A well-worn copy of Danny Newman’s Subscribe Now! has been a treasured resource throughout my career in arts & cultural marketing. His influence is evident in the practices of the vast number of performing arts organizations that still orient their marketing strategies to the concepts first published in 1977:
“The subscriber is our ideal. In an act of faith, at the magic moment of writing the check, he commits himself in advance of the season’s beginning (often many months in advance, and we then also enjoy the interest on his money which we have just put into banks or into short-term securities.)”
But times change. Arts, audiences & organizations have changed in so many profound ways. Subscribe Now! was a marvelous book in its time – but 1977 was was the same year that:
- the very first Apple II computers were sold,
- the prototype NASA space shuttle (the Enterprise) made its first test flight off the back of a jetliner, and
- the twin towers of the World Trade Center were completed.
Today is SUCH a different world!
Please know that I intend absolutely no disrespect to Danny Newman and his work. (My copy contains his autograph and a very kind and encouraging personal note.)
There’s every reason to love the ideal Dan
ny Newman’s point of view represents. (And I still think the book should be required reading for people with responsibility for marketing the performing arts.)
But in today’s arts & cultural reality, it is fair to acknowledge that the advice sounds increasingly distant and corny – kind of like watching Ward Cleaver say,
“You know, Wally, when I went to high school, we used to have to wear a collar and tie to school every day.”
Wally replies: “Well, gee, Dad, they’re not allowed to be that mean to you anymore.”
It’s not that the advice is fundamentally wrong. Rather, it is just too monochromatic for times that are considerably more colorful and complex.
Going forward, this blog is dedicated to exploring a variety of dynamic new approaches.
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I, too, kept a copy of Danny’s book on my desk and made it required reading for all marketing and ticket staff at the Oregon Symphony. Were Danny still with us, you can be sure that he would have quickly figured out all the changes since the 1970’s and written a whole new “bible” for selling tickets in a new age.
Good luck with the blog.
John Graham
Both Danny Newman and the old subscription model are endangered species, but his book still provides a useful foundation for anyone trying to sell tickets. I remember his mantra of Subscribe Now, but he also was puzzled that we give the largest discounts to those who can afford to pay full price.
Today flex subscriptions, tweet seats and demand pricing strategies are growing, even though audience members are less willing to plan ahead. This sometimes makes sense in the northern cities where winter snows can make getting to a theatre an ordeal.
Still, Danny forged the model upon which many of our larger performing arts organizations grew to their present size during the latter half of the 20th Century.
Just as Ed Bernays outlined what public relations consisted of in his seminal book “The Engineering of Consent” in 1923, he too began by doing whatever was needed to sell tickets for ballet, theatre and music.
Yes, I am lucky to be old enough to have spent time with both men. They were my mentors.
I agree with John that Danny would have quickly adapted to our “new age” of ticket selling (would that he were alive today to help us figure it out). The last time I heard him speak was at an Opera America Conference in the late 90’s and he was talking about flexible “demand” pricing (airline style) as a way of maximizing revenues. A collective gasp went out from the assembled audience when he said this. But now in 2012 everyone’s doing it. Danny lives on….