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@WAKEUPtheatre

May 22, 2013May 24, 2013 Jessica Clubbe

Online marketing is a current and instant way to help build a business. ‘Technologies such as Twitter have the potential to give us more than just an opportunity to tell others what happened in our day. If we understand and appreciate what Twitter is capable of, we can use it to instantly share our lives with others, and we can use it to reach more people in a meaningful way’(Comm, 2012, p. x). You can share news within the comfort of your own home or wherever you are via a mobile phone. Having only 140 characters to write a message a person only gets a snip-it of what you want to say.

Twitter is a mobile social network which allows you to keep in touch with friends, family, businesses and companies that you may want to keep in touch with or are interested in. Twitter enables you to share what you are doing with the world, it gives small businesses and entrepreneurs the edge that they can’t necessarily get. ‘Every day, we see dozens of new ideas and ways to use twitter’ (Fitton, 2012, p. 6) as a brand new theatre company we had to incorporate these new ideas and use Twitter to its full capability to ensure that as a company we are creating a broad database of potential audience members. Through Twitter as a company we are able to promote 130,000 for free, without spending hundreds of pounds on promotional material.

When first creating the Twitter the design was a pivotal part.

When a potential follower first accesses our sight we want them to get a good first impression. The design is essential as that first impression could decide weather they follow the company or judge them and move on. With a little touch of creativity and a clever design, by Tweeting the right thing a company may catch the eye of a potential follower. A potential follower leads to word of mouth witch could then possibly increase ticket sales. Having a professional logo as our profile picture and a professional promotional picture as our header instantly we create a professional first impression. Potential customers and followers get to know the face behind the company, which can help building Wakeup Theatre.

When writing tweets the art was keeping it simple, ‘Twitter geniuses sprung form the idea of serving as a status update tool, and at its most basic level, that’s what it is’ ( Thomases, 2012, p. 20). Having only 140 characters, tweets are meant to be kept at a basic level. Twitters ‘clean interface and easy to understand’ (Thomases, 2010, p. 25) layout makes is accessible to anyone. The biggest mistake criticues see companies do on Twitter is when they first hit Twitter they think of it as a ‘channel to push out information’ (O’Reilly and Milstein, 2012, p. 201) , by adding complicated Tweets with hyperlinks to other more complicated means of advertisement there is a potential fear that we may be turning away audience members. In The Twitter Book, Tom O’Reilly and Sarah Milstein say that ‘the average number of tweets per day amongst all users [is] ‘4.22’ (O’Reilly and Milston, 2012, p. 129).Tweeting on average 3 to 4 times a day it appeared that @WAKEUPtheatre kept our followers engaged. We were lucky enough to have several Reweets and Tweets’by companies such as @WhatsOnLincol, @unilincol, @MyUniLincoln, @UBTLincoln and @LPAC_Lincoln witch lead to a dramatic increase in our followers.

After every post we would always try and hashtag. Hashtagging by adding a the simple # symbol before writing a word or phrase enables another person who is specifically researching something to type in said word or phrase and the message will appear. For example on the 28^th February we wrote this Tweet:

Here we hashtagged ‘#realwords’ ‘#realworlds’ and ‘#realpeople’ (WAKEUP Theatre, 2013, Online). If a person was researching something about real words then our tweet would come up, hopefully once they take a look round our page they will follow the company and take an interest in what we do.

On the 9th May we uploaded our first promotional shot, shown here:

This was the first time that our followers had seen us as a cast and were able to get a slight insight into what 130.00 may be. When tweeting the picture we asked the question ‘what do you think?'(WAKEUP Theatre, 2013, Online) by addressing our followers directing it enabled them to feel personally engaged.

Occasionally we would upload pictures from our rehearsals, shown here:

This was to ensure our followers that the work we were creating was developing ready for the performance. People generally enjoy pictures so by posting a tweet that is a picture followers are more likely to have a look, by incorporating ticket information underneath the picture we are constantly reminding followers the information they need to know.

On the 13th May we uploaded a ‘sneak preview of part of our set’ (WAKEUP Theatre, 2013, Online).

This picture gathered a lot of interest. Potential audience members asked questions and people were intrigued to as what the box was, this picture was a effective marketing tool.

