My friend is the conductor (instegator?) of the Utah Premier Brass and has recently asked me to help him out with some creative thoughts to help get UPB to the next level.
First, let me give you a little information about the group. The Utah Premier Brass, or UPB, is a semi-professional performance ensemble made up of 30+ brass players. The group is very much in the style of the popular English Brass Bands and brings a nice change of pace to performance ensembles that exist in the standard nomalclature of american music. The Brass Band is something that has been seen throughout the United States, but has recently been moved to obscurity because of the popularity of orchestras, wind ensembles and the other like. It is nice to have in this talented area an ultimately unique sounding group that showcases another side of creativity.
Now with that out of the way .... I've been a big fan of UPB and Alan Boyer, it's conductor/my friend, for a while now. Alan recently invited me over his house to help ferret out some ideas for UPB, namely:
- Attendance
- Corporate Sponsorship
- Marketing
There were some other things, but I won't go into those right now. I wanted to talk about some reccomendations for each one slightly.
1) Attendance. No performance group can survive without fans and attendance numbers. Because of that we discussed that UPB needs to become a more recognizable brand to the Utah Valley community. When a specialty concert is promoted more people attend because the word is showcased more, but when it is a regular concert attendance drops by at least 1/3. And that's not good numbers. So in order to get numbers increased for performances we talked about getting some publicity done via newspapers/television/radio and other media mediums. Through the magic of social media outlets we will soon be launching small campaigns online. For instance ... You will be able to see a Utah Premier Brass group on Facebook, a social network that I'm a semi-active part of. And by utilizing campaigns with existing members we will hopefully start boosting attendance with the UPB conerts.
2) Corporate Sponsorship. No performance group can survive without monetary funds. With that being said UPB is launching a new "Corporate Sponsorship" program that will allow companies visibility in supporting the Utah Arts. As these ideas flush out more we will start posting more on the web-sites and other areas. This project is still in the works, but with some help we should be able to showcase some prominent businesses in the Utah Area for their support in a great performance ensemble.
3) Marketing. Now I'm not the best marketeer out in the business world, but by defining the Brand of UPB a little more I believe that we can boost attendance, sponsorship and general support of the Utah Premier Brass organization. There are many facets of this ensemble that are credible marketing angles: the volunteer performers, the heritage of Brass Bands in the establishing of the West, the transplant of the Boyers from across the pond to Happy Valley, etc. Each of these angles are great stories that should be showcased to promote the UPB organization to higher recognition.
The trick with all of these arenas is the ability to take the ideas and garnish them into actual viable campaigns and/or action items. I don't know if I have all the ammunition needed to help out much, but I will definately give this "side" project a good run. If not for anything else, but that I might try to compose a piece for the UPB and I need to keep my friendship so they don't make fun of it.
Hope to see you at the concerts!!