Consumer Behaviour and the Arts

A Marketing Perspective

François Colbert, Alain d'Astous

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9780429558177
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Negocios y empresa
• Subtopic: Marketing
• Index: Marketing

Although the literature on marketing of the arts is abundant, very few (if any) full-length works have examined the other side of the coin and closely studied the people who consume the products of the cultural industry.

This book offers a summary of the knowledge garnered in recent decades by researchers exploring consumer behaviour in arts and culture. Each chapter explores a different aspect of consumer behaviour in the arts by answering the following questions:

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• What do we know about this aspect of consumer behaviour in general?

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• What do we know about this aspect as it relates to the consumption of art works or cultural experiences?

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• What are the practical implications of this knowledge for managers working in the arts?

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• What are the implications for researchers in this field?

This book fills the need for scientific and practical knowledge about the people who consume arts and culture and will therefore be of particular interest to managers of cultural venues and institutions, to students or teachers in arts management training programs, to researchers in the field, to public policymakers in arts and culture, and to anyone directly or indirectly involved in creating, promoting and distributing artistic and cultural products.

PART 1

INTRODUCTION

Chapter 1

Introduction to cultural consumption

DOI: 10.4324/9780429263118-2

As we write these lines, in December 2020, the planet is in the grips of a devastating pandemic that has killed nearly 1.7 million people. The effects of this pandemic are not limited to a global health crisis—they are ravaging multiple sectors of the economy. And, indisputably, we can identify the arts and culture (A&C) sector as one of the most heavily damaged. What happens to a theatre company when, overnight, it is forced to cancel its current season because indoor gatherings of more than ten people have been banned? What happens to cinemas, concert halls, museums, opera houses, and circus troops—to all those places and organizations we usually associate with A&C—when severe constraints are imposed on physical proximity? As anyone can surmise, a great many A&C companies and organizations are in the business of serving crowds at indoor or outdoor events which lack physical distancing (festivals, for example), or of serving individuals or small groups who circulate in closed environments (such as museums) with little room for people to remain apart.

So, what happens next? Companies and organizations adapt, as they always do. They use their ingenuity to devise strategies for keeping their clientele supplied with the desired products, even while they bend to the constraints imposed upon them. One symphony orchestra will choose to perform their repertoire to fewer spectators, while another will opt for online programming, and yet another will design a mix of the two. A&C managers are no less creative than the products they market.

At the heart of any strategic management approach, whether it seeks to mitigate the effects of a pandemic or achieve other objectives (e.g., increasing traffic, attracting new audiences, surpassing competitors), is one essential component we must consider if we are to succeed: the consumer. The best business strategy is one that delivers the desired results, and those results will generally depend on how consumers react. A deep understanding of the consumer is also of the utmost importance for anyone involved in running an organization—whether it operates in A&C or another sector—because ultimately it is the consumer who decides the fate of the organization’s strategies.

The purpose of this book is to present a synthesis of the knowledge accumulated in recent decades on the behaviour of A&C consumers. Cultural consumption represents a very active field of research and practice. For proof, we need to look at Appendix 1 of this book. It lists the various scientific journals that publish on topics directly or indirectly related to this field (see also Colbert, 2014, 2017; Colbert & Dantas, 2019; Colbert & St-James, 2014); the associations that are involved in promoting research and disseminating knowledge; and the study programmes that provide training to researchers and practitioners.

A night at the opera

To introduce the study of consumer behaviour in the A&C sector, we will use a fictional but true-to-life story about one consumer’s experience with one cultural product: a night at the opera. The story involves a young Japanese student named Takumi Suzuki. He resides in Sydney, Australia, while pursuing a university degree in engineering. For the purposes of this example, let us suppose we can see what Takumi has written in his personal diary, shortly after attending a performance at the Sydney Opera House. As we learn in the entry below, it was an Australian friend named Frank who offered to take him. The evening turned out to be a very positive experience.

January 28, 2020

I have to admit it—when Frank offered to take me to a show at the opera house last week, I was puzzled. The opera? I don’t know the first thing about it. And I generally steer clear of things I am not familiar with. I was quite reluctant at first, but Frank insisted so much that I ended up saying yes. He’s a good friend so I decided it was okay. He was right to insist—and I am glad I said yes—because we had a great time! I would not have traded that evening for anything else in the world.

The day after agreeing to Frank’s idea, I went to the Sydney Opera House website to learn a little more about the opera we would see, the Barber of Seville, written by an Italian composer named Gioachino Rossini (I know I spelt that right because I kept the program, LOL). I read a plot summary and the story seemed both simple and complicated, with lots of characters, intrigues, and twists. To get a feel for the music, I also listened to a few excerpts on YouTube. I admit that up until then I knew nothing about the opera, but some of the tunes I heard were familiar, especially the aria of Figaro (La . . . La La La La La La LA!).

It may sound childish, but I was worried about what clothes to wear. I asked Frank, and he told me not to stress about it—neat and casual clothes were good enough, just not our usual gear for the beach. Phew! For a while I thought we had to dress up formal, which is not my thing, really.

The performance was scheduled to start at 8 p.m., but Frank told me to arrive earlier so we could listen to a well-known musicologist talk about this opera. We made it to our seats at 7:00 p.m. on the dot, and then were treated, along with other opera fans, to a talk about the composer’s life, the social background of the composition (the French Revolution, the class struggle), the type of opera . . . and I even learnt a new term in Italian: “opera buffa”, which means a kind of comic opera. I’m sure I enjoyed the performance much more because I had this background information.

