Closing Plenary: The Urgency of Shared Values
In our closing plenary session, we hoped to achieve two goals: bring our full group up to speed on the key takeaways of what we covered across the summit and provide a clear set of steps to help members start their journey to come back stronger.
Addressing the Key Question of Our Summit: How do bring our audiences back in a robust way?
As we spoke to ABA members across the summer, we were consistently asked, “How do we bring our audiences back in a robust way as soon as we safely can?”. The goal of our Summit was to provide an answer on the ONE thing arts organizations can do right now to make the most difference to the audience return issue.
The short answer to that question is that strong return depends on casual audiences coming back. Most arts organizations have been focused on loyal subscribers and donors thus far, which makes a great deal of sense. But when it comes to filling fully open halls in the future, it’s casual audiences that organizations need to be most concerned about and it is critical to think about how to engage them right now.
Emotional Connection is the Key to Building Loyalty during Closure
Our research has shown that emotional differentiation connection is the most powerful loyalty driver. Right now, arts organizations must draw on the power of emotions to connect to their casual audiences. Most arts organizations are used to talking about performance elements, but in this time, they need to be thinking about how to dial up the emotional connection. Our research shows that this emotional differentiation is even more important to those who do not know you as well. Many arts leaders may understandably ask, isn’t our performance emotional enough? And the answer is yes for some audience members, but it’s not true for enough people to sustain your organizations.
Our audience survey showed that audiences split into two major groups in terms of need for emotional marketing. One third of audiences are attracted to what’s on stage – the performance elements alone are meaningful and emotional to them. But the remaining two-thirds are there for a different set of motivations—many of which are from what is on stage. These are more likely to be the casual consumers of the arts. However, all of these people are worthy of engagement and are even more likely to be persuaded by emotional differentiation.
Shared Values Build the Highest Level of Emotional Connection
So that begs the question, how do arts organizations connect emotionally with those for whom the artform itself is not emotional-connection enough? There are varying levels of intensity of emotional connection. As you ratchet up the intensity, you resonate more deeply with target customers and your loyalty grows. The “lowest” level of emotional connection are functional benefits expressed enthusiastically (think infomercials). The next level is translating product features into emotional benefits. For example, it’s not that your anti-perspirant has effective ingredients, it’s that you can have more confidence because your anti-perspirant has the right ingredients. The third level is connection to higher order benefits. We all know of brands that manage to stand for something that’s bigger than the category they’re in. Ben & Jerry’s is about saving the planet, Volvo is about protecting your family. If you can connect with customers (or audience member, in our case) at that level, then you are going to get higher loyalty.
Key Characteristics of a Shared Value
The next logical question is what is needed to reach the level of a shared value? There are five key characteristics of a shared value:
It is emotional: in particular, it resolves an emotional tension the consumer is feeling – maybe they can’t live their lives the way they want, and you can help them do that. Think back to the Dove commercial we watched in the opening session. It found a point where women were struggling with their self-image and it positioned itself as a friend to help them dump that baggage.
It is higher order: it is above the category. In the Dove example, it is not about the attributes of soap and lotion. It is how women feel about themselves.
It is relevant: there are very likely clear points of intersection with the current social or political environment or other aspects of mass culture.
It is credible for you to be talking about it. Authenticity matters a lot here. You can’t just be riding the coat-tails of a movement without genuine commitment to it. In Dove’s case, some of that comes from its track record for speaking out on this issue and the partners its chosen over time.
It is differentiated. Can your brand be shorthand for this value in the way that Patagonia is for environmental sustainability? For Dove, it’s products are true to the value. They are about revealing beauty rather than masking flaws.
The Risks and Rewards of a Shared Values Strategy
When you think “living their values,” sportswear retailer Patagonia is a great example. In their minds, they are not a clothing company. They’re a planet-saving company that happens to sell clothes so people can get out and see the planet. They advocate for this value even when it conflicts with the company’s near-term revenue interests. For example, they put out ads discouraging people from buying their jackets new and created a market for used clothing on their site. Patagonia has clearly made a significant commitment to its shared value. But that approach does come with risks.
