Case Study: Celebrity Attractions
Email plays supporting role in theatrical success

If you love Broadway musicals and live near New York, it’s easy to catch the latest show. But if you live in the Texas Panhandle, the Ozarks, or on Oklahoma’s wind-swept plains, that might involve more of a challenge.

Fortunately, Celebrity Attractions brings touring companies of Broadway shows like Wicked and Phantom of the Opera to Tulsa, Oklahoma City, Lubbock, Amarillo, Little Rock, and Springfield, Missouri. “We package five shows per market each year,” explains IT Director Randy Cole. “Because we have about 35,000 subscribers, we’re able to draw the bigger shows.” People can sign up for a subscription series, or buy tickets through the promoter’s website.

Theatergoers don’t want to miss a single show, but the far-flung nature of the subscriber base makes keeping them informed a challenge, so the company stays in touch with phone messages and email. “We’ve used email since 1998,” he says. “It’s one of the fastest ways to get a response. We routinely send messages to our subscribers reminding them they have tickets for a specific, upcoming production. We also conduct email campaigns to notify our patrons who have purchased single tickets in the past of upcoming ‘on-sale’ dates.”

Cole was using a do-it-yourself software package, and ran into several roadblocks. “With our volume of messages, we were being tagged as spammers,” he recalls. “We were on blacklists from national and local providers, and our web host and ISP were warning that we were exceeding restrictions. We knew it was time to take it to a guaranteed IP address that is constantly monitored and scrubbed.”

While researching available services, he learned about Delivra, and was favorably impressed by the attitude of the company’s representative. Then he noticed that a colleague at a Broadway organization used Delivra’s services. Her rave reviews convinced him.

The company’s customer base is so loyal that they get upset if they don’t learn about a show. “Since we started working with Delivra, I’ve had far fewer people complain that they’re not getting their messages. I’ve seen our website hits go up, too.”

Celebrity Attractions web site

Celebrity Attractions email newsletter

About Delivra
Delivra helps organizations communicate by providing email marketing software and services. The company empowers marketers of all sizes by providing them with the user-friendly tools and support systems they need to create, send, and track email programs. In addition to on-demand email Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), the company also provides ancillary services necessary to make email campaigns successful. These include software training, deliverability tools, database management and integration, production services, and technical support.

Delivra is a privately held company founded in 1999 and headquartered in Indianapolis. Its 500+ clients span all major industries including associations, business services, consumer products, education, entertainment/travel, financial services, healthcare/insurance, not for profit, publishing, sports, and ad agencies. For more information, visit www.delivra.com.