Who Pays for the Marketing When We Market Broadway Week?
1/9/20
Yesterday, January 8, was the public onsale for the tenth year of NYC Broadway Week, one of the signature Vibrancy Programs of NYC & Company, the official destination marketing organization for the City of New York.
It’s become an important part of the theatre calendar for the slowest, softest, coldest weeks of the year when locals and visitors alike are loath to step outside their door. So how did it all begin?
Broadway Week generates millions of dollars in media value for “Brand Broadway” and the participating shows. Participation fees from the shows only cover a small fraction of the cost of the extensive marketing campaign. The rest comes from NYC and Company, with additional support from the Broadway League and Mastercard.
Back in 2010, Restaurant Week, the mother of all city marketing programs, was a mature, well-funded initiative, and we were eager to find a way to replicate it for Broadway. Restaurants agrees to a simple pricing structure-- $20.10 for a prix fixe meal—and paid a fee to NYC and Company to defray the substantial marketing costs for bus shelters, taxi screens, digital display advertising, a little print, a lot of press and earned media, and newly emerging social.
Because hundreds of restaurants participated, the fees contributed for co-operative advertising were (and still are) considerable. Obviously, there are far fewer Broadway shows than NYC restaurants. Even with NYC & Company’s contribution, the pro-rated cost of creating a credible marketing program would have been more than the shows could afford. And Broadway marketers were not ready to buy in to a program that was untested and unproven.
That’s where the theatre owners stepped in, along with the Broadway League, agreeing to help NYC & Company fund the start-up, until the shows were ready to sign on for themselves, which they did after a few more years.
Today, with support from shows, sponsors, and the Broadway League, this vital NYC & Company program sells tens of thousands of Broadway tickets in the slowest weeks of the season and generates excitement for Brand Broadway year round.
For more information on The Shubert Organization, visit www.shubert.nyc.
It’s become an important part of the theatre calendar for the slowest, softest, coldest weeks of the year when locals and visitors alike are loath to step outside their door. So how did it all begin?
Broadway Week generates millions of dollars in media value for “Brand Broadway” and the participating shows. Participation fees from the shows only cover a small fraction of the cost of the extensive marketing campaign. The rest comes from NYC and Company, with additional support from the Broadway League and Mastercard.
Back in 2010, Restaurant Week, the mother of all city marketing programs, was a mature, well-funded initiative, and we were eager to find a way to replicate it for Broadway. Restaurants agrees to a simple pricing structure-- $20.10 for a prix fixe meal—and paid a fee to NYC and Company to defray the substantial marketing costs for bus shelters, taxi screens, digital display advertising, a little print, a lot of press and earned media, and newly emerging social.
Because hundreds of restaurants participated, the fees contributed for co-operative advertising were (and still are) considerable. Obviously, there are far fewer Broadway shows than NYC restaurants. Even with NYC & Company’s contribution, the pro-rated cost of creating a credible marketing program would have been more than the shows could afford. And Broadway marketers were not ready to buy in to a program that was untested and unproven.
That’s where the theatre owners stepped in, along with the Broadway League, agreeing to help NYC & Company fund the start-up, until the shows were ready to sign on for themselves, which they did after a few more years.
Today, with support from shows, sponsors, and the Broadway League, this vital NYC & Company program sells tens of thousands of Broadway tickets in the slowest weeks of the season and generates excitement for Brand Broadway year round.
For more information on The Shubert Organization, visit www.shubert.nyc.
Originally published in Broadway Briefing.
