The press release below is courtesy of publicist Michelle Brandon Tabnick. Piqued by its implications, I checked the websites of the New York International Fringe Festival and the New York Musical Theatre Festival, arguably the two biggest kahunas in the summer-festival world in New York City. Neither website led me to believe they have mobile-marketing programs. Unless I’m missing something, that is — so if I’m wrong, email me, I’d love to know about them.
Midtown International Theatre Festival
Announces Mobile Initiative Partnership
With BWYNOW (299669), The Mobile Way to Broadway
The Midtown International Theatre Festival (MITF) has made its first foray into mobile with a mobile marketing campaign and a mobile website. MITF is the first NY theatre festival to embark on such a mobile campaign. Partnering with BWYNOW (299669), The Mobile Way to Broadway, MITF will connect one-on-one with its audience of theatre fans, create more buzz, drive ticket sales, and build a mobile community that will stay connected – from wherever and whenever – with the push of a button from any mobile device on the market today.
Theatre fans who text MITF to 299669 (BWYNOW) will receive news and special offers as well as a mobile web page listing information on the participating shows in the Tenth Anniversary season, running from July 13 – August 2, 2009. 43 plays and musicals have been chosen, as well as three Studio Series shows and five readings. Selected plays for SHORT SUBJECTS, a new division for plays that run under 60 minutes, will be announced at a later date. Tickets are available at www.midtownfestival.org or by phone at 866-811-4111.
“Given the bewildering array of new media bombarding us every day, I’m delighted that we can be on the cutting edge,” said John Chatterton, Executive Producer of the MITF.
“We have built a mobile community for Broadway theatre lovers and it has become a cost-effective tool for organizations to send offers and coupons to people who have opted in to receive them,” said Richard Humphrey, CEO of Redcloud Mobile, the company that powers the mobile community.
The MITF’s 2009 Season runs from July 13 – August 2, 2009 at the June Havoc Theatre, 312 W. 36th Street, 1st floor; the Dorothy Strelsin Theatre, 312 W. 36th Street, 1st floor; the MainStage Theater, 312 W. 36th Street, 4th floor; the Jewel Box Theater, 312 W. 36th Street, 4th floor; and Where Eagles Dare Studio Blackbird, 347 W. 36th Street, 13th floor, NYC.
The Midtown International Theatre Festival, now in its tenth year, celebrates the diversity of theatre. The MITF welcomes theatrical storytelling across a broad spectrum of genres, forms, identities, cultures, and appetites. The MITF seeks to nurture these new ideas, perspectives, and stories on its stages, with an eye set on guiding these productions toward future success and longevity. The festival, traditionally held in summer, represents a fantastic, often paradoxical, adventurous and intriguing cross-section of the forefront of the theatre world. The MITF proudly hosts production companies from across the country and around the globe, uniting talent in one of the biggest theatre capitals in the world.
For more information, visit www.midtownfestival.org.
