The Wharton Center

Presented By

The Marketing Mix

2/25

Overview

• The Wharton Center– Raise Awareness– Incentivize– Customer Retention– Know your competition

• Turtle Island String Quartet • The 25th Annual Putnam County

Spelling Bee • Royal Philharmonic Orchestra• Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater

The Wharton Center

4/25

Raise Awareness

• Student Discount Awareness– Where to Advertise

•Post Cards•Stand ups in cafeterias•Book Stores•Restaurants

– How to Advertise•Focus on the exceptional

existing value•Show discounted savings

through comparison

5/25

Raise Awareness• Student Discount

Advertising– Features and Pricing

• Quick and easy order process• Good quality printing• Highly competitive pricing• 5000 4x6 Postcards ($95) (Air

shipping under $100)

– Benefits and Suggested Use• Cheap easy way to issue

scheduled dates to students• Residence Halls• Book store bag stuffers• Ticket office giveaways

RushFlyers.comRushFlyers.com

6/25

Raise Awareness• Hook Students Early

– Prime time to host student-targeted shows• By bringing students into the Wharton Center early in

the year, they will be more likely to come back– Spartan Spirit

• Event at the Breslin Center to show Spartan Spirit and teach incoming freshman the fight song/MSU Cheers.

• Sparty, MSU Marching Band, student athletes, and many more community members attend this event.

– Sparticipation• 600+ student organizations attend to bring

awareness to any student that may be interested in getting involved

– Ufest• Activities hosted by UAB events at the Student

Union

7/25

Raise Awareness

• Discussion Forum– Forums can enhance the experience

while on the internet– Potential show attendees would have

the ability to view what other people experienced in a previous show

– Customers can stay up-to-date and informed on current events at the Wharton Center

8/25

Raise Awareness• Be Searchable

– Other venues state that their number one source of customers is on the internet

– Embrace your website as a means of marketing, advertising, information and sales

• When searching for “wharton” on google.com, you are the seventh natural listing

• Consider purchasing “wharton” as a paid search term• Make your site more Google-friendly (also consider using

Yahoo’s tools for Search Engine Optimization)– https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/docs/en/about.html

– Utilize TicketMaster for all show ticket-sales• Other ticket sales sites include

– Tickets.com– Stubhub.com– Ticketsnow.com

9/25

Raise Awareness

• Calendar– Distribute to local communities– List dates & show times of all

performances– Can distribute for the calendar year

(2008) or in six month increments * Keeps the schedule up-to-date

10/25

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1

Home for the Holidays @ 8 p.m.

2 3 4 5 6 7 8Monty Python’s SPAMALOT @ 7:30p.m.First Day of Hanukkah at Sundown

Monty Python’s SPAMALOT @ 7:30p.m.

Monty Python’s SPAMALOT @ 7:30p.m.

Monty Python’s SPAMALOT @ 8:00p.m.

Monty Python’s SPAMALOT @ 2:00p.m. & 8:00p.m.Turtle Island String Quartet @ 8:00p.m.

9 10 11 12 13 14 15Monty Python’s SPAMALOT @ 1:00p.m. & 6:30p.m.

16 17 18 19 20 21 22Kenny G Holiday Tour @ 7:30p.m.

23 24 25 26 27 28 29Christmas

30 31New Year's Eve

DECEMBER 2007

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Incentivize• Group Fundraisers

– Student groups and other organizations are always interested in fundraisers

– Utilize these organizations to do recruiting for your shows

– Offer them a pre-determined dollar amount per ticket sold

– Specify that the group must sell a minimum number of tickets

– This will benefit both you and the student group by bringing in extra business and money

12/25

Incentivize

• “Why Wharton” Campaign– Many students and community members

are unaware of the prestige of The Wharton Center

– Advertise national rankings of your venue and other prestigious statistics

– Create a campaign to compare seeing a Broadway show in New York to seeing one at Wharton•Ticket Price•Accommodations•Transportation

