Royal National Theatre - Think Like a Retailer

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Challenge

Challenge

The Royal National Theatre is in a prime location on the South Bank and hugely popular however our research indicated that there was a huge opportunity to attract and retain a new and more diverse audience.

The global reach and household name gave the Theatre the ability to create a sustainable competitive advantage over any other theatre. But that was not enough. We needed to create a completely new approach that took their unique advantages and made them count.

Audience

The Theatre is a member of the Arts Council which brings with it a remit to make theatre accessible to new and diverse audiences, whilst still engaging with their traditional core audience.

What We Did

We revolutionised the way the Theatre thinks. We helped them understand its competitors weren't just theatres, but tourist attractions, museums and galleries. We transformed their approach from short-term show based thinking to a long-term data-led media approach that focused on the National Theatre as a brand, leveraging its unique advantages.

The Theatre had a very engaged database of 1 million people, but they were only being communicated with through their comprehensive email activity and were not being targeted across any other channels. We used this data as the start point for an integrated campaign across outdoor, print, display, search and social media.

Results

o An instant and dramatic shift in performance, generating 2.42 times the expected performance, in the first 6 months alone, based on conversion and response rates of their previous, more traditional theatre approach.


o This is an ROI of 5.6, smashing the expected target of 2.3 ROI.