ONLINE CONTEST HlTS HIGH NOTE IN LEADS, TARGET MAILINGS
04/30/01- Direct Marketing News
by Andrea Hannen

The entrant's ballots to an online "Escape from Reality" contest drummed up the data on the musical tastes and informational preferences of its patrons that the Toronto Symphony Orchestra craved.

Direct mail has long been a marketing mainstay for the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (TSO). Filling the seats for every performance takes at least two major mailings per year, supplemented by more than a dozen targeted waves highlighting special events and childrens' prgrams. Rustling up the donor and volunteer support needed to sustain the world-renowned arts organization takes half a dozen more.

The TSO employs a marketing staff of 10, including a full-time direct mail manager. It uses a variety of outside suppliers to keep its marketing initiatives on time and on budget.

"We have a lot riding on our direct mail investment," exlains TSO Marketing Manager Michael Buckland, "so we're always looking for new ways of generating qualified leads, keeping our lists up-to-date and ensuring that each subscriber, concert-buff and prospect gets the information that most closely matches his or her musical interests. But our funds are very limited, so we have to be certain that we're getting the most mileage from each piece we send out."

Last August this issue, combined with the need to promote the forthcoming concert season and to remind people that tickets could be purchased online, prompted Buckland to meet with John Baird, managing director of N5R, Toronto. It's a firm specializing in customized digital marketing strategies.

"In order to increase ticket sales, attract new subscribers and sell new packages to existing subscribers, the TSO marketing team needed to know more about each customer and prospect," recalls Baird, whose company has spearheaded projects for clients such as TD Waterhouse, Hershey Canada and Nissan. "We saw the challenge as being one of identifying new audiences, perhaps in demographic groups the TSO hadn't approached beofre; and of determining each audience member's musical tastes and preferred method of communication."

An online contest was devised to showcase the TSO as a progressive, growth-oriented institution, to broaden its customer base and to gather the consumer data it needed to enhance every other element of its direct marketing program. The enhancements included traditional direct mail.

The Right Questions "We hoped that by asking the right questions on the contest ballot, we'd be better able to indentify who should be receiving the 48-page concert calendar by regular postal mail, who should only receive postal mailings related to certain types of performances, who should be contacted by e-mail in between regular postal mailings and who prefers e-mail only," explains Buckland.

Soon, the Escape from Reality concept was born. The contest ran from August 1 to September 12, just in time for the launch of the TSO's fall season.

Gift certificates to local restaurants, music CD's, subscriptions to Maclean's, Sony Walkmans, and GE Microwave Ovens were among the eight prizes awarded each week. The grand prize was a dream day in Toronto valued at $7,000 and included a stay at the Metropolitan Hotel, lunch at the Four Seasons, a shopping spree and special VIP tickets to the TSO's opening night performance.

Since the TSO had been selling tickets online for longer than a year and had built a permission-based e-mail list of more than 4,000 names, a simple e-mail message was used to launch the Escape From reality campaign. Everyone on the list was invited to visit the TSO website and enter the contest.

Each ballot inclided questions abot the entrants' musical preferences and whether they wished to receive e-mail updates and/or the TSO's regular postal mailings. Entrants were also given the opportunity to earn extra ballots by providing the e-mail addresses of friends they thought might be interested in the draws. Posters at Roy Thompson Hall, advertisements in the Toronto Star and Globe and Mail, and spots on CHFI, Classical 96.3 and 103.1 radio stations drove even greater numbers to www.tso.on.ca.

Mixed Media Strategy The results raise some important points about integrating new media with more traditional marketing methods and illustrate how a strategy that combines the two can enhance relationships with customers and cut customer acquisition costs. In just five weeks, the TSO attracted some 5,000 new participants to its opt-in e-mail list, more than half of whom volunteered their regular postal mailing addresses and asked to be sent printed information about the TSO's upcoming season and feature events.

Even more impressive is the fact that these 2,500 new, pre-qualified leads could be segmented by musical preference, rather than just by postal code. Buckland credits the campaign with giving the TSO a five percent increase in top-tier prospects for traditional direct mail and attracting a younger audience to this season's performances.

"But a strong online presence and a good e-mail database are critical as well. There isn't always time to do a major postal mailing if ticket sales are slow for a particular date."

This reflects the online marketing experiences of many of the other companies and organizations that N5R has worked with in recent years.

"Because our expertise is is in developing digital marketing strategies, new clients often think that we're going to suggest they substitute e-mail for direct mail", explains Baird. "There are times when clients need the speed of a digital campaign. We've pulled together some very effective promotions in less that two weeks. But using digitial initiatives such as the tell-a-friend feature in the Escape From Reality contest can also help advertisers who rely heavily on traditional direct mail to identify new, high-quality prospects and lower the cost of sutomer acquisition."

High referrals rate Fully 25 percent of the people who participated in Escape From Reality were referred by friends. TSO staff noted marked similarities in musical preferences between first-round participants and those they referred.

"We often find ourselves developing online contests and using persmission-based e-mail to help our clients pre-qualify or better segment those who will receive printed packages," says Baird. "If someone has already said yes to what you'll be sending, you can at least be reasonably certain they'll open it when it arrives."

Baird also says it's not unusual to find that a company's e-mail and direct mail initiatives are reaching two different market segments, that they're accomplishing two different goals for the company, or that a combination of the two allows a higher level of engagement between a company and customers.

He adds, only half jokingly, "there's a reason so many digital marketing firms are still using direct mail to attract new clients. It works."

Andrea Hannen is a freelance writer based in St. Catharine's, Ont.