Eight years ago, Larry Wilgus had to accept an ominous reality. If he didn’t dream up a potent marketing approach to multiply the audience of Spectacular Music Productions, the performances would cease and his dream company would die.
Spectacular Music was born in 1976 when Wilgus, a choral and orchestral conductor, assembled an orchestra and choir of 90 high school students to entertain 6,000 people at Canton’s Memorial Civic Center. Within a year, the choir numbered 200 performers, ages 17 to 75, from 30 towns in Stark, Wayne, Tuscarawas and Summit counties.
In 1985, Canton’s Palace Theatre became home to the company’s annual “Christmas Music Spectacular.” By 1991, a local dance troupe was added, and that same year, Wilgus debuted the annual “Spring Music Spectacular.” In 1997, the first annual “Romantic Strings” concert was performed with a 42-piece orchestra — a show now known as “October Pops.”
“At first, we were primarily a choir concert, and I think that was one reason we weren’t getting a return audience,” says Wilgus, adding that building a loyal customer base has always been a challenge. “Today, we’re more of a Broadway musical with choreography, costume changes and elaborate sets and props.”
Despite expanded entertainment, too many seats remained empty. The problem was the marketing strategy — advertising through local newspapers and radio stations, supplemented with mass mailings to previous ticket buyers — wasn’t working. The pressure was on to lure semi-classical and pop music lovers who would buy tickets and keep coming back.
Desperate for direction, Wilgus met with Sherry Gesquiere, tourism manager for Canton Regional Chamber of Commerce at that time. For more than an hour, Gesquiere rattled off pages of marketing ideas while Wilgus excitedly took notes.
“When I walked out of there, I knew that conversation was going to change our whole marketing thrust, but I jumped right on Sherry’s suggestions because I thought, ‘I’ve got everything to gain and nothing to lose.’”
The new strategy was to target the tourism market. Gesquiere explained that Wilgus must first develop marketing materials to promote shows scheduled for the following year.
“It was hard to decide what we were going to do a year in advance because at that time, we were only working three or four months ahead,” Wilgus explains.
Gesquiere also advised Wilgus to join the Canton Chamber and the Ohio Travel Association. She told him about the Heartland Travel Showcase, and encouraged him to secure a booth and strut his stuff. When Wilgus and his wife, Helen, who co-produces the shows, touted the company’s talent at the Heartland Showcase, they booked 20 appointments and the wheels started turning — literally.
“That year, we drew about 35 motor coaches. The next year, we had 56, and 72 in 1994. That gave us an immediate audience,” Wilgus says, noting that he’d also been marketing at Cleveland and Columbus travel shows. “This year, we already have 100 motor coaches booked for the Christmas show.”
The tour groups bring about 150 motor coaches annually to the productions, keep the performances going and fuel Stark’s economy. Canton Regional Chamber of Commerce Tourism Department reports reflect that the tour groups have brought almost $2 million to Canton’s economy in six years.
But building a strong local base for performances remains a major challenge for Wilgus.
“Our problem is twofold,” he says. “Most motor coach groups won’t make reservations unless we can seat them on the main floor. And the Palace Theatre has no elevator to make balcony seating convenient and attractive. So we have almost 6,500 empty seats, primarily in the upper balcony, over the 11-performance run of our three major annual shows.”
Balcony seating, typically purchased by local patrons, represents 42 percent of the theater’s seating capacity. Local visitors bought about 4,300 tickets in 1998 and 4,700 in 1999. Still, 37 percent of the seats remain empty.
“We’ve got to fill those seats to generate funds for costumes, sets, backdrops, union orchestra and music,” says Wilgus. “We exist almost entirely on earned income through ticket sales, but those sales are just not enough to secure a healthy future.”
Reducing the number of shows isn’t a solution, Wilgus says, because the current number is necessary to attract local patrons and accommodate motor coaches. But it’s too risky to maintain the majority (80 percent) of Spectacular Music’s patrons from the motor coaches.
Worried by the precarious balance, Wilgus brainstormed ways to lessen that reliance by luring local patrons. Two years ago, an idea evolved that he says may be the key to selling more tickets.
“Focusing on the idea that people go to Blossom Music Center because they want to hear music, I met with Blossom’s general manager, David Carlucci. He recommended ways we could market a show there, and said he’d do all he could to work with us.”
Booking the Blossom event, however, was no minor task.
“Blossom brings in people from around the world, and being a local boy and not a national name, it was a challenge. The Cleveland Orchestra has top priority, and Blossom is owned by Universal Concerts, which brings in national names. Kent State also has a tie-in. So, we had to work around everyone else’s schedule to find an opening,” Wilgus says.
When the date of Saturday, June 17, was finally set in stone, Wilgus went about putting it on paper.
“Even though we’re listed on some of Blossom’s advertising and on their Web site, it was primarily up to us to market our performance. We put it on our own Web site, www.spectacularmusic.org, and we hired Crowl, Montgomery & Clark of Canton to develop a major public relations campaign,” he says.
Having settled on strategic newspaper and radio advertising, the push was on to drive readers and listeners to www.TicketMaster.com, which has exclusive rights with Blossom. Then, in April and May, Wilgus sent two direct mailings to 16,582 people, from a rented a list of 10,000 names from a local database management company, combined with his own list of prior ticket buyers.
Wilgus also signed on for two months of speaking engagements, addressing 20 audiences in organizations such as Rotary International, Lions and Kiwanis. In the process, he says, he learned something alarming.
“I discovered that most people haven’t even heard of us — which is why we’re going to Blossom. This is target marketing and we’re going right to the source where we know we’ll find people who love music,” he says.
Wilgus feels confident that Spectacular Music’s Blossom debut of “Starlite Pops” will bring valuable exposure to thousands of music enthusiasts and may ultimately bring crowds to the Canton shows. He also hopes the event will inspire new singers and dancers to participate in future Spectacular Music performances.
It’s a lot of work, an expensive undertaking and a big risk, Wilgus says. But he’s willing to give it his all because this is his dream — a midsummer night under the stars, where he’ll conduct his orchestra and captivate crowds with Strauss waltzes and music by Miller, Ellington, Gershwin, and Rodgers & Hammerstein.
“If the goal is to fill our shows at the Palace Theatre, generate funds to perpetuate the programs that will continue to foster economic development, and allow our 300 local singers, musicians and dancers to use their talents — then you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do.”
How to reach: Spectacular Music Productions (330) 453-6086