Agency, freelancer or in-house: which should a venue choose?

AKA works in theatre and live entertainment marketing, with clients among productions and entertainment brands rather than leisure venues. The discipline is selling a dated run to an audience that decides quickly, which is the nearer fit where a venue markets shows, seasons or limited events alongside its regular trade. Worth a conversation where the campaign has to sell a story rather than an activity.

Capacity Interactive is a digital marketing consultancy for arts and culture organisations, working with theatres, opera and ballet companies, museums and performing arts centres on digital advertising, creative strategy, email, analytics and search. The work is consultancy led and largely North American, so it is the nearer fit for a cultural venue with a subscription or membership audience than for a UK leisure site.

EMG is a theatrical marketing and branding agency working with West End musicals, touring productions, dance companies and live entertainment venues. The discipline is building a brand around a named show and holding it together across a run, which is closer to selling a production than to filling weekly capacity. Consider it where the marketing job is a show rather than a site.

MeMo is a hospitality marketing agency covering PR, influencer, social, content and digital for restaurants, bars, hotels and food and drink brands. For a leisure operator the relevant strength is profile and earned coverage rather than booking performance, so it becomes the nearer fit where the food and drink offer is itself a reason to visit. Offices in London, New York and the UAE.

SINE Digital runs paid media, search, data and marketing technology for the live experience economy, with clients among theatres, producers, venues and sports organisations. The emphasis is on joining search, media and measurement rather than on creative production, so it tends to suit an operator that already has brand assets and wants the performance and data side handled by specialists. Offices in London and New York.

Allied Global Marketing is an entertainment and culture marketing group working across film, gaming, live events, attractions, exhibitions and tourism, with strategy, paid media, publicity, partnerships and live experiences inside one group. It operates across North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America, so the case for it is scale and reach across several markets rather than close attention to a single site.

Dewynters is a live entertainment advertising agency covering theatre, music, arena events, opera, sport and exhibitions, with brand strategy, creative, content, media buying and ticketing analysis handled in one place. The client base is West End productions and arts organisations rather than leisure operators, so it is the nearer fit where a venue is selling a named show with a run behind it.

Mustard Media specialises in festival and ticketed live event marketing, working with festivals, live events and ticketed experiences rather than with venues. It becomes relevant when a site sells dated events, seasonal programmes or ticketed takeovers alongside its regular trade, because that is closer to selling a show than a session. Adjacent expertise, so test the everyday trading side as well.

Navigate works across attractions and destination marketing, with clients that include tourism organisations as well as individual venues. That perspective is useful for a venue whose customers arrive as part of a wider trip, and where the local destination body is already a partner. Less directly aimed at the day to day of booking and admissions performance.

Round is a digital agency built around content, creators and communities, with clients among record labels, artists, festivals, entertainment companies and consumer brands. The relevant strength for a venue is reaching a younger, social first audience through creators and trend led content rather than running a full marketing programme, so it usually sits alongside a media team rather than replacing one. Based in London.