Andrew Girvan

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Arts Marketing

Luke Murphy Welcomes Everyone to Twespians

After their first crack at the digital theatre PR whip, ‘Are we doing all we can?’, theatre/twitter meet-up Twespians rounded up another panel to tackle ‘Pushing it to its limits’, supported again by the lovely folks at Mobius.

With the digital world being so important, do we need to rethink the tried and tested methods that so many still rely on today? Can we learn from what people are doing in other disciplines? Is a fundamental shift required in how we perceive audience, community and promotion?

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Twespians Event

Hosted by Whatsonstage.com deputy editor Andrew Girvan, the latest Twespians Fringe event brings PRs and journalists together with a panel discussion on ‘Theatre PR: Are we doing all we can?’

PR has been changing as an industry at the same rate that Twitter changes trending topics recently. Is theatre PR keeping up with the moving industry? We discus the good side and bad side of current theatre PR, where we can move forward and where we need to trim the fat in an industry that Lyn Gardner refers to as ‘criminally undervalued’.

The event combined a combination of questions from Andrew, the live audience and Twitter.

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freehugs Chris Anderson’s first book The Long Tail, propelled the Wired Magazine editor from respected tech maven to innovative business book writer. His first book, published in 2007, took an in depth look at the way the internet has disrupted the recorded entertainment  market. Looking particularly at the music and book industries Anderson examined the ability of niche products to reach a large enough audience to be highly profitable. With nothing but a simple analysis of how many more books Amazon can sell than your average (if it hasn’t already been shuttered) neighbourhood book shop he expertly illustrates how the retail rules most of us grew up with no longer apply.

Chris Anderson’s latest book is no less thought provoking. The full title, “Free: The Future of a Radical Price: The Economics of Abundance and Why Zero Pricing Is Changing the Face of Business” might not roll off the tongue but it does lay out pretty clearly what the book looks to tackle. Kicking off the book with an interesting study of how free gained its place in the marketing arsenal, popularised by the likes of King Gillette with his revolutionary safety razor.

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Does Arts Marketing on Facebook Lack InnovationFacebook is the world’s most popular social network. In spite of the media’s current fixation with Twitter this study from the beginning of the year shows just how powerful Facebook’s numbers are: 350 million users is not to be sniffed at and something that Twitter, with a predicted user base of around 18 million, has quite a long way to match.

I personally would consider myself somewhat addicted to Facebook. Whenever I open a new browser window I find myself drawn to click the bookmark link that sits on my quick bookmarks bar. When I don’t open it straight away I have a copy of my news feed automatically show up on my iGoogle homepage and when I’m waiting for the bus its inevitably the Facebook and Twitter apps that I check whilst waiting for my lift into town.

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Exploring London Theatre Advertising at ChristmasMy trips up and down the escalators to the Tube every morning changed slightly over the weekend with all the standard theatre posters being replaced with Christmas themed versions.

It’s the first time I’ve been in London for an extended period this close to Christmas but it does make perfect sense that West End producers are bumping up their advertising campaigns and planting the idea of a West End show Christmas treat in the minds of consumers. The number of high budget, highly advertised shows around London has also spiked in the run up to the festive period with Peter Pan transfering it’s tent from Kensington Gardens to the O2 arena. Panto is of course the other market factor to contend with as regional theatres just outside London, local to the train season ticket toting, high earning commuters who arrive in the city centre every morning.

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