Brown Baby Reads Executive Director Dawn Eddy with her own young readers

The data is startling: according the the results of National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), often referred to as the Nation’s Report Card, over one-half (54%) of black 4th graders scored below the basic achievement level in reading on the NAEP in 2007.

2010 Illinois Stanford Achievement Test (ISAT-10) scores showed reading scores improving over previous years with 77% of black students meeting or exceeding standards, but still markedly lower to the 97% of white students meeting or exceeding standards.

But why are the test results of black and white students in the same school system, so different?

Dawn Eddy, executive director of Brown Baby Reads, a new non-profit organization with a mission to celebrate and encourage literacy in African American children has some theories.  And she offers the powerful and joyful solution of exposing our children early (even before entering Kindergarten) to high quality, high interest books featuring African American characters.

Read Dawn’s interview with the Encyclopedia Brittanica blog here: Promoting African American Literacy.  For over 900 book recommendations for your family, and the young people in your life, and to learn how you can support this positive and vital non-profit, visit the Brown Baby Reads website.

Remy Bumppo Theatre Company's Night and Day illustration by Robert Petrick

For the past several weeks, Kick Start Marketing has had the pleasure of coordinating a free public event for Remy Bumppo Theatre Company.  Inspired by the company’s current, critically-acclaimed production of Tom Stoppard’s satire of British news media Night and Day, Kick Start secured sponsors and panelists for a journalist panel entitled “Is the Truth Front Page News?”

Lending their expertise to the discussion are journalists Ramsin Canon, political editor and co-founder of Gaper’s Block, Alden K. Loury, publisher of The Chicago Reporter, Mary Mitchell, columnist for The Chicago Sun-Times and Timothy J. McNulty co-director of Medill School of Journalism‘s National Security Initiative. The panel discussion will be moderated by Richard Steele, host of WBEZ‘s “Eight Forty-Eight.”

Launching the panel discussion will be short excerpts from Night and Day about the risks and responsibilities of foreign correspondents.  The evening’s topics might include: sound bites v.s. investigative reporting, bloggers v.s. media giants, and what consumers should consider when choosing a news source.  Expect some frank, possibly heated, potentially funny, and ultimately enthralling conversation about the real world journalists inhabit.  For anyone who works or aspires to work in the media, collaborates with the media — or is a regular news consumer — this is a don’t miss event.

“Is the Truth Front Page News?” takes place Monday, Oct. 11 at 7:00 p.m. (doors open for general seating at 6:30 pm) at the Greenhouse Theater Center, 2257 N. Lincoln Ave.  Seating is limited to 200 – and reservations are recommended.  Reserve your spot on Remy Bumppo’s online events calendar, or call 773.244.8119.

If you can’t secure a spot or just can’t make the date – don’t fret, you can find it on WBEZ’s Chicago Amplified archives soon.

Playwright Annie Baker photo credit: The Boston Globe.com

Posted yesterday in the Boston Globe was an article on 3 Boston theaters collaborating to present 3 plays by a same playwright. Here’s a short excerpt with link to the article:

Fugard Chicago 2010 sample ad

I’ve been meaning to post on this project for a while.  It’s one of my highlights of 2010.  Exercising the creativity that brought us into the field of arts marketing, and demonstrating the collaborative work style required of all practitioners of theater, three Chicago theater marketing directors (Adam Thurman of Court Theatre, Lara Goetsch of TimeLine Theatre Company and myself – then at Remy Bumppo Theatre Company, came together in summer of 2009 to discuss a remarkable coincidence.  All three companies had just announced they would be presenting plays by not-so-often produced playwright Athol Fugard in the spring of 2010.  Spurred on by shrinking budgets due to the economic downturn – we brainstormed ideas for combining our resources and strengths to raise awareness of the playwright and ensure strong ticket sales for the plays.

Out of that first conversation over coffee, came the idea of a collaborative website: FugardChicago2010.  The purposes of the site: to elevate the playwright by highlighting his contribution to the world stage, and to provide a portal to each company’s website for single ticket sales.  The site would reward visitors who joined the FugardChicago2010 e-mail list with a discount code that could be redeemed at the box offices. The site would also sell 3-play subscriptions.

We quickly realized that through coordinated efforts, we could greatly expand our exposure and encourage audience crossover without increasing our marketing budgets.  So we did a few key things:

1) we established the level of current audience crossover between our mail lists

2) we agreed to share a dramaturg (the fabulous Kelli Marino), who would write the website copy and a series of articles on Fugard and the plays to be shared with all three patron bases.

3) we collaborated on PR efforts

4) we allocated a portion of our ad budgets to promote the website

5) we created a free public event to further promote the collaboration

Results:

One of the biggest immediate payoffs was the press coverage.  By banding together we made the “top 10 shows to see” lists of several local news outlets.  We scored a front page Sunday arts section feature in the Chicago Sun-Times.  And benefited from  having each theater’s productions tagged in most of the preview stories and reviews secured by the project partners.

