Friday, September 04, 2009
The Big List
Theater For The Future: "Theoretically, the big list would allow for the tracking of deep patron data – such as city-wide theatergoing habits of individual patrons. This would be a massive first step for small storefront theaters who are trying to gather real, actionable marketing data."
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3 comments:
From the marketing perspective, this may be really great news. From a personal perspective, I wouldn't be too keen on the idea if I were a patron of Chicago theatres. Mr. Keenan says that there are necessary check to retain privacy, but the source he links to says no such thing. This isn't to say they don't exist, but as a skeptical consumer, I'd be unconvinced. The fact is that marketing folks everywhere want as much data about our spending habits as they can get - and even theatre isn't exempt from this. At least at the grocery store, I can opt out of getting the loyalty card, or get one and share it with ten others to help protect my privacy. From the sounds of it this would be an opt-out program, not an opt-in, and even then the only way to keep yourself out may be to give a fake name. As a consumer, I prefer to give companies as little of my personal data as is practical.
While I found the article itself very poorly written and poorly researched. The idea intrigues me. Drumming up an audience is always the biggest concern of the theater and, especially for smaller organizations, it is hard to do. While I totally agree with Ethan that consumer privacy MUST be protected. The information that can be obtained from a shared database has important ramifications for the theaters in the community. In many places, theaters already share costumes, props, people, techniques, equipment, space, and many other resources, why not marketing information? This database might also have benefit for the consumer, opening them up to a bigger world of live entertainment that they may not have known about.
I agree with Chris that the article was poorly written but I do think it is a good idea. Ticket sales are very important in keeping the show going and this would definitely help with that.
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