I am a HUGE proponent of partnerships! There is nothing like getting in front of a group that is loyal to a certain brand, and have that brand state that your organization has value for the group to also support you. Throughout a season, we work with numerous partners to reach new audiences, from arts organizations to corporations and beyond.

Here are some of the more successful partnerships we have had:

Dracula's Night at the Bats

Dracula’s Night at the Bats: A fully integrated campaign with Louisville Slugger Field and our baseball team, the Louisville Bats. Dracula threw out the first pitch (a bit high, but right down the middle), we had a table set up behind home plate, our promotional video was played on the jumbotron in the outfield, we gave away an opportunity to purchase $10 tickets to an entire section and  one lucky person won two season ticket packages (and Dracula handed them out on the third-base dugout).

The benefit: Exposure to a different audience in a fun and interactive way. It showed potential patrons that theatre is not as intimidating as they might think. While there was not much advance promotion of this event, the face time we had with the thousands of people at the event was invaluable.

What’s Your Talent?: For the last two years, Actors Theatre has held a local talent search titled “The Search for Ralphie,” trying to find a young man to play Ralphie Parker for A Christmas Story. This year, in order to include a wider range of kids, we changed it to “What’s Your Talent,” focusing on kids who can sing, dance, juggle, breathe fire, etc. to appear in A Christmas Carol. With public auditions, we were able to partner with numerous stores, including Bass Pro Shops, Oxmoor Center Mall, the Kentucky State Fair, and more. We were also able to include a local radio station as a partner broadcasting live by including some of our partners who also advertised with them.

The benefit: As with “Dracula’s Night at the Bats,” this event gave us access to a nontraditional audience, allowing us to interact and provide insight into the theatre and what we do. We had more than 200 children audition who are now ambassadors for life! They auditioned in public spaces with crowds surrounding them, with the final round onstage at the Kentucky State Fair, with access to hundreds of thousands of people (including media exposure). Total cost of the event: ~$250 in supplies and materials.

Tom Sawyer Treasure Hunt: We are working with Louisville Magazine for a social media/web campaign in the form of a treasure/scavenger hunt around Louisville to promote The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. It will highlight 20 of our marketing partners with clues about their establishment.

Hunters need to visit at least 10 to win – posting a photo of themselves to Facebook and tagging Actors Theatre and Louisville.com. This type of collaboration is a huge amount of effort. We hope to learn that the benefit is just as great over the coming weeks!

The benefit: Active social media promotion prior to the show opening, engaging with patrons while promoting partners with which we have worked. For the restaurant partners, it provides great exposure and actively gets more potential customers in their doors.

While we all strive for success in what we do, including partnerships, we can’t be afraid of them failing. The most important thing about a partnership is setting and managing REALISTIC expectations from the beginning. This way, should they not work out, both partners can walk away knowing that they tried their best, and it just wasn’t a natural fit.