Our work | Audience and market development
Organisations to develop peer-to-peer marketing practices
Three arts organisations - Splore, tempo° and Strike Percussion - will develop new peer-to-peer marketing practices with funding support of $8000 to each organisation from Creative New Zealand.
Peer-to-peer marketing (P2P) has been described as "structured word of mouth". Helen Bartle, National Audience Development Adviser for Creative New Zealand, says this is the first time that Creative New Zealand has offered grants to establish new peer-to-peer marketing practices.
"Organisations are increasingly recognising the value of peer-to-peer marketing over more traditonal above-the-line marketing strategies," she says.
"There's strong evidence to suggest that the person who invites you to attend an arts event has as much to do with your decision to go as other factors such as the programme or the guest artists. That's partly because audiences are looking for sound judgement and endorsements from people they trust."
In addition, findings from Creative Nerw Zealand's research report, New Zealanders and the arts: attitudes, attendance and participation in 2005, show that having someone to go with or being encouraged by a friend are important reasons why people attend performing arts events.
Splore
Splore is a three-day summer outdoor festival celebrating art, culture and community. The 2008 event will take place from 8 to 10 February. With Creative New Zealand funding, it will build on its current P2P marketing initiatives using tools such as online viral marketing, SMS text messaging, online social networking and blogs, and feedback loops.
Splore director Amanda Wright says that developing the new P2P initiatives will enhance audiences for Splore 08 and enable ongoing communication with the Splore community.
"Adding P2P tactics to our marketing toolbox will enable us to reach a wider audience and generate peer-to-peer endorsement, stimulating participation and contributing to the overall success of the event," Amanda says.
"It will also enable us to receive and evaluate feedback, ensuring that our audiences are an integral part of future developments."
tempo°: New Zealand's festival of dance
tempo° is an annual dance festival celebrating all forms and styles of dance from the diverse cultures that make up New Zealand. Presented by the Auckland Dance Festival Trust, it was established in 2003 and has grown its audience steadily since the first festival.
Using a range of peer-to-peer marketing tools, tempo° aims to build its membership database from 600 to 20,000, keep its community engaged throughout the year, and enable its website to become a one-stop shop for festival information and ticketing.
"I'm very excited about using technology to develop the audience for dance, which in turn will benefit the artists," says Mary-Jane O'Reilly, Artistic Director of tempo°.
STRIKE Percussion
STRIKE has been performing in New Zealand and internationally since 1998. In that time, it has also introduced percussion to more than half-a-million school students.
Using peer-to-peer marketing tools, in particular a text marketing campaign, it aims to build its younger audience.
"We are preparing to launch a new programme in Napier next year and this is an ideal opportunity for us to try something new and reach new audiences," STRIKE manager Jamie Bull says. "Through STRIKE's involvement in schools over the past eight or more years, it has been developing a young txt-savvy audience.
"These students are now entering the workforce with disposable income for entertainiment and form an important audience base for STRIKE."
The three companies will document their projects and present them to other practitioners at the inaugural New Zealand arts marketing conference, to be held in the first half of 2008.
