OIJF (Ottawa
International Jazz Festival)
Perspective
& Market Development
As jazz
audiences continue to grow in Ottawa and across the world, the Ottawa
International Jazz Festival (OIJF) continues its commitment to providing
balanced innovative programming which will not only serve as a meaningful
bridge from jazz’s legendary past, but which will also as a vital link to the
future by showcasing today’s inheritors of yesterday’s foundations.
As
Curtis Fuller implored us all during his Legends of the Bandstand performance,
today’s artists and audiences must continue the important musical explorations
he and his generation laid down by continually establishing new foundations of
jazz excellence.
Jazz is experiencing significant audience growth in younger audiences world-wide and to capture this segment and expand festival demographics, OIJF programming, marketing and communications goals reflect this new reality. OIJF has a lot of success to build on. They are the second longest continuous-running jazz festival in Canada and since 1981, main stage performances have showcased jazz’s greatest musicians at the peak of their careers alongside some of this country’s most exciting emerging artists.
To meet
OIJF goals, objectives were set for market penetration and strategies were developed
to support the initiative. We began by forging many new relationships within
the music and media communities. Through sustained relationship building and
creative grassroots marketing, we successfully appealed to a number of radio
outlets and print publications for promotion and editorial coverage which had
never been tapped before. We identified specific artists, aligned the artist
with specific media outlets, then took the targeting one layer deeper by identifying
specific shows we felt would complement the artist. In this way we were able to
get the exposure we needed in the new target audiences, namely the 18-24 age
group.
As
well, we focused on specific ethnic and cultural groups this year and increased
our exposure through print and radio efforts within the French Canadian media,
the Afro-Canadian community, Latin & Cuban communities and East Indian. By
creating strong relationships and speaking directly to desired audiences we
were able to capitalize on the inherent depth and breadth of the visionary
programming which had the very real potential to tap into a much broader
segment of the music community than ever before.
The Jazz Crowd
OIJF attendees are active, educated professionals, who are knowledgeable about music, love to travel and are very loyal visitors to this festival. Reserved seats sell months in advance and remarkably, season ticket holders renew at a rate of more than 90% each year, helping to create a festival atmosphere that feels like a family reunion for many. The typical attendee is a well-educated, baby boomer, 42% of attendees are 40-65 years old, 70% have college degrees 72% are professionals in government, electronics and other high tech fields, 92% are Ontario residents who are loyal to jazz and supporters of the arts in general. This audience enjoys the finer things in life, including entertainment, travel, fine food and beverages. Emerging trends in the 18-24 segment have allowed us to expand our reach to younger audiences who are currently the largest growing group of jazz fans within our region and all major markets.
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