During Monday’s drive from Independence to Zanesville, OH I was listening to Q104, a pop radio station out of Cleveland, when I heard the following advertisement for the Cleveland Orchestra’s performance this weekend of Orff’s Carmina Burana:
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Hmmm. Is the Cleveland Orchestra really performing Carmina Burana “in support of” the Cavs’ playoff run? I’m thinking probably not exactly, since I’m sure the concert was planned well over a year ago and it seems unlikely that a possible Cavs playoff bid factored into the Cleveland Orchestra’s decision to program the piece. Or does “in support of” mean that the orchestra has worked out some kind of creative ticketing where a portion of the proceeds from these shows will go into the Cavs’ bank account? (Also unlikely since I can hardly think of anything more overpriced than a ticket to a pro basketball game.) I’m also not sure how I could “root the Cavs onto victory” by going to Severance Hall to hear the performance. I mean, if I was a true Cavs fan wouldn’t I be at home in front of my TV or out at the bar on Friday night watching the Cavs game and not listening to the orchestra? Perhaps if they showed the Cavs game on two huge video screens flanking the orchestra during the performance I might consider. The PR materials for the concert don’t illuminate anything about an orchestra-Cavs connection and don’t actually mention anything about the team at all. Different strokes for different folks, or more appropriately in this situation I’m guessing, different messages for different media outlets.
Barring any truth in the far-fetched idea that the artistic staff of the Cleveland Orchestra was banking on a Cavs playoff berth to coincide with this performance, it’s likely that the orchestra’s PR and marketing departments are attempting to harness the energy in Cleveland surrounding the Cavs (and their use of “O Fortuna”) in the playoffs as a way of attracting (luring?) a new / potential audience they normally don’t touch. Isn’t that what we’re all after? What caught my attention, of course, was the fact that this spot aired on a Top 40 station and not in support of some local NPR programming, which is where you’d expect to hear an advert for the symphony. Maybe I should start unexpecting myself™ when it comes to the types of ads I think I’m going to hear [via various media outlets].
What do you think of this ad? Is the Cleveland Orchestra trying to bank on the popularity of LeBron James and the Cavs in the playoffs by advertising this concert with a tenuous musical connection between the orchestra and the the team? Is this an example of the orchestra’s marketing department being aware of their city and what gets people excited and making an honest effort to attract a new / different crowd to Severance Hall? If you went to the concert based on hearing this spot on Q104 would you be pissed off if there was nothing Cavs-related at the show and LeBron and the team didn’t come running out during “O Fortuna”? Or would you not care that LeBron wasn’t there because you were so overcome with the power of the music?
The use of celebrity as a means to market classical music to the masses—hey, it works for everything else—reminded me of the suggestion my saxophone teacher at the University of Michigan made w/r/t making the World Saxophone Congress (yes, I know, I’m laughing too) an event where we weren’t just playing for ourselves and with ourselves (and yes, I meant it that way) but rather something that would appeal to a broader public. To recap, he thought the best way to attract more / different / new / potential audience members was to have three famous saxophonists—Kenny G, Bill Clinton, and Kareem Abdul Jabar—play Hook trios as part of the event. Brilliant, in my opinion. What is so smart about this idea is that the celebrities are actually engaged in the activities and engaged in the art rather than simply being used as window dressing to lure potential audience members to a show.
Using a celebrity to attract a crowd for a single event might succeed in increasing numbers for that particular event, but will it actually foster lasting relationships with anybody who attended simply on the basis of star power? But if a celebrity is engaged, I mean genuinely engaged, would that do more for the promotion and cultivation of a new audience?
Is LeBron into classical music?
Would / could he help sell more tickets to the Cleveland Orchestra?
Is the Carmina Burana radio spot on Q104 slick marketing?
