Anyone going to last performance of Hardbody tonight?- Page 3

[newintown]

Posted: 4/17/13 at 10:25am

That's assuming that the bulk of tourists from the "heartland" want to see entertainment about "themselves." You're ignoring the fact that lots of people want to get away from who they are, particularly while on vacation.

Word of mouth is much more vital to a show's survival than marketing; you can't blame every flop on its marketing. If the show isn't impressing enough people to go out and talk it up, then it just doesn't have what it takes to make a profit (all questions of inherent "quality" aside).

Some shows definitely do fail because they're too "good" for the masses (Scottsboro Boys comes to mind); I don't think Hardbody falls into that category.

Updated On: 4/17/13 at 10:25 AM

[winston89]

Posted: 4/17/13 at 5:50pm

newintown,

The reason why we are blaming Serino/Coyne is because we feel that they didn't do thier job in terms of properly marketing this show. One billboard in Times Square does not really make an add campagine.

I honestly feel tha while there was some ad work being done for this show, I feel that it was half Assed at best. You're right, word of mouth is more vital to a show than marketing. Hell, word of mouth can be better than a review in The Times these days. However, marketing is important because it gets the brand name out and sparks an interest in seeing the show. I know that from what I have read on here, most of the people that saw the show enjoyed it. And, it got good reviews. But, I agree that it was a hard concept to market, but at the same time it wasn't impossible either. I just felt that they didn't try at all.

There are many elements neeeded for a show to be a success. Marketing is one of them. Like I said, Hands on a Hardbody had an odd name and a hard concept to market. Doesn't mean that it was impossible to do. But, it goes to show you that they didn't even try. I can think of one other show with an odd name and one that turned people off from seeing it at first, yet in the end became a hit thanks to good word of mouth and great marketing (Drowsy Chaperone.)

[newintown]

Posted: 4/17/13 at 8:49pm

Well, as I said, I saw posters and TV spots everywhere - much, much more than 1 billboard.

Lots of small, odd shows have made it big, with or without sophisticated, extensive marketing. Urinetown and Avenue Q come to mind right away.

Hardbody just wasn't liked by enough people to succeed. Neither was Scottsboro Boys, a show which, unlike Hardbody, I thought was great. I have no problem accepting that it just wasn't liked by enough people to succeed. The fact that I liked it is enough for me.

[winston89]

Posted: 4/17/13 at 9:29pm

You're incorrect to say that people didn't like the show. As proven by this forum (and other word of mouth I have heard) those who have seen the show enjoyed it, some more than they thought they would. Furthermore, it wasn't like it was panned by the critics either.

But, the issue is that the concept in and of itself is a tough sell, and I feel that the producers and the marketing team didn't give it their all on this one at all. This is a show that had an Oscar winner in the cast, and a show that has a score written by a man who has a cult following of fans who feel that he can do no wrong musically. Those were two of many avenues that they should have been exploiting in order to sell this show with a tough concept. However, they didn't do anything even close to those two things I have mentioned.

And, I am sure that you're going to say that they have mentioned that Trey is in Phish. You're right, they have, but to the wrong audience. Those who follow Trey's music both solo and with Phish, had no clue that Trey was even writing a musical let alone the fact that it made it to Broadway. Like I said before on other threads, I have been to concerts where I have mentioned to people in passing if they have heard that Trey is writing a show, and they have said no. Also, like I said in other threads, these are people that would travel in droves to see his work.