Advanced Analytics meets Shakespeare

In recent years, the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) – one of UK’s most respected theatrical companies – has adopted some of the best practices around audience analytics, segmentation and targeted marketing. In order to maintain its worldwide reach, RSC is looking to expand its audience base, while retaining its core, loyal patrons.

Theatre companies, like any other business, rely on customer loyalty to achieve long-term success. They have similar need to boost customer loyalty, acquire new customers, retain existing customers, sell more to all customers and establish a premium for their brand just like any other high-performance business.

The company used the analytics software, KXEN, to segment audiences and target marketing programs through the creation of an audience database. The software allowed the company to examine specific audience segments and identify patterns of attendance behavior. The result is a 50% rise in ticket sales at its Stratford-upon-Avon theatres, a 70% rise in regular attendances to shows and earlier sell-outs in London.

According to Mary Butlin, head of market planning at RSC, “the campaign planning [was] more fact based, and it was easier to predict likely response even in London, which is notoriously difficult”. RSC has successfully deployed marketing analytics to segment their database to identify and engage different ticketing behavior. This will help RSC secure its financial future and status as a theatrical force in the 21st century.

Read More...

Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) is one of UK’s most respected and celebrated theatrical companies. As a company dedicated to keeping alive the spirit of William Shakespeare, while also staging classics and modern works, the RSC operates on an impressive scale. Over the past decade, it has staged 171 new productions, delivered 19,000 performances, sold 11 million tickets, and traveled from its home in Stratford-upon-Avon (Shakespeare’s birthplace) to 150 towns and cities around the world.

Indus Insights is a specialized consulting firm that assists organization in leveraging analytics to drive business performance. They use state-of-the-art mathematical and statistical techniques to unlock game-changing insights hidden in data; and then translate these insights into actionable strategies.