Abstract

Recent years have seen the application of computer technology to the needs of the business discipline of marketing. The ability of technologies to store and manipulate large amounts of multivariate customer data has led to the concept of database marketing. At the centre of this concept is the ability to segment and target groups of customers with similar data profiles.

A problem arising from this is a tendency, in marketing circles, to define consumers by their differences rather than by their similarities. A moment’s reflection reveals this to be fallacious. The fallacy is especially dangerous, it is argued, when applied to the identification of audiences for festivals and events. ‘Events’ typically appeal to a range of human senses and sensibilities.

It is suggested, by developing an argument advanced by the author on an earlier occasion , that the nature of an audience experience can be considered in incremental dimensions: first, inspirational; second, collective; and third, symbolic. The first dimension is personal, the second biosocial. Only when the third dimension is reached, does a fully ‘segmented’ audience exists.

This perspective is considered in terms of as-yet-unpublished research, undertaken for one of England’s cathedrals, to discover the true nature of the visitor experience. The satisfactions are found to be primarily of a personal and inspirational nature. The cathedral visitor experience, and hence the cathedral visitor, cannot be segmented by lifestage, social class or similar criteria by which commercial target markets are commonly defined.

The paper concludes by arguing the relevance of these findings for festival and event organisers, and outlining their implications. A model for analysing the festival or event visitor experience, in terms of the above dimensions and in terms of theorised layers of inclusivity and selectivity, is advanced. The practical implications for artistic direction and festival promotion are elucidated.