How to Promote for Broadway

I spoke to a friend of mine, Robert Worshinski who graduated from Mount Saint Mary College in Newburgh, NY in 2007. He was a Marketing Major with a minor in theatre production. Robert gave me a short lesson about how to go about promoting a show.

Q-What is the first step to promoting a show?
A-The very first thing you have to do is make a budget for the entire production. About 15% of that budget is used for the show's promotions. The rest goes into the characters, set, playbills, costumes, etc.
Q-Isn't the playbill part of the promotion?
A-Well yes, but it's not the same budget. It's separate from the show's advertisements. In the back of the playbill, there is a list of people who have helped and organizations who want to advertise their companies in the playbill. There are names of people who deserve special thanks. The show couldn't have been possible if it wasn't for these people.
Q-So how does advertising for the show work?
A- First, you have to figure out who your target market is for the particular show and what media outlets would reach them the best. For example, Les Miserables, would attract an older audience, so advertisements would be more successful in a news paper, than in a kids magazine. Whoever is making the ad has to create story boards and present it to a board of directors and if the advertisement is liked, they have to delegate the work. It's a very long process.
Q-What are the most common advertisements for this industry?
A-Ads for Broadway shows are usually in news papers, radio advertisements, tv commercials, magazine ads, in the back of playbills, and on the internet. More recently, I've been hearing a lot of ads on radio stations.
Q-What do you think is the most successful way to advertise?
A-Definatly the internet. Internet pop-ups and banner ads always seem to generate the most interest. It is also the best way because you can track your advertisements. You can see the amount of clicks it had and how long the reader was viewing that page. It's also a great way to reach your target market because you can strategically place these ads on the sites you know are frequently visited.