The partnership gave us a heft and credibility we didn’t have individually, demonstrated by our being invited by MCA Stage to present a public panel discussion called “Writing for Change” as an homage to Fugard, which featured an exhilarating lineup of hot young playwrights including Tarell Alvin McCraney (The Brother/Sister Plays; Wig Out!), Kristoffer Diaz (The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity; Welcome to Arroyos), Young Jean Lee (The Shipment; CHURCH; Pullman, WA) and Tanya Saracho (Generic Latina; S-E-X-Oh!; and adaptor of The House on Mango Street for Steppenwolf Theatre).  Big thanks to Susan Padveen of Columbia College Chicago for conceiving of and assembling the panel.

Another huge benefit, was that by coordinating our eCommunications efforts, and providing each other with photos, video clips, notice of special events and the shared dramaturgical articles – we were able to essentially triple our audience exposure with every e-mail we dispatched.

An unforseen perk of the collaboration was that our meetings provided a chance to exchange info with each other on best practices, benchmark our sales, and talk about strategies and tactics we were experimenting with.

When we met recently to recap the project – we agreed one of the great successes was the way we split up responsibilities for the planning and implementation of the project.  At the start we volunteered to handle different aspects of the project, based on our strengths – which was key to it being such a positive experience.  No one felt overworked, and everyone felt ownership.  It was a great model for collaboration.

We are currently pulling together final data to determine post-project audience crossover results.  But I think I can speak for my cohorts when I say, this collaboration was an unqualified success.

Stay tuned for future Chicago theater cooperative marketing efforts.  We were delighted to have been sponsored in this endeavor by the League of Chicago Theaters, who now owns the collaborative website template.  Contact the League if you are interested in setting up a partnership like FugardChicago2010.

I found this post in today’s “You’ve Cott Mail” on subscription options very intriguing.   I like the value-added strategy behind it, though the author’s spin on it as “a decoy offer” is a bit negative.

Anyone have experience with offering these 3 types of membership options?  Would love to hear about your results.

Many thanks to Thomas Cott for providing food for thought each day, and to article author Steve Cuno.

Commentary: A ‘decoy offer’ can make consumers spend more

Steve Cuno, writing for Deliver Magazine, June 18, 2010

An international magazine offered three subscription options. Option A: For a modest price, you could have the online edition. Option B: For about twice as much, you could have the printed edition instead. Option C: For the same price as the printed edition alone, you could have both the printed and online edition.  If you think that no fool would choose Option B, according to one test, it more than pulls its weight. Just not in the way you might expect.  Option B is what behavioral economists call a decoy offer. Rather than attempt to garner sales of its own, Option B’s effect seems to be to draw attention away from the less-costly Option A and convince you that C is a heckuva deal that is not to be missed.  In tests omitting Option B, 68% of respondents preferred the lower-priced Option A, with just 32% preferring Option C.  Adding Option B to the lineup literally turned that result on its head. Now 84% chose the higher-priced Option C. No one chose Option B. It appears that Option B played a crucial role of leading people who would normally spend less … to see the value of spending more.  When direct marketers test a succession of offers, the idea is to learn which one will win the greatest number of customers. By contrast, a decoy can increase total spend among customers you already have. This can be especially useful if you happen to have saturated your market.

"Vancouver Transit" by sillygwailo

It’s only my 2nd week at Kick Start and I’ve already had two meetings with non-profits who are reluctant to charge a fee for their services.  I get that, believe me.  I started my career in the arts as a writer/performer/director, and what motivated me do the work, (and producing art IS work – but that’s another topic for another day), was the belief that articulating something important to me, might connect with others and lead to positive change in the world.

These two non-profits, one newly formed, and one that has been around for quite a while, are passionately focused on educating, and eradicating injustice.  Undoubtedly the missions of these organizations are important and vital  to our society, and regardless of how attractive their missions are to funders, it is also vital to the sustainability of non-profit organizations to diversify income.  I will leave fundraising philosophy and practice to the experts.  But as a marketer, I do know this: a funder will be delighted to see that your organization is effectively communicating value to those that are using your services, and that your company has found a way to have some reliable % of earned income supporting the organization.   What that percentage ratio of earned to contributed is depends on the organization.

I also understand the pull to keep the price of services/product low to stay accessible to the greatest number of people.  But it is still imperative to set the bar for the cost of using the services.  Some great examples of non-profit entities charging fees, yet staying accessible include the YMCA, Public Radio and Public Television.  Monthly membership fees are posted by the YMCA for individual, youth and family memberships.  But they also offer scholarships or sliding scale dues to keep services accessible to the community.  And this economic diversity among participants is something that members value about “belonging to the YMCA.”

