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© 2013 The Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization

MARKETING BRAINSTORMING PROMPT

The following are meant as guidelines for creating the marketing plan for your production of SOUTH PACIFIC, based on show themes. We encourage you to let this spark your own ideas and find ways to scale, adapt and mold them into what will work in your community and help to achieve your specific outreach, education and marketing goals.

SHOW SUMMARY: Set in an island paradise during World War II, two parallel love stories are threatened by

the dangers of prejudice and war. Nellie, a spunky nurse from Arkansas, falls in love with a mature French planter, Emile. Nellie learns that the mother of his children was an island native and, unable to turn her back on the prejudices with which she was raised, refuses Emile's proposal of marriage. Meanwhile, the strapping Lt. Joe Cable denies himself the fulfillment of a future with an innocent Tonkinese girl with whom he's fallen in love out of the same fears that haunt Nellie. When Emile is recruited to accompany Joe on a dangerous mission that claims Joe's life, Nellie realizes that life is too short not to seize her own chance for happiness, thus confronting and conquering her prejudices.

EVENTS/CLASSES Enchanted Evening Ball – Get inspired by one of the best-‐known songs from SOUTH PACIFIC—“Some Enchanted Evening”—and host a ball either in the theater or in partnership with another local space to generate interest in your production and additional revenue for the theater.

Have cast members perform to give patrons a “sneak peek” of the show. Consider performing “Some Enchanted Evening,” “Honey Bun,” or another appropriate and upbeat group number from your show as a centerpiece of the event’s entertainment.

Have the show’s choreographer or a cast member teach the attendees a dance in the style of the show’s choreography. (Remember to keep it simple!)

Invite local press for photo ops and encourage media coverage of the event and show. Post photos to social media feeds to encourage sharing and drum up interest for future events.

Donate a portion of the ball’s ticket sales to a charity of your choosing to help satisfy your theater’s charity and community goals, while gaining additional PR exposure.

Use the event as an opportunity to offer your top patrons and contributors tickets to the ball as a thank you for their donations to your theater.

Event / Online / Patrons / Community / Charitable / Fundraising


French Language Classes – Partner with local language teachers to offer basic French classes.

Offer several levels of difficulty to encourage participation – i.e. beginner lessons for children or adults, advanced lessons for high school students who may already be studying.

Teach “Dites-‐Moi” and its English translation for beginners.

Hire a local high school teacher; if this teacher also tutors, they might be willing to do the class for free in exchange for the publicity to your patrons (many of whom probably have kids in school). You may also be able to offer the teacher a direct email newsletter to those who have kids in school or provide flyers in your theater’s lobby in exchange for their services.

Extend the reach of the lesson by recording pieces of the lesson and sharing via social media. Run a contest challenging fans to translate Dites-‐Moi into English for a chance to win free tickets to the show.

When posting videos to YouTube don’t forget to link to the song and include credits for the song and the composer: Music by Richard Rodgers and Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II.

Event / Online / Patrons / Kids / Community

"Honey Bun" Talent Show

Pre-‐show, invite a local musician (piano, guitar, etc.) to play holiday songs in your theater’s lobby.

Post-‐show, host an open mic night or cabaret and invite community members, local students, choirs, theater alumni and/or current cast/crew to perform their own arrangements of other holiday tunes for added revenue.

This will not only give you an opportunity to build community at your theater, but will also provide an additional revenue stream through concession sales.

Work with local businesses to create a great prize pack for the winner of the talent show and feature all of your sponsors throughout the evening.

Event / Online / Patrons / Community / Fundraising

"Nothing Like a Dame" – Honoring Local Businesswomen & Female Leaders – choose a female community member to be honored each week at your show. Offer the honoree a pair of free tickets.

Do callouts in your marketing materials: program inserts, mentions on your website and social media, ad placements in the local newspaper.

Add a social media element by encouraging your community to nominate potential honorees and share what they think makes a great leader.

Invite press each week as you honor a woman from your community.

Event / Online / Patrons / Community

VETERANS/MILITARY SOUTH PACIFIC takes place during WWII, and the war features prominently in the show’s plot. Engage your local community by finding ways to involve local veterans and active military members.

Vet of the Week – Similar to honoring female leaders above, have patrons submit a family or community member to be honored as a veteran each week.

You could also team up with a veteran services organization to identify who to feature. Offer the honoree a pair of free tickets to the show.


Do various callouts on your marketing materials – program inserts, mentions on your website and social media, placements in the local newspaper (along with ticket-‐buying information on your show). You could even bring the honoree on stage at the close of the show.

Invite press to meet your honoree.


Military Night at the Theater – Designate a performance where tickets are free or discounted for active military and veterans who attend in uniform.

Connect with your local branch of the Department of Veterans Affairs and other military/veteran associations to enlist their help in spreading the word about the show and special night out at the theater.

Offer a special Talkback after the show with meet and greet and photo opportunities with your cast members.

Invite local press to cover the event and have a staff member post live to social media to encourage press and online buzz.


Letter Writing Campaign – Have kids create handmade thank-‐you cards and letters to deliver them to deployed military members on behalf of the theater, your cast, and the local community.

Take photos of the cards and share a gallery on your social media feeds.

Have the cast record a video message and create program inserts that can be included with a web address for the recipients to see the video on your theater’s website.

You can also send this out as an e-‐card to potential and current patrons of your theater.

Event / Online / Patrons / Kids / Community

CHARITY Continue the theme of service with some SOUTH PACIFIC-‐themed Charity drives and activities. Give back to your local community and the goodwill will surely come back to you and your theater.

