At last night’s Chartered Institute of Marketing’s 2011 Ireland Marketing Excellence Awards at Belfast City Hall, the Ulster Orchestra won the Best Marketing and Sales Award in The Arts, Heritage and Creative Industries category.
Speaking at the Awards, which celebrated marketing at its best in Ireland, Lydia Gamble, the Ulster Orchestra’s Head of the Marketing and Development said, “This is a huge tribute to the hard work and creatively of the UO’s marketing communications team and our designers, Design Ethos.
“Each year the UO plays live to over 100,000 people across Northern Ireland and our talented musicians are supported by an equally talented team behind the scenes who provide the branding, marketing collateral, PR, direct and digital marketing to promote this quality cultural product,” Lydia said.
Explaining that the approach included a refreshing of the Ulster Orchestra’s brand and the development of a number of audience segmented marketing brochures, she said the new approach increased the Orchestra’s return on investment.
“The overall marketing mix produced significant results on the over-all return on investment for marketing spend. On the main season brochure, for example for every £1 invested, £30 was generated in sales,” Lydia explained.
“As Northern Ireland’s only professional symphony orchestra, like the Lyric Theatre and the Grand Opera House, the Ulster Orchestra is one of Northern Ireland’s cultural cornerstones.
“As such and given that we receive public funds, there is an increasing responsibility to generate a greater return on investment and a greater emphasis to reach out to more people. This Award recognises that we are working hard to achieve this,” she said.
This is the third award the Orchestra has received this year. In April at the Belfast Business Awards the UO picked up the Best Marketing Initiative Award. In January the Orchestra’s relationship with JTI UK was recognised at the Allianz Arts and Business Awards for a creative partnership and commitment that brought classical music to communities across Northern Ireland.