Anyone can watch public television or listen to public radio without paying for usage.  But they also have defined membership levels, and regularly communicate the need for support to continue to provide their unique programming and make it available to all in the community.

So get creative, think about what services and products you are giving away that you can put a price on.  Then price your services and products fairly.  You can always discount and make special offers to those that meet defined criterion for discounted or complimentary services.  It  helps everyone appreciate the value of the services when they understand its worth.   There are probably many folks out there already participating with you or have a vested interest in your mission that have the inclination or means to support you financially if you give them a chance.  And this will give your non-profit a fighting chance in the next economic downturn.

credit: Dwight D. Eisenhower, Wikipedia

Last week I attended the Community Media Workshop’s 2010 conference: Story and Strategy in the Digital Age.  In a panel discussion that included Dave Hoekstra of the Chicago Sun-Times, he talked about a story he was working on about a new restaurant, and how key a human element, or good anecdote is, for an entree into a news story.  I don’t want to describe the story here, its a good one, because I don’t think its been published yet!  Check Dave’s column yourself, it has to do with a father’s day brunch menu.

This got me thinking about past story pitches of mine that were successful.  As an arts publicist or presenter, it’s so tempting to fall into the trap of thinking the story is: “Chicago premiere” or “Award-winning.” That’s the easy angle, but certainly not a human one.

A recent pitch that was successful for me was uncovering an anecdote about a cast member in Remy Bumppo’s production of Heroes last October.  Yes, this production was “a Chicago premiere” and “an Award-winning comedy” about retired WWI soldiers in France.  But what I found out shortly after opening night, through talking with one of the actors, was that cast member Mike Nussbaum had shared an anecdote about his WWII military service in the green room.  Turns out he’d been the one that sent the telegram from General Eisenhower that ended the war–and had a copy of the telegram with his initials to boot! Talk about a human anecdote as an entree into a play about veteran soldiers.  And Veteran’s Day was just around the corner in November.  So needless to say, we had our story, and got feature segments on the local ABC TV station, and public radio, and lots of column items including Bill Zwecker’s in the Sun-Times.  So the lesson I learned was, enlist everyone from the ground up to keep their eyes and ears open for the ever elusive story.  I’m also thinking about how I can update my standard PR questionnaire to uncover this kinds of hooks in advance.  Over and out!

It’s June 2010, and my birthday’s at the end of this month, and so is my last day at my current job, Remy Bumppo Theatre Company.  I started there as director of marketing & communications shortly after they incorporated as a non-profit 8 years ago. It’s been a great opportunity to expand my expertise beyond PR (which still lights me up!), to the ongoing process of marketing.

One of the greatest professional experiences I had at Remy Bumppo, was the opportunity to go through the National Arts Marketing Project’s Advanced Audience Development Training.  It was through this 2 week intensive training I learned the discipline of creating a comprehensive, targeted marketing plan.  And the best part was, I had a real live, supportive 501(c)3 organization to implement new strategies and tactics on.  Then I got to watch, measure, adjust and repeat.

It’s been an incredible journey. I’m proud of what has been accomplished during my tenure, from developing the “think theatre” branding and positioning statement and growing a loyal subscription base estimated to reach 1440 this season, to launching  Remy Bumppo’s website, which Terry Teachout of The Wall Street Journal calls “a best theater website.” Another distinct pleasure was establishing lasting partnerships with the media, especially WBEZ 91.5FM and its Chicago Amplified program which helped Remy Bumppo expand its reach by 8% each year, (that’s over 1,000 more people listening to Remy Bumppo content each season).

A big hat tip to the trio of market researchers on my Remy Bumppo marketing committee: Nancy McDaniel, Karen Randolph and Dona Vitale.  These women were invaluable in the process of gathering data from our audiences over the years.  And I’m really proud to recount that Remy Bumppo’s survey response rate averaged an astounding 70% for hand-distributed paper surveys.  Which needless to say, gave us great data to work with.  This season we concluded a 2 phase research project, led by Dona Vitale of Strategic Focus, thanks to a grant from Arts Works Fund. In phase one, Dona analyzed the patron database for the purposes of profiling attendance habits among various segments, and in phase 2 collected arts attendance data through a 4-month long arts diary survey.  Final report and recommendations are forthcoming this summer.  I really look forward to seeing what Remy Bumppo will accomplish in the near future with this data.

I’m pleased to say that I will maintain a connection to Remy Bumppo as I start my new business Kick Start Marketing Chicago. I will be focused on PR for their 10/11 season productions, as well as the Artistic Director transition.  Can’t wait!

Kick Start Marketing has just started to build out their website!