| The Canterbury Cathedral Choir |
 |
| 1999 Tour to the U.S. and Canada |
|
| One of the world's preeminent choral
ensembles, The Canterbury Cathedral
Choir (see
tour web site), returned to North America
for the first time in five years in April,
1999, to make a highly successful fifteen-day
commercial tour of the U.S. and Canada. |
|
 The
Choir performed in some of the most distinguished
venues in major cities and offered a rich
program of masterworks spanning the centuries,
including several pieces by contemporary
American composers. Over half the tour
concerts sold out, with the remaining performances
drawing near-capacity crowds.
In addition
to the commercial engagements, the
Choir performed a free sampler concert
in the Grand Court of the Lord and
Taylor Philadelphia store -- home to
the famous Wanamaker Organ and a national
historic landmark. Master of the Choristers
David Flood conducted a workshop and
open rehearsal for regional choristers
during the Choir's weekend in Atlanta
at the Cathedral of St. Philip. |
|
| Comprehensive Management Services |
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| The tour project, encompassing some 15
months of work, was a joint management
venture of Stewart Strategies Group (formerly Reputation
Management) and MTS Travel Management
Group of Lancaster County, PA. Together
we supported the Cathedral with project
planning and development, financial management,
travel and logistical management, marketing,
promotion and production services. |
|
| This demanding assignment drew from the
experience of our performing arts practice
-- which has included projects for a number
of the nation's most distinguished organizations
and music festivals -- as well as our corporate
work serving a dynamic group of organizations
in diverse industries. |
|
| In close conjunction with our partner,
MTS Travel, Stewart Strategies Group planned
and developed a working budget. Together,
our firms managed the complete financial
operation of the tour -- including venue/host,
supplier and collaborator agreements, box
office and advertising sales. MTS plotted
a supplemental itinerary of touring and
social events to provide the Choir with
a complete visit. There were excursions
to historic sites and popular attractions
as well as private functions and quality
time with the host families. Our firms
also managed the myriad details required
in the event production process, with the
highly competent support of our host venues. |
|
| The Challenges |
|
| Producing a maximum response was critical
as the project was funded primarily by
ticket sales. The total tour capacity was
some 8,700 seats across ten venues. The
marketing strategy required a synergy between
components to build and sustain a unified
national profile while intermittently impressing
targeted vertical segments locally with
hard sales messages. Despite Canterbury's
global name recognition and stature in
the choral realm, nothing could be left
for chance as the tour was heading to some
of the most competitive markets. |
|
| Maximizing the New Technologies |
|
| Stewart Strategies Group developed what
we believe is one of the earliest successful
implementations of an integrated Internet
strategy to support marketing and ticket
sales for a project of this character.
Shortly after Christmas, we launched the
tour web site. It contained specially produced
tour photos, rich content on the Cathedral,
the Choir and all things Canterbury, the
official concert program (one program for
all performances), the itinerary (with
links to the venues with web sites) and
an E-commerce application for ordering
tickets in the U.S. (The Canadian venues
were on a guaranteed fee model and responsible
for their own sales.) |
|
| We registered the site with a number
of search engines and reached agreements
for linking it from major performing arts,
choral music, cathedral, religious and
other related sites and portals. Naturally,
the web address was imbedded in every communication.
During the tour's peak sales period the
site was reporting an average of 75-100
unique visits per day. For a classical
music site, that's quite a bit (it's not
a Rolling Stones reunion tour). |
|
| An Integrated Approach |
|
| The web site was the cornerstone to a
fully integrated program that included
direct mail, media relations, advertising,
point-of-purchase promotions and constituent-influencer
communication. MTS Travel dedicated a toll-free
800 number for information and credit card
orders. Our design counsel created a unique
visual motif for the tour materials that
extended to the web site, tour posters,
flyers, direct mail postcards, advertising
and even letterhead. |
|
| We worked with Canterbury's American
distributor in marketing their recordings
and distributing tour materials to retail
outlets in the seven U.S. cities, including
Tower Records. Some 40,000 color postcards,
with local concert information, were dropped
across the seven U.S. markets -- following
successful agreements to acquire qualified
prospect lists from prestigious national
and local organizations. We conducted a
similar direct communication via a series
of E-mail broadcasts to permissible, qualified
lists and included a link back to the web
site for further information. |
|
| Full-color collector's quality tour posters
were produced and distributed nationally
to a variety of businesses and retail outlets,
churches, universities and cultural centers
for early community visibility. Finally,
we produced an advertiser supported souvenir
program book that was liberally distributed
at all venues, to the media, and various
constituent segments to extend the Choir's
marketing reach. |
|
| Significant Media Response |
|
| The Choir garnered local television coverage
in most of the American cities, and Mr.
Flood participated in a number of interviews
including for WFMT Radio's weekly Music
in Chicago program, The Atlanta
Journal & Constitution, and the FW
Weekly in Fort Worth. In addition to
many regional magazines, the Choir received
significant attention in major newspapers
such as The Philadelphia Inquirer, The
Dallas Morning News, the Fort Worth
Star Telegram, The Hartford Courant, and The
Lancaster (PA) Sunday News. A
majority of them designated the coverage "Critic's
Choice". National coverage included British
Heritage magazine, Early Music America,
The American Organist, and Episcopal
Life, among others. |
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| The
Canterbury Cathedral Choir Tour Site |
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