NEW YORK (CelebrityAccess MediaWire) — The Nederlander Organization is launching Audience Rewards, Broadway's first patron appreciation program. The goal of Audience Rewards is to become the gold standard in patron services by providing relevant customer benefits and special in-theatre experiences for loyal theatergoers.
"Audience Rewards is our strategy for thanking our patrons for many years of loyalty and making theatergoing more convenient for everyone," says Nederlander President James L. Nederlander. "It is an important new initiative for our company. We intend to leverage our off-line assets and long-term industry relationships to establish an authorized online channel that enables our audience to interact directly with us and our producing partners."
AudienceRewards.com, which features links to all Broadway shows playing New York and touring across the country, is a one-stop-shopping Broadway website. The site enables theatergoers to learn more about the shows, to buy their tickets directly from the authorized sellers and to order merchandise. Those who sign up to become members can create an individual preference profile to determine the kinds of special events and promotional offers sent to them by Broadway and Off-Broadway shows and other partners as a thank you for their patronage.
"Audience Rewards is an important step in the maturation process of the Broadway industry," says Nick Scandalios, Nederlander executive vice president. "Many of the shows playing in our theatres in New York and around the country have become global entertainment brands and their popularity is fueling the growth of online information and ticketing. By establishing an efficient way for us to reach a national audience, we believe this program will also benefit other producers, theatres and related companies working throughout the Broadway industry."
"We see a tremendous opportunity to expand the audience for Broadway by introducing one-to-one communication with our customers and offering new experience-enhancing patron services," says Susan Lee, chief marketing officer, Nederlander. "Our goal is to build Audience Rewards into a meaningful service brand for patrons of Broadway, live entertainment and the performing arts. To accomplish our long-term goals, we collaborated with Loyalty Lab, a leader in loyalty marketing. Their specialized applications enable us to deliver personalized communications, relevant special offers and the ability for members to tell us what they like and want. Equally important, we now have the ability to segment and target our customers, analyze the effectiveness of individual show campaigns and work more closely with major marketers to expand the theatergoing experience beyond the show itself."
"Over 120 million Americans belong to at least one loyalty program, and the popularity and usage of these programs continues to rapidly grow," said Mark H. Goldstein, CEO of Loyalty Lab. "In entertainment as in retail and services, companies are increasingly reliant on personal connections with loyal customers as a way to beat back the competition and protect their relationships. We're excited by the opportunity to build and grow the new kind of experience-based loyalty program that Aurience Rewardsv represents to the theater industry."
Audience Rewards' corporate partners include Panasonic, Camp Broadway, CitySights NY, Ghostlight Records, Sh-K-Boom Records, Simon & Schuster, Telecharge.com, Ticketmaster.com, Triton Gallery, Walkin' Broadway and many others to be announced soon. –Bob Grossweiner and Jane Cohen