On the plus side, Patagonia has received additional loyalty from people who appreciate the values-led approach. It has also allowed the company to attract the right partners and ultimately advance their mission in the world. In terms of the risks, there are, of course, going to be some people who aren’t interested in sustainability and may even be turned off by it. There’s also the issue of stakeholders, who may balk at decisions made based purely on those values – particularly those that go against short-term revenue gains. Such a clear commitment to a value also raises expectations that they will live those values and may face backlash if they have a misstep. However, it’s precisely because Patagonia is willing to take a risk that it is admired. We’ve seen over and over again that the benefits of attracting a loyal fan base outweighs the risks of driving people away. That said, going after shared values is a decision you need to make with deliberation. During our last session, we addressed the main concerns about a shared values approach that have been raised during our summit:
Not sure I can get to a single shared value
Not sure I should get to a single shared value
Not sure I should undertake an initiative like this right now
How can I get the most benefits as quickly as possible
Serving Many Constituents with a Single Shared Value
We started with the concern of could/should you get to a single shared value that will appeal to multiple stakeholders. Nike is a great example of how a single umbrella shared value statement can serve multiple constituencies. Nike has long pursued a wide range of consumers – from amateurs to elite athletes. Yet Nike is one of the best at unifying under a single theme. A few years ago, they came out with a video ad in which the fundamental idea was “if you have a body, then you are an athlete”. This essential shared value—if you are pursuing greatness, then you are great—unifies all their constituents. It’s what everyone believes, from amateur to professional, when they decide to put on the clothes and try.
Nike has since taken the articulation of their shared value statement - the pursuit of greatness - a step edgier with their Colin Kaepernick ads that say “believe in something, even if it means sacrificing everything”. This campaign was certainly a risk, but it paid off. By taking a strong stand, Nike attracted more people - and a wider range of people - than they would have by staying silent.
It’s worth noting that you don’t need to take such a risky stance, certainly not from the start and maybe not at all. American Express is an example of a company who has taken a strong stance, without generating any controversy. Their support of small businesses through their “Thinking Small” initiative, including the development of Small Business Saturday, offers clear support for small businesses without demonizing the Amazons of the world. Taking a risk could lead to greater gains, but it’s not necessary. Many arts organizations aren’t quite ready for that level of exposure. It may feel more comfortable to start with small business, or health, or learning, or personal growth, or family — and build from there.
Why Now is the Time for a Different Approach
Many people still may be left with the question of “Is it worth it?” At a time when arts organizations desperately need every supporter they have, do they really want to risk turning anyone away. Our answer to that comes with bit of tough love. A vast majority of arts organizations have faced declining audiences for years. The “appealing to everyone” strategy has not been working. If this trend continues on the back end of the pandemic, it could be a real challenge for the arts and culture industry as a whole. However, we have seen how other industries have emerged from crises stronger, and we firmly believe arts organizations have an opportunity to strengthen their position through this crisis by appealing to emotions through a shared values approach.
It’s important to remember that this is a journey –becoming a shared value-led organization is not something that happens overnight. However, there are things you can start doing today to take those first steps. Initially, you can begin with using emotional marketing as a tactic – communicating what you do in education and community engagement to your audiences, for example, or organizing your digital in emotional themes. As your organization understands its shared values, you can make a commitment to a single ‘umbrella’ shared value message in your marketing. Once that is cemented, you are able to align the organization around the strategy of shared values, leading to consistency in focus across marketing, development, community engagement, and internally.
Building a Shared Values Strategy
Identifying Your Shared Value
The first step to take in building a shared values strategy is to identify your shared value, and the first place to look for your shared value is inside your organization. What is your origin story? If you don’t have an inspirational origin story, look for inflection points in your history where you’ve had to make tough decisions or taken a stand. Essentially, you are on a forensic mission to find clues to your reason for being.
Audience values are the other side of ‘shared’ values - otherwise they’re not shared. It can be hard to think about having conversations with your audience to learn about their values. We shared an example from Utah Symphony to highlight a simple way to unlock audience values and attitudes toward their organization. Utah Symphony reached out to loyal audience members and asked them to bring 10 images that represent the symphony to them. The catch was that none of the photos could include the concert hall, musicians, or instruments. They wanted to move beyond those obvious images and get to images that represent audience members’ feelings about the symphony. During the interviews with these audience members, Utah Symphony used the Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique (ZMET).