Works Cited

Comm, Joel (2010) Twitter Power 2.0: How to Dominate Your Market One Tweet at a Time, New Jersey: John Wiley & Son

Fitton, Laura (2012) Twitter For Dummies, New Jersey: John Wiley & Son

O’Reilly and Sarah Milstein (2012) The Twitter Book, Sebastopol: O’Reilly Media

Thomases, Hollis (2010) Twitter Marketing: An Hour a Day, Indiana: Wiley Publishing

WAKEUP Theatre (2013) 130,000 an adaptation of Fallout by Roy Williams, Lincoln: Lincoln School of Performing Arts.

WAKEUPtheatre (2013) Twitter, 23 May. Available at: https://twitter.com/WAKEUPtheatre (accessed: 24th May 2013)

Promoting WAKEUP Theatre

May 13, 2013May 23, 2013 Jessica Dyer

In order to promote 130,000, as a company we took an adventure into the streets of Lincoln in our characters costumes and took some pictures we thought best described our production. These pictures not only helped each members characterisation they were also brilliant for advertising purposes. Creating posters and programmes ensure that our debut performance is being promoted effectively, guaranteeing audiences for our thrilling final degree show. Through the use of clothes and setting, the pictures symbolize to an audience the type of theatre WAKEUP Theatre produce and represent the ‘gang related culture’ we wish to address.

Costume Design.

April 19, 2013May 24, 2013 Jessica Clubbe

As stated in the director’s note, WAKEUP theatre do not want their audience to be bombarded with visual spectacle in the palpable forms of set and costume design. Therefore, the costume for 130, 000 had to represent this. The director discussed that she wanted very simple costume so WAKEUP’s actors could multi-role efficiently and at a fast pace. In order to achieve this it was decided that all of WAKEUP’s actors would wear a black top, black bottoms and black shoes as a costume base. Any other costume would take form in an accessary or jacket so it could be easily taken on or off.

Roy Williams and director of Channel 4’s adaptation of Fallout are praised by critics for providing costume and language that is ‘so close to their own’ (Mason, 2008, Online) . Ian Rickson took the play back to the streets of London with his visually correct costume and design; WAKEUP Theatre need to provide the same visual stimulant. As each actor in the production only have one item of costume per character, the concept of jackets for the London gang seemed appropriate. Costumes that were used in channel 4’s interpretation of Fallout, and the films Kidulthood and Adulthood were WAKEUP’s main inspiration, this is because the young men featured in the films are similar to the ones in Fallout.

Dwayne – the leader of the gang would wear this jacket:

Followed by Emile’s jacket shown here:

Emile is constantly in Dwaynes shadow so having the two boys in the same jacket but contrasting colours will reveal to the audience this copy-cat relationship. This will also visually aid the audience to see the hierarchy within the gang and the constant desire that Emile seeks respect from Dwayne.

Perry and Clinton’s costumes weren’t as visibly poignant, shown here:

As both characters constantly try hard to fit in it was decided that their symbolic item of clothing needent be a point of attention. Placing them both in typical South-East London youth attire it was clear to an audience who they were.

When first choosing an outfit for Shanice we wanted a jacket that represented the area she was from but also showed her inner flirtatious girlie character.

When first placing her in this jacket for the promotional pictures it really worked, but once placing it upon a stage the jacket became more of a coat and didn’t look right. It was then decided that Shanice needed to look more like she was working. Once the polo top and the hat was worn, the costume suited the stage.

As Shanice and Ronnie are best friends, placing them both in pink seemed fitting to our production.

For Kwame, his costume was chosen because of the verbatim extracts that were read in the production. Both transcripts from Doreen and the brief that detective Emma provides both mention he was on his way home from school when he was attacked. Therefore a simple tie and an urban street hoody would do the trick!

Detective Emma and detective Joe were in simple smart clothing to portray their authority, shown here:

The rest of the characters within 130, 000 are those that spoke in the Stephen Lawrence inquiry. The director equally distributed the verbatim extracts and most of them are played by two or more actors, so a simple black blazer or prop would suffice. (see props list).

Works Cited

Mason, Rowena (2008) Channel 4 Fallout film exposes ‘real’ face of London knife crime, Online: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/2240872/Channel-4-Fallout-film-exposes-real-face-of-London-knife-crime.html (accessed 01 May 2013).

