Edinburgh International Festival
Be spontaneous!
The Turn up and Try it (TUTI) tickets at the 2003 Edinburgh International Festival (EIF) were available across the full range of festival events and performances.
The Turn up and Try it scheme in 2003 aimed to build a younger and more diverse audience at the festival:
- TUTI tickets were available to everyone
- Tickets cost just £5
- Tickets were only available an hour before the start of the performance
- Guarantee of a minimum of 50 seats for each performance
TUTI tickets were a planning, pricing and promotion initiative aimed at building a younger and more diverse audience for the Festival.
Supported by the Royal Bank of Scotland and Scottish Arts Council Lottery funds, the marketing campaign focused on the informality of the Festival experience. It was aimed at conveying a message about the accessibility and spontaneity of the Festival. The marketing message for the campaign was ‘Be spontaneous!’.
A hugely successful initiative, it attracted a significantly younger, older and more culturally diverse audience than normal.
- 47% of the ticket buyers were under 45, compared to 29% for the average EIF audience
- 26% of the purchasers of these tickets were first time attendees, compared to 19% for EIF in general.
- Young people were most likely to be first time attendees: 51% of 15 – 34 year olds buying TUTI tickets were visiting EIF for the first time.
- Of the over 9,000 people who purchased Turn Up and Try It Tickets, 14% were from non-white backgrounds, compared to 3% in the overall EIF audience.
- 5% of the purchasers were unemployed people, compared to 2% who had traditionally attended EIF.
- 40% of those buying TUTI tickets said it was a last minute decision
- 43% said they were motivated by the low price. This was the main motivation for young people whereas older attendees were attracted by the spontaneous nature of the decision and the fact that it enabled them to ‘try something new’
Interestingly, the scheme was not used by a significant proportion of the EIF ‘core’ audience – they prefer to be certain of their seats by booking ahead – so the effect of the scheme was to increase ticket income, rather than reduce it, by encouraging new and additional sales.
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For more information please contact marketing@eif.co.uk or www.eif.co.uk | |