Meet a Marketer: Jonathan Vietze, Segerstrom Center for the Arts

This interview originally appeared in the new BroadwayWorld Monthly Marketing Update, a monthly email designed for theatre marketing professionals. In each update, we'll share data and trends from our audience, wider trends in the marketing industry, helpful tools and resources that you can use to promote your shows and seasons, and, introduce you to some of the best marketers working in the arts today.

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Jonathan Vietze, the Senior Director of Series Marketing at Segerstrom Center for the Arts, brings 26 years of creative, experienced, and fun-loving leadership to the performing arts industry. A goal-oriented marketing executive, Jonathan excels at leading teams from strategy development to campaign completion, consistently bringing out the best in others. His strong marketing expertise includes content creation, advertising, event management, Tessitura, fundraising, and a deep passion for the performing arts.

What is your biggest challenge marketing productions at the moment? How are you facing it?  

Marketing is constantly changing so I think we’re at a really interesting time right now.  Our society has become so stratified and divided, whether that be by income levels, political views, or the various generations, that I think our jobs as storytellers has become so much more complicated.  And it’s certainly best that we are thinking of other voices more today (long, long overdue!), but it’s also learning that our words/images/color choices can be interpreted by people in such vastly different ways than we ever considered.  Now we’re trying to create different messages for different segments of our population (for example, different messages for different social platforms or three versions of the same email targeted to different ages) so that we are becoming much better marketers - which is both a super exciting opportunity, but also a challenge for our teams that are being asked to do even more work at the same high-quality level.

What advice would you offer to other marketers based on what is working for Segerstrom Center for the Arts at the moment?

It’s such an exciting time for touring Broadway right now. With the pandemic getting farther and farther in our rearview (knock on wood), audiences seem eager to embrace live performances again and we are honored to be that space where they can find such joy!  With this increase in demand,  we’re trying to do all we can to welcome these guests (many of them first-time patrons) and to make their experience at Segerstrom Center as positive as can be. From audience engagement activities in the lobby to welcome emails to personal notes on chairs, we are trying to make new patrons – and new subscribers, in particular – feel seen, valued and at home!  Hopefully, this positive experience encourages return visits – and maybe even some sampling of our non-Broadway products.

How do you approach designing the various assets for your campaign? Is it driven by the marketing department, the show's creative teams, or a hybrid?

For Broadway shows, our creative campaigns are mostly provided directly to us. This can have great advantages, as hopefully the tour has learned from other markets and revised their assets based upon this knowledge they have accumulated.  I think the tours are doing a really great job in both providing assets across all mediums (social content has dramatically improved), as well as revising these assets as tours progress.        

At Segerstrom Center specifically, we send so many emails, we try to work with each show to allow some fluctuation on approved images and copy so that we are finding new ways to tell their story – and not inundating our patrons with stale messages.  Some of these discussions are more successful than others, but we are all working for the same goal of maximizing revenue for the production/venue.  

We have a bit more freedom on season materials (emphasis on a bit), so we do enjoy using that freedom to create materials that resonate with our audience in particular.

Why do you utilize BroadwayWorld as part of your marketing mix?

As we share a media market with Los Angeles (and tours often visit each back-to-back), we use BroadwayWorld primarily to promote our Cabaret and Headliners Series, which brings stars direct from New York City to perform more intimate concerts in our venues.  With their enthusiastic and knowledgeable fanbase, we have found an audience that is willing to travel a bit further to see exclusive appearances from major talents like Jeremy Jordan, Patti LuPone, or Jessica Vosk.   Plus, anecdotally, the BW fans are great ambassadors and post/share about the exciting events ahead for others to see!

What has been your favorite show that you’ve had the pleasure of putting together a campaign for?

Segerstrom Center for the Arts is fortunate not only to have American Ballet Theatre as our resident dance company, but also to host North American/World Premieres of their newest works before they are performed in New York City.  While it can be challenging to have limited assets, these premieres are such a thrill for dance lovers on the West Coast and really give our gifted marketing team the chance to put their creativity to full use.   Our engagement of Whipped Cream in 2017, which featured sets and costumes by the pop surrealist artist Mark Ryden, was a real treat to work on – bad pun intended!   Both visually and verbally, we could throw out the old rules and just be completely playful and whimsical.   Plus it’s always fun to visit NYC and see parts of our campaign on a grand scale!

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