Our work | Audience and market development

Test driving the arts

Test Drive the Arts, an innovative arts marketing programme aimed at first-timers, was the subject of workshops and presentations held recently in New Zealand.

The programme is designed to introduce people to an aspect of the arts for the first time. Creative New Zealand bought leading UK arts marketing and audience development specialist Andrew McIntyre from Morris Hargreaves McIntyre to New Zealand to present the programme to performing arts managers and marketers in Wellington and Auckland in October 2006.

The term "test drive" was coined by the marketing agency Arts About Manchester and is borrowed from the car industry, where potential buyers are encouraged to try a product before making the decision to buy.

Most people can't assess whether to buy a car based on advertising alone, and Test Drive the Arts acknowledges that in the same way, an arts experience can't be fully conveyed through advertising or a brochure.

Test Drive has three key stages: the first stage involves introducing people to something in the arts for the first time. The "something" is an arts organisation's work and the people are likely to be new customers to that organisation, if not to the arts generally. The second stage involves encouraging first-time attendance through providing incentives such as free tickets, discounted tickets or value-added benefits like a free programme, a CD, free drinks, food or transport. The third and most important element of Test Drive is that the first attendance is seen as a springboard to an ongoing relationship.

Creative New Zealand is providing seed funding to four recurrently funded organisations to pilot the Test Drive programme in 2007: Auckland Philharmonia, Auckland Theatre Company, The Court Theatre and the Christchurch Symphony. The four organisations will work collaboratively to put 5000 people through the programme in 2007.

Test Drive the Arts targets people who are open to persuasion to attend arts events but who are currently not being persuaded. That such a group exists is borne out by New Zealanders and the Arts research that showed 84 per cent of people agreed with the statement that "some arts events interest me but I still don't go much".

Links

Radio interview with Andrew McIntyre: transcript courtesy of Radio NZ (PDF 60KB)

For more information, contact Helen Bartle (T: 09-377 8750 E: helenb@creativenz.govt.nz)