The Marketing Mix

April 9, 2013May 24, 2013 Leanne McKettrick

“The marketing mix is a blend of variables” (Rentschler, 1999, p.8), which consists of the 4 p’s; Product, Place, Price and Promotion. These summarize the marketing activities for a company and “these marketing activities support the marketing goals of the organization” (Mokwa, 1980, p.114).

Product

When concerned with the arts, the product can be categorized in a number of ways; “one is the year-after-year product that the organization is providing to its community. A second is a particular year or season; the set of performances being offered […] [Another] level of product classification is the individual performance itself” (Mokwa, 1980, p.114).

For our theatre company theatre our ‘product’ can be categorized in the following ways;

Wake Up Theatre:
Our company, itself. We want to be known as a reliable theatre company, who offer a great standard of performances year after year. We want our audience to be loyal to our company and believe it what our work expresses. Therefore it is important that as a product we remain consistent in what we produce, by creating “thought provoking theatre by experimenting with the collaboration between fact and fiction.” (Wake Up Theatre Company, 2013, online). 130,000 will be the start of establishing Wake Up Theatre as a product which offers all this.

Final Degree Shows:
Our current show 130,000 is part of a season of shows taking place at the LPAC in May 2013. These shows are the final degree shows for graduating drama students at the University of Lincoln. 130,000 is part of the theatre company strand of these final degree shows and will be marketed against 3 other shows, The Trial by Stamp Theatre, A Gothic Tale by Progeny Theatre Company and Cagebirds by Retold Theatre.

130,000:
Our current show, arguably our most important product. “130,000 explores the hidden complexities surrounding knife crime in Britain. Merging Roy Williams fictional play Fallout, inspired by the murders of Stephen Lawrence and Damilola Taylor, with verbatim testimony taken from the Stephen Lawrence inquiry; we will experiment with the collaboration of fact and fiction, to create a compelling and contemporary response to gang related culture.” (Wake Up Theatre, 2013, online). As 130,000 is our current and debut show the rest of the marketing mix will be concerned with this product.

Place

“Place is the composite of factors affecting where and how the product is offered, including the kind of facility, its location, accessibility by transport and time of event” (Rentschler, 1999, p.8).

At the moment, 130,000 is a one of performance as part of our theatre company module and therefore is only being performed in one venue, The Lpac in Lincoln.

The venue:
“Lincoln Performing Arts Centre is a modern theatre in the city centre, with a great range of shows and a friendly café bar. We are walking distance from High Street shopping and the restaurants on the Brayford Pool waterfront, you will also find plenty of parking nearby. We are home to the Lincoln School of Performing Arts. Around 400 students study Dance and Drama here at undergraduate and postgraduate level” (Lpac, 2013, online)

Accessibility:

The Lpac located in Lincoln City centre in walking distance from both the train and bus station and with parking available close by.

130,000:
Our production will be performing at the Lpac Monday 20^th May at 7.30 pm.

Price

Tickets for 130,000 are £5 each or £15 as part of a pass to see all four final degree theatre company shows.

Promotion

“Promotion is the element of the marketing mix that communicates […] what is on offer to the target audience. By its very nature it is the most visible aspect of marketing activity. It plays an extremely important part in arts marketing strategy, especially where the aim to reach not only existing arts customers, but also to arouse interest of new audiences” (Hill, 2003, p.120).

130,00 will be promoted in the following way:

Posters:

Flyers:
Front:

Back:

Trailer:

Social Media

Facebook:

Twitter:

(More information on promotion for 130,000 can be found in 130,000 Marketing Presentation).

Works Cited

Hill, Liz, O’Sullivan, Catherine, O’Sullivan, Terry (2003) Creative Arts Marketing, Oxford: Butterworth.

Lpac (2013) About Us, Online: http://www.lpac.co.uk/about-us (accessed: 19^th May 2013).

Mokwa, Michael P., Dawson, William M., and Prieve, E. Arthur (ed.) (1980) Marketing the Arts, London: Praeger.

Rentschler, Ruth (ed.) (1999) Innovative Arts Marketing, St Leonards: Allen & Unwin.

WAKEUP Theatre (2013) Home Page, Online: https://wakeuptheatre.blogs.lincoln.ac.uk/ (accessed: 19^th May 2013).