Marketing and the Ballet

[Helene]

I just received an email from PNB to announce the following marketing offers besides the standard discounts for low-demand Nutcracker performances:

*For $100 per ticket for most Nutcracker performances, up to two people can sit in the orchestra pit

*A new restaurant is opening, and for $20, patrons get entree samples and drinks, with proceeds going to the ballet. (It's on a Sunday night, when many Seattle restaurants are closed or hosting private parties.)

*A local TV host and his wife will play the grandparents in one Nutcracker performance

*Before two Nutcracker performances the first 1,000 children will receive Nutcracker bobbleheads

*Using the PNB link to amazon, PNB earns 5% of purchases.

Yikes, bobbleheads.

[Amy Reusch]

For $100 per ticket for most Nutcracker performances, up to two people can sit in the orchestra pit

Can they see the stage from there????? Were there special negotiations with AFofM to allow this?? Amazing! Interesting! I want to know how often it was taken! I suspect music students might find it interesting...

Hey, can we move this to the Arts Administration forum?

[sandik]

From the press release:

BOBBLEHEAD NIGHTS

Bobble on down to McCaw Hall for Nutcracker on November 30 at 5:30 p.m. or December 17 at 7:30 p.m. and the first 1000 kids in the door get a FREE Nutcracker Bobblehead! This limited edition little cutie is sure to delight even the most discriminating Bobblehead collector.

SIT IN THE PIT!

Ever wonder what goes on in the Orchestra Pit during a Nutcracker performance? Here's your inside ticket to find out! Spend the performance with Maestro Stewart Kershaw or Allan Dameron – up close and personal with the acclaimed PNB Orchestra! PNB is offering two exclusive Orchestra Pit seats for $100 each for most Nutcracker performances. Contact <marketing@pnb.org> to make your reservations – and remember to wear your dress black!

The restaurant promotion is pretty standard for performing arts groups, but I don't think I've ever seen a ballet-themed bobblehead before.

[Mel Johnson]

Ever wonder what goes on in the Orchestra Pit during a Nutcracker performance?  Here's your inside ticket to find out! Spend the performance with Maestro Stewart Kershaw or Allan Dameron – up close and personal with the acclaimed PNB Orchestra!

Play pinochle with the trombones on the tympani during the quiet passages; run out for a drink with the trumpets during the tacets....

[Dave]

Laugh if you must, but somewhat to my surprise the Nutcracker bobbleheads were a HUGE success and sold out last year, which was when they made their "debut." They are already selling well this year; even before Thanksgiving, I had already sold quite a few at our Eastside school location where I work. And, as we all know, every dollar counts these days, whether it's at the box office or the gift shop. :shrug:

[Helene]

I didn't know that they were for sale -- I thought they were a Marketing ploy to sell tickets. (And I thought I'd have to mug a small child in the Ladies' Room to get one.)

[Dave]

I should clarify: they're free to kids on the two promotional nights mentioned, but we also have them for sale, so please don't mug anyone.

And I just sold two more, which is what reminded me to see how this thread is progressing.

[Helene]

It's not the bobbleheads themselves I have a problem with. I just look at the Seattle Mariners' schedule, and there are months were almost every day there is a promotion of some sort -- MasterCard Cap Night, Ichiro Bobblehead Night, Fred Meyer Towel Night, etc. Which is great if a series of sponsors manufacture and ship at no cost, but I'd hate to see the day that the only way to get people to see ballet is by giving something away at the door, if the ballet companies have to shoulder the expense themselves.

I'm glad I can buy one and subsidize the free ones (And one small child is now safe...)