Marketing the Opera – The Disconnect.

by Matthew Collins

Student Luxury Management Polimoda.

Recently I had the chance to take in a concert of the Philharmonia at La Scala in Milan. I was there to see and hear a performance of Brahms & Bartok, an interesting juxtaposition of composers. But from the vantage point of my box and in the grand reception halls, I found no such dynamism in the clientele of the theater that evening. My companion and I were certainly outliers of youth in a crowd that must have averaged 60 years in age. This made for slow going on the staircases at the interval and afterward, but presented an interesting challenge in my mind as both a patron of the arts and as a marketing professional. If 80% of your customers are getting close to… well… not being anyone’s customer, how can you keep your doors open without expecting massive donations from private or public entities? Of course, this is not a new question. We’ve seen arts organizations around the world suffer from declining attendance and aging patrons. The venerated Metropolitan Opera in New York has been operating in the red for years and operates through the grace and patronage of Mercedes Bass. What will the arts community do when the last of the great doyens and champions of the arts pass away? Many organizations have realized this and have spent countless millions on marketing campaigns and programs aimed at increasing the patronage to a wider audience. Symphonies and Opera companies have introduced gimmicks aimed at making performances more accessible to a largely uncultured mass. From translation systems at the Met and La Scala to programs designed to get the “Under 30” crowd interested in classical music, these attempts have had limited success, if any, at making the bottom line a positive number. What I feel these institutions are missing is cache of their own brand and industry. We’ve seen “luxury” being brought to the masses in the channels of retail and hospitality, but I don’t think the great performing arts houses have realized that they are themselves, luxury brands and should market themselves and pursue strategy that mirrors what works for those markets.

Just as I wouldn’t buy a cashmere sweater from Wal-Mart, I wouldn’t buy dog food from Hermes. Expanding a patron base might increase attendance at performances, but it reduces the brand exclusivity and the overall image of the organization. What the industry needs is to look around at what’s working in the world of luxury and make adaptations to their own model. This may mean asking some hard questions about the traditions of the arts community and changing a marketing system that is obviously broken. I believe that the success of Cirque du Soleil and other creative organizations show that the public is interested in the performing arts. Performing arts organizations need to look at themselves as brands, brands that have enormous respect in the eyes of the public at large and market themselves as such. La Scala and the Met have weathered many storms before, from political to economic. It remains to be seen if these temples of culture can make the adaptations necessary for them to remain relevant and important for generations to come. This is even more critical for smaller organizations around the world that face far worse balance sheets and potentially more detached audiences. If the art form is to survive in its current manner, it will require a new kind of marketing.

Matthew Collins

Student Luxury Management Polimoda.