A product description might look like the following examples:

DEVELOPING

 A festival celebrating New Zealand children's writers, including Fleur Beale, David Elliot,

A WIDER

Kate de Goldi and Margaret Mahy, at the Christchurch Arts Centre from 2   4 May, 9am

AUDIENCE

to 5pm each day.  

Wellington band Fur Patrol

 A contemporary dance show by three female choreographers, exploring the theme of

went on a nationwide tour in

body image to be shown at BATS Theatre for five days in the first week of July, from 

1999 as a support act to

8pm   9.20pm. 

established New Zealand rock

band Shihad (now Pacifier).

 An 80 minute, collaborative theatre production between two established Maori and

As one of the two supporting

Pacific theatre companies, which explores through a love story relationships between Maori

bands, it went on tour

and Pacific communities. Premieres at SiLO Theatre at the end of October for six evening

knowing it would lose money

shows and two matinees. 

but its purpose was to

These details will help determine your potential audience. 

develop a wider national

audience   particularly in

Define what's unique about your event, its points of difference and key selling points. Is it

Auckland, which has the

the company name, the name of the writer or artist, the artform, the subject matter or the

highest percentage of record

title? People often refer to a show by what they most recognise. For instance:

sales nationwide.

Fur Patrol's music can be

 Are you going to the ballet? 

1

described as pop rock and

 Are you going to Swan Lake? 

appeals to a cross section of

men and women aged

 Are you going to the Royal New Zealand Ballet? 

between 15 and 35 years. In

How you refer to your arts event is covered in more detail in chapter four, Communicating

general, music fans are

your message.

predominantly young males.

By aligning itself with

established rock band Shihad,

Public

Fur Patrol hoped to give its

image a harder rock edge.

 A market is a group of people with similar attitudes,  writes Peter Neville Hadley in Making

In 2000, Fur Patrol did a

the Most of Marketing (see Appendix, page 73). No event appeals to everyone. Even if you've

follow up tour as the lead

got a broad target market, your event will appeal to some more than others. You should direct

act for the Universities

most of your resources and time to attracting those who are the most likely to attend. 

Orientation. Its investment

Make a list of all the reasons you think people will come to your event. Then work out

in the 1999 tour paid off,

both financially and in terms

which of the three target markets   primary, secondary, tertiary   they fit into.

of audience development.

For example, look at the theatre example described in Product:

  primary target   people who are already favourably disposed to the companies' work

(including friends, family and flatmates)

  secondary target   people who are interested in Maori and Pacific theatre, the arts and

issues in general

  tertiary target   secondary schools.

Imagine that you've jumped into a still lake. The ripples around you represent your target

markets. The closest ripple to you is your primary target and you can reach it without much

effort. Your secondary target or ripple is further away from you so you will need to work

harder to reach out to it. Reaching the third ripple or target will take still greater effort. 

Primary targets are primed to come to your show and don't need as much persuasion as

targets that are further away. Spend most of your efforts reaching the primary target and

only move on to the other targets once you feel confident that you've reached your primary

one. Attempting to reach people beyond your target groups should be regarded as a long 

term goal. 

10

Smart arts

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