How can I describe my first experience at an opera house? As for the show itself, I loved the big stage set (a two-story house with raised floors for the characters to cross), the lively acting style, the way the songs rolled into each other (my favourite was Rosine’s aria “Una voce poco fa”), the funny antics, the mesmerizing music . . . I never knew we could experience so many emotions in such a short period, during just one musical and theatrical performance.

But there’s a lot more to it. I realized a night at the opera goes far beyond just listening to the music and the songs. The experience combines so many different elements: the welcome for spectators, the size of the amphitheatre, the comfort of the seats, the atmosphere, the acoustics, the refreshments during the intermission, and so on. Ultimately, even if a performance is not the best ever, the whole experience can be great when all these other elements reach a high standard.

I really fell in love with the Sydney Opera House, so I am planning to invite my friend Frank to go with me on a new operatic adventure. I have already begun to make notes about the upcoming shows. Could this be the start of a new passion?

This story provides an example of how a cultural product, in this case the opera, is consumed. We might choose other A&C products to illustrate the different activities that shape this type of consumer experience. Let us clarify what we mean by the field of A&C. For the purposes of this book, we have adopted the typology of Colbert et al. (2018), which views cultural enterprises broadly as encompassing the following types:

1. – Performing arts: Theatre, music, dance and opera;
2. – Heritage: Museums, exhibition centres, whether built or intangible;
3. – Cultural industries: Publishing, film, sound reproduction, crafts;
4. – Broadcast media: Radio, television, Internet.

This typology also covers all the stakeholders who produce, reproduce, distribute, or preserve the works which artists create and performers perform. Thus, the performing arts category also includes the producers (such as theatres and theatre companies) and the broadcasters, concert halls, and festivals. The same applies to cultural industries that reproduce original works in physical formats such as printed books, or in electronic formats on digital platforms (Netflix, Spotify, Amazon, and so on). We include, in this typology, the broadcast media which are both producers and distributors of content, and the museums and film libraries whose chief mission is to conserve heritage works for the benefit of present and future generations.

The particular background we chose for our story—the experience of consuming a cultural product after receiving an invitation from a friend—was no accident. A&C organizations use a range of promotional methods with their subscribers when seeking to expand their consumer base or maintain traffic at an acceptable level (Stuckey, 2020); these methods include “bring a friend” referral programmes which offer the invited person a discount on the entrance fee or subscription price. To our knowledge, the effectiveness of these programmes has not yet been examined in a thorough research study. As one can see above, we have nevertheless taken the liberty of inventing a story ending which would certainly appeal to the marketing director of the Sydney Opera House.

This example will introduce a number of the concepts we study in this book. We will also use it to develop a conceptual model for understanding A&C consumer behaviour—one that will serve as the foundation for our ideas in the different chapters.

The consumption of arts and culture

For the purposes of this text, we define the “consumption of arts and culture” (or “cultural consumption”) as the cognitive, emotional, and physical activities of consumers when they select, buy, consume, and dispose of goods and services related to arts and culture (A&C) in order to satisfy their needs and desires. Our definition also includes the factors which influence these activities.

Let us revisit Takumi’s story, the fictional narrative presented above, and analyse it with the various elements of this definition in mind. During his “encounter” with the opera, Takumi engages in a range of activities. For example, he thinks about his friend Frank’s invitation and wonders what the appropriate dress for the event should be (cognitive activities). He goes to the Sydney Opera House to attend a pre-concert lecture about the Barber of Seville, and then witnesses the performance itself (physical activities). He experiences several different emotions during the performance (emotional activities).

Such activities occur, to varying degrees, in most episodes where artistic or cultural products are consumed. Typically, four basic processes are involved: choosing, buying, consuming, and disposing. For example, after a reflection period, Takumi chooses to accept the invitation from his friend Frank. Then—although the story does not mention it—the opera tickets are bought. Takumi’s consuming of the product was not only his attendance at the performance but also his use and enjoyment of everything connected with the event: the hall, the venue, the staff, the refreshments, and so on. Last, we note that Takumi kept his copy of the event programme; he does not dispose of it, because he may keep it as a souvenir.

Consumers engage in these activities and processes because they seek to satisfy their needs and desires. These needs and desires generally relate to the cultural product concerned, but they may also relate to other elements of the consumer situation. For example, does Takumi really have a desire to attend an opera? A desire to strengthen his friendship with Frank appears to be the real motivating factor instead. Clearly, we can link the needs and desires of cultural consumers with multiple elements that determine how they experience the consumption process. But to do so, we must distinguish needs and desires associated with more utilitarian (or functional) benefits from those associated with more hedonic (or intangible) benefits. For example, the act of buying opera tickets via the Internet has a mainly utilitarian motivation, whereas the act of listening to an opera is rooted in a desire to be entertained, to experience pleasure. Furthermore, it is important to note that the act of consuming A&C is often highly symbolic. Naturally, we attend an opera to have a good time and appreciate the music, the arias, the set design, the plot of the story, and so on. But being an opera lover is also a way to show ourselves, and others, that we have taste, we have “class”. The objectives motivating us to consume A&C may be not just utilitarian or hedonic but symbolic as well, because the act of consuming lets us signal our identity—both to others and to ourselves.

In studying how A&C products are consumed, it is not enough to identify the key variables deriving from our proposed definition. We have to look further and find explanations. For example, why does Takumi hesitate before saying yes to his friend Frank? We can deduce from his diary that he does so because he does not like uncertainty. Therefore, we could form a hypothesis that Takumi’s cognitive activity is influenced by a particular trait of his character.

Researchers in the field of cultural consumption, and in the social sciences, normally strive to explain any observed consumer activities in a manner that lets them develop knowledge and conclusions whi...