Meow - Marketing Cats Globally

David Low and Danielle Malone, School of Marketing, University of Technology, Sydney

In 1977 Andrew Lloyd Webber, a world-renowned composer of musicals, founded the international entertainment organisation The Really Useful Group (RUG) (http://www.reallyuseful.com/). This entertainment organisation subsequently became involved in the production and management of theatre shows, films, television productions, videos and concerts. One active business group within RUG is the Really Useful Theatre organisation (RUTG) - responsible for the production and co-production of musicals such as Cats, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat and Jesus Christ Superstar.

The production of Cats, the musical, was introduced to London theatres on 11 May 1981. Opening to excellent reviews in London, Cats went on to change the face of theatre-production history on a worldwide basis. Along with its commercial success in London came a record-breaking number of awards.

Critical to the show's success was a worldwide transfer of the show to other markets. Cats was opened in the United States Broadway theatre market in 1982. From there, it went on to achieve the position, at the time of writing this case, of being the longest running musical in the history of Broadway, eventually drawing its final curtain in September 2000. Success across this time period was not limited to the United Kingdom and United States markets; the musical's successful production history spanned the regions of South America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. Since its opening show, Cats has been presented in 26 countries and over 300 cities, and it has been translated into 10 different languages.

Cats and the Asia-Pacific market.

After many years of production in London, Cats was introduced to the Asia-Pacific market - firstly to Australia for a few years, followed by a touring production that travelled from Melbourne to Singapore, Hong Kong and Korea before eventually returning to Sydney, Australia on New Year's Eve in 1994. In terms of its marketing mix, the production and management of Cats, the musical, in such diverse locations proved to be a challenge not only for the production crew but also for the management and marketing teams involved.

The marketing of such theatre would have to be sensitive to any cultural differences between the Australian and Asian (initially Singaporean) consumer markets and, specifically, their consumer ticket purchasing patterns that relate to theatre entertainment.

The Really Useful Theatre Company - Cats in Australia.

The production of Cats in Australia began in 1985. After successful performances throughout many major cities in Australia, Cats was re-introduced to the Melbourne market from 1993 to 1994. Originally, it was presented at Her Majesty's Theatre in Melbourne from 1987 to 1988, before moving to Sydney for another successful run at the Theatre Royal in the central business district (CBD). The return production of Cats, in Melbourne spanned across eight weeks, operated six days a week, and this time it was staged at the Princess Theatre.

The theatre map for all performances at the Princess Theatre (see Figure 4) and the subsequent seating arrangements for ticket purchasers follow.

Throughout the scheduled performance period, over 2000 tickets were made available each day for purchase by the general public. As tickets were purchased throughout this time, Cats management crew identified certain consumer purchasing trends of Melbourne theatre consumers. These trends, most likely, conformed to previous experiences in the purchasing behaviour of theatre audiences in Australia and England. Australian consumers generally requested seats closest to the front of the theatre that have the best lines of sight. These consumers were willing to pay more for the tickets if the seats were also located close to the stage. Once seating in this section was sold for a performance, consumers requested seating in section B, and this trend continued through each section of the theatre as each section closest to the stage was completely sold out.

In order to capitalise on these trends in the Australian market, theatre producers developed and implemented a suitable marketing mix for their product. To retain customer interest over an eight-week production period (or longer in some cases), tickets for each performance were released on a weekly basis or block basis. This gave consumers the opportunity to purchase category A seating (seating closest to the stage) on a week-by-week basis. Throughout the season, the promotional campaign concentrated on this factor and with the desired result - the best areas (representing the largest revenue) were full to capacity throughout the entire production, with most of the B and C areas sold out throughout the performance as well.

This led to the conclusion that a key factor influencing a consumer's ticket purchasing decision in Australian was his or her perception of quality of seats over set prices. In other words, the location, or place, of seating was more important for a consumer than the price of the tickets made available at any given time. Australian consumers perceived a difference in product between the various categories of seating. When the production campaign moved to Singapore, could it be assumed that consumer-purchasing patterns would be mirrored?

The Really Useful Theatre Company - Cats in Singapore.

Prior to the introduction of Cats in Singapore 1994, most Singaporean people had never seen or experienced a theatre performance of this genre. This meant that the first step required was extensive consumer research to ascertain the following:

(i)What are the existing perceptions of the consumers?

(ii) Are Singaporean consumers' ticket purchasing patterns likely to be similar to those of an Australian audience?

(iii) Research ticketing pricing in

general.

Evidence that the producers of Cats did this research emerged from an analysis of the marketing mix and ticketing strategy of the Singapore production. First, the name of the seating plan changed from A, B and C to gold, silver and bronze. By doing so the producers attributed the concept of premium tickets and established a hierarchy with which Singaporean consumers were familiar.

Second, the producers printed attractive ticket folders for gold and silver tickets so that it was clear that these ticket holders were 'different' or special. This further emphasised the difference between the tickets and allowed ticket holders (should they so desire) to openly display their 'status'.

Third, 'extras' were included with the gold tickets, such as a free program, membership to the 'Cats' club and discounted drinks at interval, in a special area set aside for gold ticket holders. The silver tickets had extras associated with them, too.

These first three steps ensured not only that status was attributed to the more expensive tickets but also that consumers felt that they were getting more by purchasing them. Hence, these tickets became a product that was differentiated in the eyes of the Singaporean consumers.

Fourth, the advertising for the production also included a proportion of educational material, including the fact that it was the same show each night. This would indicate that the marketing research highlighted the 'gap' in Singaporean consumers' product knowledge; in particular, they were not aware that it was the same show every night.

Finally, it was apparent that the strategy for releasing tickets for the Singapore Cats season had changed from that of Australia. Tickets were being released by section, rather than by performance, and tickets for the gold section seating for all performances were released prior to any others. The cheaper tickets were released last, which would suggest this was done only after company management felt that they had maximised the sales of premium tickets for each performance.

Conclusion.

It was reported that Cats had a profitable and successful season in Singapore after changing the initial ticketing and marketing mix strategy. The next show to tour Singapore was Miss Saigon, the producers of which used a similar marketing mix and similar ticketing strategies to the producers of Cats.

Case Study Questions

1)What are the main consumer behaviour characteristics that influences the Australian and Singapore customers, as demonstrated in this case?

2)Identify and explain the key segmenting variables that could be used in describing between Australian and Singaporean consumers?

3)Explain in detail the buying decision stages with application of purchasing a ticket for the Show, Is there a difference between Singaporean and Australian consumers, why or why not