Love the idea to advertise in the local movie theater!)
And the proof is in the pudding: almost 50% of their Nutcracker ticket buyers this year were new.
Brian calls it hand-holding; I'm partial to Julie Fiore's phrasing: "mythology explained and mystery unveiled." In any case, I look forward to seeing how these strategies impact their ticket sales for future concerts!
Earlier this season I shared that our sales for The Nutcracker were way ahead of pace. In the end, we beat our pre-pandemic high sales mark by over 20%. The entire run was sold-out, with matinees filling first, pushing all late buyers to fill up the evening show (which was typically only ~65% full pre-pandemic).
Our classical sales have been strong this year, but certainly not this strong, so I am thinking about what worked here.
First, the obvious: we had name recognition and pent up demand working in our favor. We also started our social campaigns significantly earlier than usual, and emphasized the return of a family tradition, which people were clearly craving.
But I think a few other smaller points may have gone a long way, mostly having to do with putting misperceptions about a classical ballet/orchestral experience to rest:
Beyond just saying this was a family friendly event, we explained that at little more: website articulated length of program, length of intermission, described available concessions (popcorn! cookies!) and that food + drink was allowed in the hall
Highlighted "add ons" that loyal attendees already know about but newbies might not: brass quintet pre-show performance, caroling at intermission, photo-ops, and a huge gift shop of Nutcracker items in the lobby
Assured concerned parents of young kids via social media messages and comments that they would not be alone if they needed a mid-show lobby break or trip to the bathroom (as always, there was a steady stream of toddlers taking breaks in the lobby, dancing along with the livestream playing on multiple TVs)
In short, we did much more hand-holding than we ever have before to really set expectations in a welcoming way, and that is something we will work to carry forward to our classical concert marketing. Almost 50% of our Nutcracker buyers this year were new, so I would say the evidence is there to keep experimenting on this front.
In terms of our ad buy, not much changed! However, we did purchase 6 weeks of airtime at our local movie theater to run pre-show trailers for The Nutcracker, timed to start with the release of Wakanda Forever. This was shockingly affordable and something we will do again, for sure.
Last note: like a good Ruth Hartt acolyte, we made sure to have a photographer capturing candid audience moments. This is probably my favorite photo, which will no doubt turn up in next year's campaign.
—Brian Hinrichs
Executive Director, Bangor Symphony
Credit: Soubanh Phanthay
