EC PAPERS NOVEMBER 2017

11

Liberating Arts innovative approach of Liberating Arts was one its greatest strengths but the unfamiliarity of the form in the trade union movement clearly had an effect on ticket sales from the trade unions. (iv) Multiple Constituencies. We regarded the multiple constituencies of Liberating arts - academics, trade unionists, professional artists, creative activists and interested members of the public – as one of its self-evident assets, however we underestimated the extent to which these groups have become alienated from each other and the difficulty of bringing them together. We assumed that everyone would share our view that it would be useful and important to bring them together, whereas in fact it appears this is an idea that will need to be ‘sold’… and especially to the trade unions. None of us had also quite appreciated that the different constituencies would require such distinct marketing messages. The marketing campaign, graphics and branding of Liberating Arts was consciously aimed at the 'labour movement' in the broadest sense. The rationale for this approach being that the movement contains significant numbers of the various constituencies. However, we underestimated the increasingly targeted, detailed, personalised and atomised nature of much contemporary marketing, especially online and social media marketing, which is aimed very narrowly at specific interest groups. Our initial marketing campaign was based on a 'broadcasting' model that required potential customers to 'read' their specific interests from the material… it turns out this is no longer a credible marketing model. (v) No marketing budget. There was no budget for paid advertising of any kind… or even for graphic design, all of which was undertaken by the Producer. Initially we attempted to market the event using the GFTU and Producer’s own FB accounts. This was clearly inadequate for an event of this scale. We did get free ads in the Morning Star, Red Pepper, Peace News and Labour Briefing but it is increasingly clear that to be heard through the constant background noise of selling, any marketing campaign has to have significant resources of time, money and expertise thrown at it. (vi) The Economism Of Trade Union Bureaucracies . This is the most ironic issue of all because it is one of the issues Liberating Arts was trying to address.

11 Producer’s Report 06/11/2017