13/25

Customer Retention• “It costs less to retain a customer than to acquire

a new one”• Track who your customers are and what shows

they have attended– You will gain customer loyalty if you can contact your

customer at a later date and know what show they came to see

• Utilize Amazon’s strategy of offering other products that the customer might like– When a customer views a show online, provide links to

other shows that they could also consider– This will provide them with options that they may have

not realized suited their taste

14/25

Marketability and Efficiency

Target Markets• Establish a Target

Market for each individual show

• Markets will vary substantially between shows

• Cater to patrons on an individual level

Maximize Potential• Capitalize on

contacts with prior clientele

• Use your internet resources

• Increase the exposure of the Website through advertising

The Turtle Island String Quartet

16/25

Target Market

• Jewish Communities– Shabbat

•150+ students attend weekly Shabbat services

•operations@msuhillel.org

– Kesher•Union for reform Judaism’s college

movement•Reform services are on Friday evenings•Ricky Kamil: kamilfre@msu.edu•Keith Schonberger: schonbe5@msu.edu

17/25

Target Market, cont…• Koach

– Conservative movement college program– Current programs:

• Sushi in the Sukkah• Passover Chocolate Sedar

– Services are also on Friday evenings– Ilana Ostro: ostroila@msu.edu

• Jewish Student Union– Ricky Kamil: kamilfre@msu.edu– Abbey Askotzky: askotzky@msu.edu

• Jewish Business Association– Ryan Landau: landaury@msu.edu

• Jews in Greek Life– Aaron Schare: schareaa@msu.edu

18/25

Target Market, cont…

• Jewish Women’s Forum– Hilary Greenberg: – greenb56@msu.edu

• Mishpocha (LBGTA)– Danny Herriges– herriges@msu.edu

• Spartans for Israel– Eric Dropkin– dropkiner@msu.edu

19/25

Target Market, cont…

• Other Cultural Groups on Campus– MRULE (Multi-Racial Unity Living

Experience)•C-240 Holden Hall•517-353-9260

– The Multi-Racial Identity Experience•www.msu.edu/~themix• themix@msu.edu

– Spartan Soul•www.msu.edu/~soul1997•soul1997@msu.edu

Royal Philharmonic

Orchestra

21/25

Retirement/Nursing Home Volunteer Experience

• Volunteer to plan an evening program for a home, serving dinner and playing sample music by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

• Sell tickets at the event• Designate a group of students to greet them at

their arrival and show them to their seats• Interested Residencies:

– Delta Retirement Center(517) 323-6976Ask for Nancy

– Brookdale Senior Living(517) 327-5566Ask for Madeline

– Grandhaven Living Center(517) 485-5966Ask for Paul, Food Director

Alvin Ailey American Dance

Theater

23/25

Target Market• Dance

– MSU Dance Team: 248 Jenison Field HouseEast Lansing, MI 48824Phone: (517) 432-7499

– Platinum Dance Academy 1770 E. Grand RiverEast Lansing MI 48823(517) 712-5887

– Ann’s School of Dance3320 E Lake Lansing RdEast Lansing MI 48823(517) 333-1899

– Studio De Danse1306 Michigan AveEast Lansing MI 48823(517) 333-4430

• High Schools– East Lansing High

School Dance Team509 Burcham DrEast Lansing, MI 48823(517) 333-7500

– Okemos High School2800 Jolly RdOkemos, MI 48864(517) 351-7900

– Eastern High School220 N Pennsylvania AveLansing, MI (517) 325-6500

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Target Market• High Schools, cont…

– Everett High School3900 Stabler StLansing, MI(517) 325-6600

– Lansing Christian Secondary School3405 Belle Chase WayLansing, MI(517) 882-5779

– Lansing Catholic High School501 Marshall StreetLansing, MI 48912(517) 267-2100

• Sororities– Alpha Chi Omega

243 Burcham Dr– Delta Gamma

360 N Harrison– Kappa Alpha Theta

303 Oakhill– Kappa Kappa Gamma

605 MAC– Sigma Delta Tau

639 MAC– Zeta Tau Alpha

639 MAC– Alpha Omicron Pi

333 Charles St

25/25

Target Market• Sororities,

cont…– Chi Omega

229 Burcham– Gamma Phi Beta

258 Michigan Ave– Kappa Delta

528 MAC– Pi Beta Phi

343 N. Harrison– Sigma Kappa

518 MAC

Thank You!

The Marketing Mix