Background

Founded in 1939, Pittsburgh Opera has long been known for bringing world-class singers to perform both iconic classics and innovative new operas with its in-house orchestra and chorus. Recently, Pittsburgh Opera partnered with Campos on a series of research engagements to inform the development of its first-ever brand campaign, designed to attract new audiences to the art form. Arts and cultural organizations often have a very deep understanding of their core customer segments—who they are, what they love about the organization, and what it takes to keep them engaged. Less understood, though, are the segments the brand needs to engage to grow and thrive in the future. Campos partners with these organizations to identify these target segments and build a category-specific understanding of their attitudes, preferences, and motivations.

Execution

Campos first partnered with Pittsburgh Opera to qualitatively evaluate two brand campaign concepts developed by their creative agency to determine which was most likely to drive attendance with key growth audience segments. We conducted virtual focus groups with these growth segments, gathering feedback on the messaging and idea underlying each creative concept and then exploring each creative concept in detail.

Results

Our qualitative research allowed us to make clear recommendations for which concept to move forward with and how to optimize it. Pittsburgh Opera and its agency moved forward with Campos’s recommendations, resulting in the “Where Can We Take You?” brand campaign. The campaign used billboards, print, broadcast television, and digital components, exposing countless individuals to the range of emotions felt by audience members during an opera performance. “We didn’t have consensus on which of the two campaign concepts to pursue,” said Pittsburgh Opera Director of Marketing and Communications Chris Cox. “Campos’s methodical, thoughtful, and thorough qualitative research yielded valuable consumer insights to not only help us pick a campaign, but to strengthen it.”   The campaign was an incredible success, producing statistically significant increases in unaided and aided awareness of Pittsburgh Opera in the market, as well as increases to perceptual metrics like expected enjoyment. As a result, Pittsburgh Opera attracted thousands of first-time buyers during its most recent season. Pittsburgh Opera has continued to build on the momentum of this campaign by introducing a variety of programs aimed at bringing in new audiences, such as free childcare during performances, free rideshare vouchers for patrons, and influencer marketing. Pittsburgh Opera has also continued to partner with Campos, most recently via quantitative research among patrons with varying levels of opera engagement to explore preferences and expectations when it comes to Opera programming, to ensure the organization continues to meet the evolving needs of its patrons. Want to learn more about conducting research with Campos? Reach out!