Theater District Open House

Theater District Houston promotes Houston’s premier cultural and entertainment center, the Theater District, by supporting the performing arts venues and resident companies in the cultural district. Theater District Houston is the main organizer of Theater District Open House, a free annual event in late August that kicks off the performing arts season. In 2015, the event was rebranded from an opportunity for art aficionados to secure subscriptions at a discount to an afternoon festival offering free performances, behind-the-scenes access, street activations and immersive cultural and educational experiences. The rebrand brought more diverse audiences, creating an opportunity for a more targeted marketing approach.

The Challenge

The 25th anniversary of the annual Theater District Open House in Houston was a perfect milestone to rethink strategy and refocus energies with relevant, timely messages and visuals, particularly as the 2017 event was canceled due to Hurricane Harvey. In addition, the same creative strategy—which was conceived to drive brand awareness—had been used for the previous three years. The community event needed fresh creative that would work in concert with audience segmentation opportunities as identified in CKP’s plan.

CAMPAIGN GOALS

Increase traffic to Theater District Open House website to drive event awareness, particularly in outlying zip codes
Increase Theater District Open House event attendance with qualified leads for participating nonprofit performing arts organizations

The CKP Approach

We identified audience personas to optimize engagement and diversify reach. Using attendance surveys, Google Analytics and social metrics, CKP created three consumer groups–arts lovers, experience seekers and families looking for free activities–and positioned brand to maximize connection. To emphasize the experiential nature of the event, CKP used a fresh concept to speak to attendees’ sensibilities alongside a strong call to action, “One free day. Find your seat.”

Integrated Marketing Strategy

Marketing and media audit, analysis and recommendations

Creative Services

Creative services including graphic design, copywriting, original photography and video

Advertising

Digital marketing and media buying services

Public Relations

Media relations communications, pitching and story placement

Meaningful Results

The social media strategy had overwhelmingly positive results not only within the platforms but in effective lead generation. Messages received on social platforms increased by 122 percent, reflected in metrics that showed how effective LinkedIn and Twitter can be in B2B social media campaigns. But more importantly, there was a steep improvement in visits to the landing page for commercial inventory, as well as to a page featuring special commercial vehicle offers tied to a social responsibility program important to Houston.

Video Storytelling

Highlights and Objectives

Increase in Attendance

Increase in Web Traffic

Increase in Awareness in Suburbs

What Our Clients Say

CKP provides crucial support to Da Camera in the areas of media relations, content marketing, advertising and social media, allowing us to make dramatic forward strides in those areas. It’s invaluable to our organization to be able to draw on the deep expertise of the CKP team. CKP is always responsive and focused on our needs.

Leo Boucher

Da Camera – Chamber Music and Jazz, Director of Marketing and Audience Development

I cannot highly enough recommend CKP when it comes to PR. I thought I knew and understood PR until I started working with the brilliant minds at CKP. They look at PR differently than many of the bigger firms- more of a 21st-century approach to public relations, then the traditional way people view and use PR. They are a well-rounded group, who not only understood our business but also understood our needs better than we did, which is why our brand presence and perception have never been higher since we hired CKP. On top of the great work they do, they are a great group of people, with high integrity and work ethic. It is apparent they believe in what they do, they believe in their clients and it shows.

Matthew Kades

McDonald's Owner/Operators Association of Greater Houston, President

CKP makes my job easier because their integrated services create efficiencies, they produce quality work, and I trust them. I don’t have to worry about quality with CKP because they listen from the beginning, so I trust work is going to get done and get done well. While MassChallenge was building the plane while flying it, CKP’s flexibility and nimbleness helped us exceed our goals.