The marketing plan “is a document that outlines the audiences you want to attract and how you go about attracting them. Its purpose is to ensure that you communications with audiences are clear and consistent and will help your organisation achieve its aims” (Griffin, 2007, p.8)
With this in mind, the marketing teams followed the example’s given in Caroline Griffin’s This Way Up: A Flatpack Guide to Marketing the Arts
Who We Are
Wake up Theatre Company consists of 12 graduating students who are passionate about making thought provoking, inspiring and stimulating theatre. We are interested in compelling audiences into questioning the world they live in. To question society and humanity. Our work will be a hybrid of documentary, scripted and devised theatre. We are currently exploring knife crime and its affects from different perspectives. How people view knives, how people use knives, how people pass the blame.
Our current show: 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.
Our Objectives
- To create work with wakes audiences up to the realities of the world around them.
- To create work that merges fact and fiction.
- To be relied on to create theatre that is thought provoking and relevant to the world in live in.
- To create shows which leave a lasting impression on our audience.
Key Messages
- See the work of graduating drama students.
- See a show which collaborates fact and fiction.
- A performance based on Roy William’s play Fallout .
- A performance merged with the real words of the Stephen Lawrence inquiry.
Who is our audience?
Our audiences is largely made up of peers and friends and family, who are all interested in either the work that is created as part of the final degree shows or interested in supporting the people involved.
Through our marketing we also wish to bring in people who do not fall into the above categories. This audience will be made up of people who:
- Have an interest in the themes the play is concerned with
- Interested in verbatim theatre
- Has an active interest in the news
- Is aware of the Stephen Lawrence inquiry
How do they hear about 130,000.
Our audiences will hear about us the following ways;
- Social media
- Posters
- Flyers
- Trailer
- Word of mouth.
(for detailed information on this aspects please see the blog post titled 130,000 Marketing Presentation)
SWOT Analysis
Strengths
- A production that is different – merging fact and fiction
- A performance that is current and relevant
- A dedicated workforce, caring about the work that is created.
Weaknesses
- A small budget
- We are not an established theatre company
- Limits to resources
Opportunities
- Our work is constantly being inspired by what is happening in the world and will always be current.
- We are a theatre company that could work with the community – doing workshops in schools creating an awareness to teenagers about the issues they may face.
- We are a make shift theatre company and therefore are able adaptable to perform in a number of venues.
Threats
- Competition from other theatre companies
- No regular funding
- Fallout is available on 4od for free, people may watch this instead of buying tickets.
Marketing Timetable
Blog – on-going throughout the process
Social Networking sites – January
Creation of Trailer – February
Releasing Trailer on YouTube and social networking sites – March
Designing of posters and flyers – March
Taking promotional photos – April
Releasing of posters and flyers – April/May
Designing of Programme – May
Works Cited
Griffin, Caroline, (2007) This Way Up: A Flatpack Guide to Marketing the Arts, Cambridge: Arts Marking Association