Running one of the world's leading comedy festivals is no laughing matter when the competition for spectator dollars is so intense.
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Entrepreneur: Susan Provan, Festival Director
Company: Melbourne International Comedy Festival
Business type: Cultural festival
Employees: 10 full-time, 10 season contract, 300 casual
Turnover: (2006 - 2007) $9.2M
Head office: Fitzroy, Victoria
Contact details: +61 3 9417 7711
The Melbourne International Comedy Festival Story
When the Melbourne International Comedy Festival (MICF) began in 1987 Susan Provan was working as night manager at the legendary Melbourne comedy venue The Last Laugh. Eight years later - after five years managing Circus Oz and a year as associate producer of the State Theatre Company of South Australia - Provan returned to Melbourne in 1995 to take the plum job as festival director of the MICF.
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Key learning points:
- Research - When market giants are on the rampage, minnows need to be even smarter in understanding everything about how to reach and expand their niche.
- Web sites - Is your web site just a brochure online? Think how to make your site a useful tool for your clients. It gives them another chance to love you.
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It is a huge challenge. The 25-day festival is a cultural event in Melbourne each autumn, showcasing local and international acts including stand-up, theatre, music, television, visual arts and radio. In 2007 the festival celebrated its 20th anniversary with record attendances, box office takings and number of shows produced. Provan says: "A lot of people see the huge queues on the streets and think ‘Wow! That is successful' but working in the entertainment industry can be terrifying ... nothing is ever guaranteed."
Event marketing in Melbourne is tricky with so many competing events crowding the calendar each year. The comedy festival has had to be rescheduled twice in the past two years to avoid clashes with the Commonwealth Games in 2006 and the FINA World Swimming Championships in 2007. Comedy and sport might seem to be unlikely competitors but the extensive comedy festival market research says otherwise. Provan says: "Our audience is far more likely to attend or watch a televised sporting event or go to the footy than the opera."
Competing big events make the marketing job difficult. It is vital to catch people's attention and mentally prepare them for the upcoming event. Provan says: "With these massive citywide events it is hard to cut through and get exposure. In the past two years, we couldn't get our banners up in the street or get any advance editorial as early as usual (which all helps people get into their mind that the comedy festival is coming). We had to reassess our marketing strategy."
The Challenge
How to market a public event in a busy competitive cultural calendar.
The Solution
To counter the effect of these events, the festival reassessed its marketing strategy. Market research had identified that the MICF was not reaching a wide enough target audience. Provan says: "We had a strong sense - and market research reinforced it - that we were not exploiting the interest in the festival. Our conservative marketing push was entirely budget driven."
One thing was clear: the festival would need to increase spending by more than $150,000 in 2007 and market itself earlier and more effectively. Fortunately, surpluses from previous years meant there was money in the till to do this. Provan says: "We were forced to increase our marketing spend and develop our marketing strategy but probably in a way we should have been doing anyway."
Market research showed that the festival's 88-page official program guide is its most effective marketing tool. Distribution of the program was doubled to 300,000. Provan says: "We increased our print run because in the past two years we'd been running out by the last week of the festival. We wanted added impact in the face of the major sporting events and we switched our insertion day in The Age from Friday to Thursday, which has a larger print run."
The festival's web site was given a $30,000 upgrade. Provan says: "Our demographic are tech-savvy and our web site now matches that. We can post audio and video on artist pages. And now we can track what consumers do, we can see they log on, watch the video, read the review and then click on to book tickets. We can see that it is working."
The Result
Attendance at the MICF has grown steadily during the 12 years Provan has been festival director. Attendance climbed from 356,992 in 2005 to 483,609 in 2007. Box office takings increased from $5.5 million in 2005 to $9.2 million in 2007.
The advance marketing program resulted in 60% of patrons purchasing their tickets more than a month prior to the festival - an increase of 38% from 2006. The MICF web site received 605,829 visits from January 1 to May 31, with 162,566 video plays and 53% new visitors.
The marketing strategy was revised to increase audience numbers but the increase in marketing expenditure and branding has enabled the MICF to attract higher-level sponsorship. "We are in negotiations now with some large cash sponsors. We have a four-year arrangement with Network Ten that is a creative endeavour and amazing exposure."