Hospital & Nursing Home Visits – Send cast members in their nurse and navy costumes from the show to sing at local hospitals, nursing homes and other local community centers. This will spread the word about your production with the added bonus of helping to accomplish any charitable goals your theater might have. Consider donating blocks of tickets to the centers to allow some of their staff and patients to see the show for free.

Event / Online / Patrons / Community / Charitable

Host a Flu Shot drive – Reach out to pharmacies like Walgreens and CVS to team up with your company to do a flu shot drive in a mobile unit at your theater or on site at their store.

Promote it in your marketing materials and online, and request that the pharmacy have signage and materials for customers.

On the day of the drive, have cast members on hand in costume to talk about the show and drum up excitement.

Event / Online / Community / Charitable


PARTNERSHIPS Partnerships with local businesses and organizations are a great way to get exposure to new people who shop and socialize in your area, but perhaps have not been to your theater before. In any of these cases, you should set up the partnership and then discuss promotional exchanges of marketing collateral, in store signage, online links and program callouts between the business and your theater to maximize partnership opportunities. Consider the following:

Partner with a local South East Asian Restaurant – for a buzz-‐building pre-‐run event and ongoing promotions throughout the run. Connect with the restaurant in any or all of the following ways:

Host a SOUTH PACIFIC-‐themed donor dinner with a “sneak preview” of the show to help build word of mouth buzz. Integrate appearances and performances from cast members as space and resources allow. Ask each person in attendance to “like” your Facebook page before the event. Take photos at the event and tag everyone in attendance to help spread the word to their friends.

Work with the restaurant to set up a SOUTH PACIFIC-‐themed prix fixe dinner. Rename the food and drinks on the menu after characters and songs from the show. Both the theater and the restaurant should send out invites to their email lists and post on social media outlets. Ask the restaurant to share information about the upcoming event through flyers which can be given to all patrons for weeks leading up to the event.

You could offer this as a package deal through Living Social, Groupon, Savored or any other local discount site along with tickets to the show.

Exchange value-‐added discounts with the restaurant: Have the restaurant offer a % discount on their meal when patrons show a ticket stub from your theater. Offer a discount on a ticket or concessions at the theater with a receipt from the restaurant. Promote the offers in collateral, on receipts, with social media, etc.

Invite the restaurant to do a pre-‐show tasting evening at the theater to give audience members an idea of their menu offerings. Open your concessions early to sell drinks and create additional revenue. Event / Online / Patrons / Community / Fundraising / Partnership

“Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair” by partnering with a local salon or hairdresser

Do a pre-‐theater hair salon appointment. Set up a portion of the lobby with chairs and mirrors and take appointments before the show starts. Your concessions can serve drinks and create a lively social setting.

This is a good opportunity to bring your audience into the theater early to push your concessions. It also creates a community feeling around the theater. Invite local media for photo and video ops.

Exchange signage, social media callouts and discount flyer exchanges, i.e. bring your ticket stub to the salon for discount on services, and vice versa.

Have the salon hold a pre-‐run workshop with the cast to teach them how to style their wigs and hair as part of the partnership package.

Event / Online / Patrons / Community / Fundraising / Partnership

"Bloody Mary" Making Class – Team up with a local bar or restaurant and host a SOUTH PACIFIC-‐themed Bloody Mary-‐making event and brunch in their space.

Package the brunch with a ticket to a performance of the show later that day.

Consider finding a transportation partner to provide buses to the theater so patrons can feel free to imbibe their drink creations.


Post a featured Bloody Mary recipe on your website and social media channels. (This is great for Facebook or Pinterest!) Encourage followers to post their own recipes for sharing.

If the restaurant or bar is in close proximity to your theater, set up a promotion in which show ticketholders can get a free Bloody Mary when they visit the partner with their ticket stub. If this is too far to make sense, consider adding a Bloody Mary to your concession offerings for the duration of the run for added revenue.

Event / Online / Patrons / Community / Fundraising / Partnership

Partner with a Local Travel Agency – Use the show’s SOUTH PACIFIC setting to create tie-‐ins and packaging with travel and tourism both into and out of your city.

Exchange email blasts & web banner/social media cross-‐promotions, as well as physical signage & collateral.

Create and promote travel packages which include tickets to see the show.

Barter show tickets and promotional exposure to contests/sweepstakes.

Secure elements for auctioning an “Exploring the South Pacific” travel package for a donor event. Event / Online / Community / Partnership

TALKBACKS Talkbacks are a quick and uncomplicated way to offer added-‐value to your audience members, encourage further dialogue about the show and bring in new patrons. Contact local schools, libraries, museums and historical societies to help find experts to participate in your Theater’s post-‐show talkbacks. (Be sure to keep post-‐show talkbacks relatively short or schedule them as separate events outside of show times to be respectful of audience time commitments.)

“Carefully Taught” – Invite an expert to come and discuss the relationship of SOUTH PACIFIC to issues of race around the world in the past and today.

Polynesian History/Culture – Invite a historian or Polynesian Culture professor to place the show in a broader geographical and historical context. Pull out themes and moments from the show and talk about how they connect with real-‐life events and locales.

WWII Veterans – Invite a WWII veteran and historian to discuss personal experiences as well as historical context for the setting of SOUTH PACIFIC.

Book Club – In advance of your show’s run, encourage people to read the Pulizer-‐Prize winning book, “Tales of The South Pacific” and host a special book club night at the show with a moderated discussion about the book and musical. Consider involving the local library, schools and existing book clubs to help spread the word and gather more participants. This can also be done as an online event where followers and fans are encouraged to respond to discussion questions via Facebook and Twitter

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