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RSC ups attendance with analytics
Audience segmentation: no holds bard

By Julian Goldsmith

Published: Friday 18 January 2008

The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) has used analytics software from KXEN and analysis expertise from Accenture to market productions to its audiences more effectively.

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The result is a 50 per cent rise in ticket sales at its Stratford-upon-Avon theatres, a 70 per cent rise in regular attendances to shows and earlier sell-outs in London.

The company used the analytics software to segment audiences and target marketing programmes through the creation of an audience database. The software allowed the company to examine specific audience segments and identify patterns of attendance behaviour.

Accenture, which is a long-time sponsor of the RSC, lent analysis expertise to help segment its audience.

RSC head of market planning, Mary Butlin, said the software is unique in its ability to readily handle large numbers of variables, which enabled the RSC to easily fine-tune the segmentation process. "The segmentation falls out of the data naturally. It is far more insightful than us taking a guess at what might work. Now we know what will work and we can plan campaigns with real confidence," she said in a statement.