Theatre Participation and Community at the Heart of Marketing Strategy

Wolverhampton Grand is a traditional receiving theatre with a three-tiered Victorian auditorium which was extensively renovated in 2016. Although it’s a registered charity it receives no core government funding and brings in ticket revenue through major touring productions including drama, musicals, dance, opera, children’s shows and one of the biggest pantomimes in the UK.

We spoke to Vicky Price, Associate Director- Audiences & Communication, and Emma Acton, Head of Audiences & Marketing.

We asked them how they’ve used powerful, integrated data, segmentation and communications tools in Spektrix to drive audience and community engagement.

As Wolverhampton Grand emerged from Covid-related closures, Emma and the marketing team began exploring new ways to connect with their audiences.

During the pandemic, they’d stayed in close touch with theatre audiences through online activity and communications – and they’d seen a great level of participation and support in response. Using the Spektrix Ticket Converter Tool, they’d ensured that audiences were offered full, prompt refunds for cancelled events – but also invited them to donate all or part of the ticket value, or keep it as credit for the future. The generosity of the response helped them with the immediate impact of lost revenue, and assured them of the importance of the theatre to its audiences and supporters.

Having spent time with another company during the pandemic, Emma brought back fresh ideas for digital and social marketing, adopting TikTok as a tool for community engagement and interaction, running increasingly impactful marketing campaigns and introducing a strict “No discounts” policy. This means that customers who had learned to anticipate last minute offers or discounts are now booking earlier and paying full price – with cheaper tickets reserved to incentivise memberships or engage target groups.

Meanwhile, the whole team, from the back office to front of house, worked to improve their access offer and the overall experience of every visitor. They were confident that they were offering a seamless ticket buying journey through Spektrix, and wanted to ensure that continued when customers stepped through their door. Relaxed performances now happen regularly, including a relaxed pantomime on a prime weekend day during December; and the front of house team have really embraced the opportunity to better support customers, from welcoming access visitors at the door, helping them purchase refreshments at the interval.

The collaboration between participation and marketing is growing ever closer. A new role is split between the two teams, helping to build theatre participation  and guide participants through to follow up events. And Emma’s working to weave the theatre’s outreach work into their core marketing and identity, promoting it as a vital part of what they do.

They’ve built great relationships with their community ambassadors, and through them established an open, honest conversation with community members to understand why they might not attend. Four years ago, they heard that people in the South Asian community felt uncomfortable attending the theatre – they were concerned they’d be looked at or made to feel unwelcome. In 2021-22 they welcomed around 2000 first time attendees from that community to their pantomime, and that number has increased in 2022-23 by a further 51%. That’s driven partly by a more visibly diverse programme of events and artists, with more works created and performed by artist from the global majority; and partly from their willingness to listen, adapt and improve every audience member’s experience.

Emma’s clear that this isn’t a quick win. It’s taken hard work, tenacity and truthfulness to reach this point, and they’re not stopping now – plans for 2023 involve new connections with people from lower socio-economic areas, particularly the neighbourhoods closest to their venue, and ongoing work to fund and maintain their existing audience development activity.

By looking at audience development as a shared priority, connecting the skills of marketing, outreach and front of house teams and building a strategy for long-term success, Wolverhampton Grand have grown a broader, more diverse audience for their performances. The impact of their efforts is demonstrated by a growth in ticket purchases and donations from among their target audiences, and a visible and measurable increase in the ethnic diversity of their audience.