GENeral Admission

A Consumer Behavior Approach in Marketing to the Millennial Generation as an Audience of Contemporary Classical Music

Ever since they were given a name, marketers have been clamoring over appropriate methods to understand and exploit the Millennial Generation.* This generation has shown a sharp contrast from preceding generations in measurable ways including lack of a landline phone, a preference for laptops over desktop computers, as well as experiencing most of their adolescence online in an increasingly online world. Other key characteristics include being the largest generation in American history with over 80 million members, as well as the most native-born American generation alive. There have been predictions that Millennials will be the most brand-loyal living generation. This has shown to be true with particular brands like Apple, Old Navy and Olive Garden. But we have yet to see definitive studies to back up a higher prevalence of brand loyalty with this generation.

As major classical music institutions struggle with their aging base and how to appeal to younger demographics, it's fascinating to observe the audience of contemporary classical music ensembles: hoards of trendy, hip twenty-somethings. What are these new music ensembles doing that the symphony orchestras, opera and ballet companies are missing? Because most North American contemporary music ensembles are young (most of them have formed in the last 10 years), they do not tend to have the marketing prowess of the larger art music institutions in North America (most of which were formed in the early 20th century). Larger traditional ensembles (including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Metropolitain Opera, and the L.A. Philharmonic) have tried to reach out to younger audiences using what they perceive to be innovative programming and tracking of ads. These efforts usually result in mixed outcomes.

If there is any marketing done with these younger start-up ensembles, it is often the members of the ensembles as well as the composers whom they are performing who do the informal public relations via social media. While this is an effective way to get the word out, this demonstrates only a small piece of the marketing mix being used (very little advertising, sales promotions or competitive pricing). So why have Millennials been turning out in droves to these concerts, and how can we reach more of them?

While little inquiry has been done in this area, I have yet to see any research addressing this situation as a marketing phenomenon. How might those who do research in the field of Consumer Behavior approach the classical and new music audience? What makes Millennials tick? What is the music of this generation?

So how might the Millennial Generation interact with Contemporary Classical Music as a brand category? I have been observing this generation and their interaction with New Music for the past 5 years. While in a Consumer Behavior class at Columbia College in Chicago, our final project was to survey a target group in order to draw insights regarding their interaction with a particular brand category such as soft drinks, cosmetics and cars. At my urging, my group selected Contemporary Classical Music as a brand category and submitted a survey to everyone we knew participating in the category of new music through Facebook. I was expecting a lot of responses out of Chicago, New York, Boston and other large North American cities. What I wasn't expecting is that the survey bounced all over the world, most notably to Europe, South America and Australia. Most respondents were

located in North America, but after breaking the target group up by location, I found that the responses were rather consistent for Millennials around the world.

Why should marketers and music ensembles care about Millennials beyond their potential purchasing power? First-wave Millennials (those between the ages of 21 and 30) are already in college and entering the work force. They are still making their way into adulthood and deciding what they stand for as a generation. Second-wave Millennials (those aged 12-20) are still teenagers (for the most part) and are forming their cultural tastes. It is essential for arts institutions to engage with them and invite them to participate in the “evolution of their brand” as we say in engagement marketing circles. If we invest in them now, we will most likely see a return on the investment for the next 50-70 years.

SURVEY AND ANALYSIS

The survey was completed by over 200 individuals, 76 of whom identified as being aged 21-30 (first-wave Millennials). The survey filtered out those who were not familiar with the brand category in the first question. While this was necessary to examine the existing audience and draw insights, it left us with half of the group being composers and almost 70% of respondents being performers of contemporary classical music. While the high participation rate of composers and performers was not the ideal in identifying trends of the average (non-professional musician) concert goer, it's important to note that performers and composers attend many concerts that they're not performing on or being performed on. Also, while 76 respondents is not nearly enough of a sample size to draw hard and fast conclusions, many trends opened up with this group in a consistent way. The level of investment among these participants was also impressive as most of the 76 twenty-somethings who completed the survey gave several paragraph responses to the open-ended questions, making this a high quality group from which to draw insights.

A plurality of 47.4% of this set attends 13 or more concerts featuring contemporary music a year. Regarding the question of loyalty toward a particular ensemble or composer, a mild majority showed favoritism at around a 3.6 ranking (on a scale of 1 being “strongly disagree” through 5 for “strongly agree”) for both. I consider an average of 4 (“agree”) or above to be a strong response.

Next is where we start to see some captivating tidbits. When presented with a list of typical New Music venues (museum, gallery, outdoor setting, concert hall, university performance hall, live music venue that serves drinks and/or food, church or other religious building, private residence or salon), the participants were asked to rank them according to preference. This question received some of the highest rankings available with only one of the venue options receiving a ranking of slightly less than 3 (a neutral response).

Twenty-somethings were the only target group in the survey to rank “live music venue that serves drinks and/or food” as the highest of all the options. This seems to imply that these young adults enjoy a more casual atmosphere in venues where their favorite band might play. Also, the aspect of being able to drink a beer or cocktail while listening to this music and socializing with the new music community seems to bode well with them, something that continues to come up in some of the subsequent survey questions. Interestingly, a high preference for a traditional concert hall reflects further preferences in this group: a desire for reverence toward the music while maintaining a somewhat casual atmosphere socially. These conclusions may also be drawn from other questions in the survey that demonstrate a preference for high quality craftmanship as well as professionalism in sound production while

maintaining an interactive esthetic for the audience.

The next question reads, “Please consider the following options regarding your motivation for attending New Music concerts:” This question also received very high rankings across the board. The four most popular reasons for concert attendance were “I enjoy live performances” (4.69), “I like seeing the composers in person and hearing what they have to say about their compositions” (4.28), “I enjoy socializing with the New Music community” (also 4.28), and “I like to witness compositional premieres” (4.21). Interestingly, “I have a preference for a particular ensemble and their programming and style of performance” (3.77) came in last, but still above a 3 ranking, which could imply that Millennials are not brand loyal to their ensembles or composers. Yet.

This is where things get even more intriguing. If ensembles are to use PR (blog reviews, newspaper and magazine previews, etc) and advertising (on Facebook, sponsored links on Twitter, signage, etc.), where will they get the most bang for their buck? While “Internet/Website” was a vague choice of wording on my part, it was ranked the highest. We could assume that the participants are referring to the ensemble's website as well as any number of other options including Google searches. “E-mail list” was highly ranked, which reinforces the marketing concept of maintaining and expanding your brand's database. Establishing a database is something that can cost a brand millions of dollars, but it doesn't have to in the case of arts organizations. Arts consumers, especially the devotees, tend to want to help the organization in any way they can, even if this just means sharing their e-mail address.

“Invitation by a friend or family member” was the second highest ranking here. Once again, marketers have been trying to figure out how to harness the power of “word of mouth”, the idea that we tend to trust referrals from those with whom we have close personal relationships. Notice that this group tends to prefer Facebook to Twitter. I was a little surprised to see this, as I thought Millennials as a generation had almost completely moved over to the 140 character format of Twitter. A recent article in Ad Age confirms that second-wave Millennials (today's teenagers) are indeed moving over to Twitter as the preferred media platform. http://adage.com/article/digitalnext/teens-prefer-twitter-facebook/235934/

But for now, first-wave Millennials are sticking with Facebook. When choosing which social media platform to use, marketers of new music may want to consider if they are targeting first-wave or second-wave Millennials. The best bet is to use both consistently and in a way that is appropriate to the platform: Facebook presence should include lots of photos as Twitter should give play by play accounts of a specific project.

Have you ever wondered which adjectives to use when promoting a concert? Here are some words that seemed to resonate with this group:

I find it interesting that “sexy” and “exclusive” were the only two words that didn't fare so well here. This generation is known for its inclusiveness which might be a reason “exclusive” is not appealing. Millennials tend to distrust brands who use sex to sell them on the product. I would avoid both of these words in a marketing plan for this generation, especially “exclusive”.

Which feelings do Millennials want to walk away with after a concert?

“Unique”, “trendy” and “anxious” aren't big winners here. This is in sharp contrast with GenXers (aged 31-50) who tended to like these feelings being associated with a concert. As STP Marketing (Segment, Target, Position) continues to be the preferred method to reach the consumer, these slight variations among the living generations are becoming more and more critical in determining appropriate methods.

How do we find this audience? This is more difficult to answer. YouTube and blogs have pretty strong

responses, but no home runs here. Facebook and its ability to convey video and more recently sound recordings also comes out front. Twitter and print media don't fare well at all. In an open-ended question, most of those surveyed here attribute private music teachers and their university music educations for being their introduction to contemporary music, while many others mention friends or family who have passed along recordings. Perhaps establishing strong, long-lasting contacts with university music programs and music professors in your city is a good way to reach this potential new audience. A few others have come into contact with the brand category by chance or their curiosity to find the essential composers of their time.

Another aspect of analyzing a consumer target group is transportation choices. This is especially

important to marketers in determining the best way to reach their target audience as well as how to predict how they will interact with the brand. Are they going to see billboards on the highway, ads on bus stops in the city or paperboard inserts on the train? While none of these options were rated very high for this group, public transportation comes out on top. This is consistent with trends showing Millennials are driving much less than older generations, many of them not even bothering to get a drivers license at the age of 16. Advertising on trains and busses is relatively inexpensive, and can be a great way to reach this group. Perhaps another aspect of a preference of public transportation to these concerts has to do with the drinking involved before, during and after the concert.

There were two close-ended questions regarding programming on the survey. The first had to do with willingness to attend Saturday or Sunday matinee concerts and likelihood of increasing overall attendance by offering the same program more than once.

It is rare for a new music program to be offered on a Saturday or Sunday during the day. This may be out of tradition, or it has something to do with the drinking and socializing that usually occur before, during and after these concerts. It would appear that this group (and all the other age groups) are rather open to this idea of a matinee concert of contemporary music. They were slightly less enthusiastic about a program being offered more than once, but I think this is an idea that new music ensembles should consider, especially in smaller venues.

There were a few problems I had with this survey question. While the chamber ensemble format seemed to be the most popular, I couldn't help but wonder if this was the case because it is already the most common medium for these concerts. Solo and orchestral ensembles did okay here, but they are also less common in the contemporary classical music world. A survey respondent pointed out that I failed to mention vocal ensembles or vocal soloists here. I agree with this assessment and wonder if it has to do with my bias as a trained singer. It is still somewhat difficult to find classically-trained vocalists who specialize in new music, though we're seeing more of it, thankfully. All that said, I find that programming is what seems to differentiate these contemporary ensembles from major symphony orchestras, opera and ballet companies. This generation seeks something new. Something of its time. Relevance and authenticity mean the world to this younger audience.

Pricing was yet another interesting piece of the survey. In later demographic questions, most respondents from this group of older Millennials had achieved a masters degree, but most were also making less than $30.000 a year. This seems to be reflected in their pricing preferences as most felt comfortable in the $10-20 range. This also reflects that this group believes that price should reflect value as very few selected the $5-10 range.

I'm just beginning to compile and glean consumer insight from this survey. There were many more questions not addressed here, perhaps most importantly the 10 or so open-ended questions. I plan to do more research in these areas, especially in the form of focus groups and ethnographies. I don't consider the audience for classical or contemporary music to be limited. I'm working under the assumption that if everything about an ensemble, its programming, budgeting, and marketing mix, are executed expertly, we will see the art music of our time reaching billions of people in the near future.

Savino Mazzei is a non-practicing classical musician and a student of Integrated Marketing Communications at Columbia College Chicago. He can be found on Twitter @vinomazzei

You may contribute to this research by filling out the survey at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/NewMusicAudience

*As a sociological generation, Millennials were born on the years 1982 through 2000. While Generation Y (actually the youngest members of Generation X, born 1976-1981) have been lumped into this group of Millennials by marketers due to having similar consumer behaviors, I choose to address Millennials as a sociological generation (only those born between 1982 and 2000). These definitions of contemporary generations are based on the Strauss-Howe generational theory of William Strauss and Neil Howe.