The Analysis Of The Irish Chamber Orchestra

Company Background

Based in the University of Limerick, the Irish Chamber Orchestra (ICO) is a classical music ensemble. The ensemble perform concerts regularly throughout the year on both the national and International stage . Presently, the brand is losing its relevance in the Irish culture and entertainment scene and is looking for ways to grow its customer base, patronage and brand recognition.We have been tasked with devising a year long marketing strategy to investigate and uncover certain ‘truths’ about the overall market, the brand itself, its customers etc. The insights generated from this research endeavor would greatly inform our marketing recommendations for the organization.

Research Aims/Objectives

From the briefing session held with the client and our understanding of ICO’s marketing challenges as contained in the marketing brief, our research efforts would attempt to cover the objectives below: To understand the (Irish) classical music market (trends, challenges and opportunities) in other to develop a SWOT analysis for the ICO brand. To discover customers’ current attitudes and motivation towards Orchestra with special focus on the ICO brandTo analyze the potential customers and identify motivations that can be leveraged to induce trial, affinity and loyaltyWith the ever changing landscape in which people interact with entertainment , we would like to examine ways in which to present classical music to younger generations and determine pricing models that would attract same.To assess different marketing channels including online and offline and determine those that would yield the best returns for the organization.

Target and Study Population

The audience for classical music has always been small. It is a peculiar form of art with its core audience being individuals from age 50 and above. In order to increase our understanding about this form of art, our research would be conducted amongst 2 categories of individuals:Internal Stakeholders: The individuals who are already a part of the Irish Chamber Orchestra fall under this category. These would be the performers, music directors, administrative staff etc, that work closely with the ICO. This set of individuals can help our understanding of orchestra and similar art forms, the uniqueness of the ICO and the opportunities and challenges within the ICO. Asking questions like “What value are you getting from this?” could definitely lead to some revelation that could be used to attract new audience. It would be quick, simple and transformative.

External Stakeholders

This is the most important category to target when it comes to attaining knowledge about a specific form of artistic venture. The most important external stakeholders are the target audience, which in this case are individuals between the age of 50 to 70. School art teachers serve as an important external stakeholder as well. ICO can benefit from young classical music enthusiastic arts students who could eventually become ticket buyers.Institutional and individual donors are another important group to question. Inquiring with them about what attracted them on the first place to financially support such an orchestra committee could help us gather information regarding the aspects that could attract new audience.

Methodology

There are five key research objectives in the proposal, according to the situation of each objective, we would use different methods to conduct the research. These proposed methods are:

• Secondary research
• Focus group
• In-Depth Interviews
• Survey Secondary Research

Otherwise known as desk research, this will be the first stage of our research task, to help us gain some background knowledge and collate useful leads e.g. a list of ‘who’ to interview.Through collating and analyzing the secondary data, such as company reports, sales records, customer profiles of similar brands news reports etc. we would be able to generate valuable insights that would inform some of our strategic recommendations.

Focus Groups

Focus group would be used to learn how customers and potential customers feel about the brand and gain insight into their motivations and emotional involvement, explore general customer attitudes and motivation towards orchestras (as well as other similar forms of entertainment), and their preferred choice of marketing channels. This method is useful because if done right it can stimulate new ideas and thoughts from respondents.

In-depth interviews

This marketing research interviewing technique would be used in situations when technical or sensitive information or where expert opinions are needed, or to gather detailed information from customers and potential customers. In-depth interviews would be conducted either virtually during a prearranged for time, or face-to-face, either at the individual’s home or office or in a central location, such as a mall, or other publicly accessible space Survey. Self-administered online questionnaire will be employed in this research to make the marketing research result more representable and realistic. This method is very useful especially In terms of price, it’d make it easy to find out which pricing model or price range would be the most proper one for our target customers. Surveys would also help us uncover facts about the target audience’s lifestyle that relate to the brand and its product offerings. Additionally, it would also be used in determining perception, motivation, attitude and channel as some simple questions addressing these can be put in the questionnaire.