LEARN: Dispatches from Capacity Interactive’s Bootcamp 2024
Recently, MPMG Partner Brian Paterson had the experience of traveling to NYC to participate in Capacity Interactive’s Bootcamp: A geekfest dedicated to digital marketing for arts & culture!
Over two jam-packed days he would hear case studies from colleagues around the globe, cutting-edge insights from high-ups at Google & Meta, and inspiring keynotes from a host of brilliant minds.
Here are Brian’s top three takeaways:
Unreasonable Hospitality
A key theme running throughout the conference was the importance of going above and beyond to welcome and recognize our audiences.
The tone was immediately set by the first guest speaker Lindsey Peckhem, Co-Founder of POMME and former Guest Relations Manager at iconic Eleven Madison Park. She shared how a philosophy of boundless generosity rocketed them to recognition as one of the world’s top restaurants.
Particularly memorable examples of boundless generosity included convincing Tiffany & Co. to donate hundreds of champagne flutes to gift to couples getting engaged in the restaurant and preparing New York hot dogs for a family bemoaning they’d missed the iconic food during their visit (an event later adapted for a famous scene in The Bear).
Central to all conversations around making audiences welcome was the infamous ‘churn’ statistic, which tells us 80 per cent of first time attendees never return to a second show (but that we have them for life, if we can get them to attend three performances). One of the most brilliant solutions in this arena came from Ballet Austin, who shared a robust study on how they made welcoming new audiences central to their operations. My personal favourite tactic: Programming ticket scanners to chime differently for first-time attendees, so that they could receive a special welcome upon entering the theatre.
AI has A-rrived
Inevitable for digital dialogue these days, AI occupied a central place in many – if not most of the conversations.
Examples ranged from compelling case studies on the effectiveness of Google Ads’ AI-powered P Max campaign type (results MPMG can vouch for, having had the opportunity to implement the tool for a few organizations recently) to New Zealand’s Auckland Theatre Company using AI to streamline its design process by creating a set of consistent reference materials for a diverse season.
Perhaps the biggest takeaway was that these tools are not at a place where they’re replacing marketers – but are viewed instead as another tool in our arsenal. This was best summarized in a slide from Google Senior Manager (and possessor of CATS hot takes) Mike Abrams.
Content Remains King
As I’m overly fond of saying, digital marketing has given us an unprecedented ability to reach arts audiences. The same commercials we had to spend thousands of dollars to run on TV can run on YouTube and social media at a fraction of the cost.
The advent of AI is only going to make this targeting more efficient and effective. What will set organizations apart in the coming years is the strength of their creative. Arts groups who invest in strong video that tells stories and represents their programming in compelling ways will see their content cut through the clutter.
A day two highlight was Capacity Interactive’s annual Arts Reel – showcasing some of the best videos across the arts sector created over the past year. There were so many to choose from, but I’ll leave you with this personal favourite: