Brand marketing and Theatre attendance in the Netherlands

Pressure on performing arts organisations to finance their operations through private donors and selling more tickets urges programming organisations in the Netherlands to focus on making repeat-sales. For organisations with differentiated products that are experience goods, such as programming venues with its performances, umbrella branding may be an effective process to lower the consumer uncertainty and thus to build strong long-lasting relationships with its stakeholders. This thesis aims to research the effect of brand marketing as a general marketing strategy by theatre venues, on maximizing the audience of theatre plays. In a case study of theatres in the Netherlands who programmed similar performances in the season of 2013-2014, it is demonstrated that when theatres dedicate a fair amount of their marketing effort to market their entire organisation, brand marketing is an effective general marketing strategy for increasing the occupation degree of plays.