MACT

By John Schroeder, Grand Rapids Players

At Grand Rapids Players, we like to ‘play’ beyond the stage. Generating buzz and excitement for an upcoming production is a key marketing goal in striving for box office success. A few years ago, we produced CLUE: on stage, and we came up with an idea to host a Citywide Game of CLUE to generate excitement for our production, and also to entertain the community all the way up to opening night. We printed life-size cutouts of our six suspects, each holding a weapon, and we positioned them at six locations around town. Community members would get a game sheet to deduce the who-what-where, and enter their completed sheet at the door of the performances for a chance to win gift certificates we purchased from local businesses. For those curious to know more, or would like to mimic the game for their upcoming production, you can view the details at https://www.grplayers.com/cluegame

As we entered into a production of Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express adapted for the stage by Ken Ludwig, we wanted to create a similar community wide experience to build buzz for the show. Instead of a Citywide Game of CLUE where completed game sheets were turned in, we decided to run with the theme of the story and have our participants get passports to stamp. We came up with ‘Orient Express- Passport. ‘A Spirited Itinerary.’ In addition to collecting stamps on the passport from participating businesses, we wanted to support those businesses by generating sales for them. We reached out with a proposal that each business (a bar, brewery or restaurant) would offer a different cocktail inspired by one of the colorful characters in the story. This partnership is a win-win-win. Win for the businesses to get traffic in their door and increase their sales, win for the audience who has a fun time and a chance to be drawn as a winner with a completed passport, and a win for Grand Rapids Players to generate excitement for our production and entertain our community.

We know cocktails can be expensive, and not everyone can drink them- so one key component in this game was ‘no purchase necessary.’ We encourage people to try the character-inspired cocktail and patronize the businesses, but it’s also possible to just stop in and stamp the appropriate place in the passport. Knowing our key demographic, and wanting to support the community in every way we can, the prize is a gift card we purchased from our local bookshop. That also ties in with literary element of the play selection. As a result, the participating businesses are helping to promote our performances, patrons are having a fun time collecting stamps and tasting character-inspired drinks, and for a relatively low financial cost we are benefiting from viral marketing effects.

We hope you can take these ideas for your upcoming productions and run with them- play with your community and promote your production. If you’ve been inspired, we’d love to hear from you at info@grplayers.com. Those curious to know more about this particular promotion can view the details at https://www.grplayers.com/passeport.