Advanced Analytics Move Centre Stage at the Royal Shakespeare Company  (email this article)

16th January, 2008 Analytics software from KXEN is helping boost audiences at Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) productions in a pioneering arts marketing move. The initiative, an Accenture-led program to segment audiences, has seen a 50% rise in ticket buyers at RSC's Stratford-upon-Avon theatre, a more than 70% increase in regular attendees and significantly earlier sell-outs for London bookings.

The improvements helped the RSC design targeted marketing programs. Following the creation of a new audience database, the KXEN software was used to identify specific audience segments and patterns of attendance behavior.

"KXEN software is unique in its ability to readily handle large numbers of variables and this enabled us to easily fine-tune the segmentation process," says Mary Butlin, the RSC'S head of market planning. "The beauty of KXEN is that 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."

Following the work, the RSC's direct mail strategy for the last London Season took a much shorter time to plan. According to Butlin, the audiences to target were clear cut, and it was also possible to tell exactly when to communicate with different groups to maximise response. "The campaign planning was much faster and more fact based, and as a result, it is easier to predict the likely response, even in London, which is notoriously difficult," she adds.

As part of the program, Accenture worked with KXEN's advanced data mining and analysis tools for audience segmentation. Following the creation of a new audience database, KXEN’s software was used to identify specific audience segments and patterns of attendance behavior, which were then applied to facilitate creation of the new marketing programs.