The lights dim in the concert hall of the Colorado Symphony Orchestra and the audience falls silent. Conductor Martin Alsop raises his baton to direct a piece by composer Scott Bradley and over the performance stage a camera image is projected. Tom and Jerry, the famous duo, scamper across the screen. What are Tom and Jerry doing at a classical music performance? The symphony orchestra hopes they - and other marketing innovations - will bring in larger and younger audiences. Symphony orchestra concerts are not the only US entertainment form facing an increasingly grey-haired clientele. But the demographics of symphonic attendance are striking. A study of concertgoers released last year by the National Endowment for the Arts found audiences declining for every age group under 50.

According to the St Paul Chamber Orchestra, only 6% of its audience is under 35. An ageing audience eventually means more empty seats. Eight symphony orchestras have closed in the USA in the last ten years. Last year alone, the orchestras of San Diego and Sacramento shut down. What's needed, say observers, is a complete overhaul of marketing strategy. Eugene Carr, president of Culture Finder, a Net information service about the arts, says he realised just how little symphony orchestras have changed when the New York Philharmonic recently presented a concert nearly identical to a performance a century ago.

Previously foreign concepts such as ‘building a brand image', ‘measuring customer satisfaction' and ‘creating name recognition' are finding their way into classical music parlance. The Oregon Symphony, for instance, has conducted market research to find out what appeals to its viewers. ‘Our theory is, the music's not the problem, it's how it's presented,' says Don Roth, director of the orchestra. To attract a younger clientele, the Oregon Symphony has introduced concerts under a new ‘brand' name, Nerve Endings. ‘We did it this way because it lets people know that these concerts will be different from your standard fare,' says Maureen O'Connor, in charge of marketing for the orchestra. Under the auspices of the new brand, the Oregon Symphony is venturing on to new ground.

A February concert featured a corpse in the lobby, cordoned off with police tape. The corpse was a dummy of Mozart, a display designed to create a mood for that night's Mozart programme. Another Nerve Endings performance featured a flamenco-inspired classical music programme, complete with dancers, videos of flamenco singers, and discounts to flamenco parties at local night clubs. Source: Griffith16 (reprinted with permission)

Question

1. Suggest a programme of marketing research that could be useful in helping an orchestra develop a good marketing strategy.