Case Study - CLEARWATER FESTIVAL

(www.clearwatertickets.com) note; site is no longer active, thus this is linked to an archive version

THE CLIENT
Initiated in 1966 by folk icon Pete Seeger, the Clearwater Festival is the United States’ largest annual environmental celebration of music, dance and storytelling. As many as 15,000 people of all ages flock to the Hudson River each June to enjoy a weekend focused on the arts and to experience the Sloop Clearwater, an elegant replica of a 19th century tall ship. Like other Clearwater education and advocacy projects, the Sloop is integrally linked to a passionate commitment to the health of the Hudson River. The Sloop Clearwater has just earned a place on the National Registry of Historic Places.

THE CHALLENGE
The Clearwater Festival’s public presentation was clearly in need of a major overhaul. A limited marketing budget and a traditional reliance on text-heavy messages had diluted the powerful impact of Clearwater’s ongoing mission to ‘save the river’. Although the Festival is quite popular, Clearwater was missing many opportunities to attract and develop new audiences.

Clearwater’s multi-layered web site focused on advocacy and education as well as on their most visible projects, the annual Festival and the Sloop Clearwater. There was an urgent need to harmonize all design elements and give Clearwater a more contemporary look and message.

Additionally, since the Festival is held outdoors on Father’s Day weekend, Festival attendance is vulnerable to inclement weather and families making other plans. Brisk advance ticket sales were therefore imperative: in 2003, for instance, at-the-gate ticket sales were negatively affected by a rainy weekend.

Clearwater’s primitive online e-commerce system was not an effective marketing tool. In addition to simply purchasing tickets online, Clearwater wanted to grow their subscriber base by encouraging people to make donations, become members, volunteer, sign up for e-newsletters and employ viral marketing to pass information along to friends. This goal, a critical element for an organization with a limited budget, pointed clearly to development of a customized e-commerce site, normally too expensive for a non-profit organization.

THE O\W SOLUTION
The O\W team collaborated with graphic designer Susanna Ronner and business consultant Joan Lawrence-Bauer to create an integrated marketing campaign to promote the Festival and communicate a high level of consistency. All messaging was focused on driving traffic to the web site; the O\W team additionally served as lead marketing agency.

“When all of an organization’s marketing efforts, from print post cards and posters on buses to e-mail newsletters and web site, are consistent, it communicates a higher level of integrity to potential supporters,” says Ric Dragon, CEO of O\W. “We really believe in the importance of Clearwater’s work. Once we saw Susanna’s beautiful and compelling designs, we recommended copy be lightened up to relieve and attract the eye. And, throughout the web site, we made it easy for people to buy tickets or contribute in other ways by incorporating ‘calls to action’ on every page.”

Relying on the old adage, ‘less is more,’ O\W used a few descriptive photos and images on each page and left space around text to engage readers. There are no flashy technologies, yet the effect is very modern and pleasing.

O\W designed a custom e-commerce system using a ‘per order’ rather than ‘per ticket’ handling fee to make it more affordable. And, by widely publicizing the web site address and encouraging online ticket reservations, visitors became more invested in Clearwater’s mission and programming.

O\W manages the site on an ongoing basis to update content and provide vital measurement and analysis of web traffic and e-commerce.

RESULT
One month prior to the 2004 Clearwater Festival, online ticket sales were four times higher than normal, compared to the same period in several previous years. Clearwater has also dramatically increased their membership and contributors’ categories, a direct result of driving more traffic to the web site.

O\W’s continued analysis of marketing efforts, online ticket sales, and web site metrics will allow Clearwater to make further adjustments as needed.