Once Utah Symphony completed these interviews, it was time to organize what they learned. ZMET uses a concept called laddering, where you start with the product features mentioned by interviewees and ladder those up to product benefits which then connect to personal benefits and finally to values. Upon completing this work, Utah Symphony used the identified values to inform their marketing communications, moving from program-based marketing to values-based marketing. Since implementing the change, they’ve seen an increase in ticket sales, revenue, and reactivated buyers.
Bringing Your Shared Value to Life
Because digital is a central focus for most arts and culture organizations right now, it’s a good place to start thinking about how you can use it as part of your shared values strategy. There is no question that there has been massive progress around digital during the pandemic, but most organizations are not producing at a pace and consistent quality level that would allow them to say we have developed a new, dependable way to create value for audiences. Instead of working to ensure that each piece of content you put out will have enduring value on its own, it may be better to think about each digital content object as a piece of the puzzle of your shared values message.
We revisited Ballet Austin during our closing session because after looking at hundreds of arts organization’s websites, they stood out as one of the few who clearly expressed what they are about through their digital content. Their digital content is framed under the tagline “Be well”, stemming from their shared value of encouraging health and well-being in the community--not just through ballet, but in general. They have introduced several sub themes of Be Well – for example, be generous, be creative, be happy, be curious – that are all nested under the theme of wellness, giving them flexibility to appeal to multiple audience and the ability to increase the likelihood that they will be remembered. Making sure everything you produce is put into the context of the same emotional umbrella is one key part of bringing your shared value to life.
The other important thing you can to do bring your shared value to life is more of a mindset shift than a specific action. Brands that have really nailed their shared value, like Patagonia, think of their community engagement quite literally as leading a movement. They find the people in the world who can help them save the planet, and then figure out things they can do together to make that happen. Woolly Mammoth, a theatre in Washington, DC known for risk-taking and community activism, takes just this approach to select its community partners. They have language all over their website around catalyzing a movement, particularly in their community impact programs. Woolly’s list of community partners reads like a greatest hits of organizations in that fight to challenge the status quo. By simply looking at their list of partners someone would have a good sense of what their organization stands for.
This stands in sharp contrast to many organizations, who classify their partners by type, not by purpose: adult education, working with kids in schools, free outdoor programming. Communicating partnerships that way doesn’t tell people what you stand for uniquely as an organization. To be clear, we don’t believe that every group could or should actually start a movement as part of its shared values partnership strategy. But when thinking about how to choose partners, make your decisions like you are trying to start a movement to advance the good that your shared value can do in the world.
Summary of Key takeaways
We closed our final session with the main lessons we hope our members take away from the past few weeks:
Our ability to recover quickly and sustainably from the pandemic depends on our ability to bring back not-yet-loyal audiences back to our venues when it’s safe.
There’s a clear lesson from consumer brands about how to increase the loyalty of casual buyers—emotional differentiation.
The most intense form of emotional differentiation, and therefore the most successful at building loyalty, is connection around shared values that both we and our audiences both believe to be part of “who we are.”
Anything we can do right now to connect emotionally and communicate the impact of our community engagement efforts to audiences represents an advance over our current programming-dominant approach
That said, the biggest benefits come when our work transcends marketing, and we become known in the market as a champion for a higher-order shared value whom audiences can rely on to help them make progress in their lives
Now is an especially opportune time to get going, both because of the urgency of our need, the void left by lack of in-person programming, and the range of emotional needs that exist for audiences in quarantine
Taking the First Step
To help our members take the first step on the journey of shared values, we created a catalog some things you could easily do next week (see below). We’ve organized these action steps in to things you can to develop your shared value message and things you can do to live your shared values.
ABA is also working on additional resources to help our members create and embed a shared values strategy. We will have a set of tools, like a checklist of things you can do next week, but also diagnostics to align your organization on your values and the importance of shared values. We will also have virtual workshops that will help to teach your teams about shared values and align everyone around a particular vision. Finally, we will be scheduling a session in mid-December to go through more detail on our motivational segments and the results of the New Loyals survey.
The choice is yours on what to do next but know that you’ll have ABA by your side. Your member advisor will be reaching out to see how we can best support your organization as you embark on this journey.
