The Royal Opera House Muscat - Essay Example

OF TECHNOLOGY, SYDNEY Faculty of Business, School of Management Marketing for the Experience Industries 27734) Assessment task Report Discuss and Examine Royal Opera House, Muscat Sultanate of Oman Contents Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………...4 Organisation Background………………………………………………………………….…4 Objective of the report………………………………………………………………………..4 Vision / Mission……………………………………………………………………………....5 Range of products/ services/ experience……………………………………………………..5 Historical Facts and target Marketing …………………………………………………….. .5 Environmental Analysis ( PESTLE Analysis)………………………………………………6 Political………………………………………………………………………………………6 Economic……………………………………………………………………………………6 Social………………………………………………………………………………………..6 Technological……………………………………………………………………………….7 Environmental………………………………………………………………………………7 Legal………………………………………………………………………………………..7 SWOT Analysis………………………………………………………………………….…8 Strengths……………………………………………………………………………………8 Weakness……………………………………………………………………………………8 Opportunity………………………………………………………………………………....8 Threats/ competitors………………………………………………………………………...9 Marketing Mix/ Future Marketing Strategy……………………………………………...…9 Product Strategy………………………………………………………………………………9 Pricing Strategy…………………………………………………………………………….…10 Distribution Strategy……………………………………………………………………….…10 Promotional Strategy…………………………………………………………………………10 Current Marketing Strategies of the Royal Opera House…………………………………....11 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………12 Recommendations……………………………………………………………………………13 References……………………………………………………………………………………14 Appendix…………………………………………………………………………………..…16 Introduction Even marketing or marketing of experiences is different from product marketing. The four major characteristics of marketing experiences such as events are their inseparability, intangibility, variability and perishable. The aforementioned characteristics of events and experiences make them different and unique. Most of the experiences such as music events are intangible which means that customer cannot experience the service until it is purchased. Therefore, communication is a key feature is minimising doubts in the minds of consumers. Experience marketing is also unique as the services are consumed in real time (such as concerts). Another factor that makes experiences unique is its variability. Two music concerts with similar genres might produce different experiences as the artists are different. Therefore, it can be said that experience marketing needs different techniques and strategies for customer satisfaction and building customer loyalty. Organisation Background ROHM or The Royal Opera House Muscat is one of the premier venues for culture and arts, based in Muscat, Oman. This opera house has been built by the king displaying contemporary architecture of Oman. The Opera House can accommodate up to 1,100 people. Equipped with latest technologies such as Mode23, the opera house was officially launched in the year 2011 (Royal Opera House Muscat, 2014). Objective of the Report The Royal Opera House is a comparatively new theme in the Gulf Region. As a result, it is important to prepare and effective and long-reaching marketing plan that will help in generating required awareness and response for the opera house and garner local and foreign visitors. The purpose of the current project is to create a marketing plan looking into the external environmental factors and international strengths and weaknesses and of the opera house and subsequently create meaningful and feasible marketing mix strategies. The project will also throw light on the marketing and promotional strategies that are presently followed by the opera house. In order to ensure a successful marketing plan, it is important that the objectives and action plans are measurable, attainable and feasible. The objectives based on which marketing strategies will be based are as follows; 1. Increase the number of audiences to the Royal Opera House to 20,000 by next year. 2. Increase the number of sustainable programs to 50 in the next two years. 3. Increase the average revenue of restaurants and hostels to 35 percent every year in the next two years. Vision/ Mission  Vision: The vision of the Royal Opera House Muscat is very inspiring and as a result the architectural foundation of the opera house is unique and undisputed. It is built is a region which does not boast any established opera culture or even classical or western music culture. The Gulf Region is majorly known for its business and establishing an artistic culture in that area was the inspired vision of the Royal Opera House, Muscat (Royal Opera House Muscat, 2014). The Royal Opera House has devoted itself to be the leading cultural opera culture as well as western music within the gulf region. According to the website of the Royal Opera House, the vision of the house is to “serve as a centre of excellence in global cultural engagement (Royal Opera House Muscat, 2014).” They strive to enhance the quality of lives and living standards by including diverse cultural, artistic as well as enriched educational programs. Mission: The mission of the opera house is clear and simple. It is to spread the awareness and culture of opera and western music which has largely been ignored in the gulf region (Royal Opera House Muscat, 2014). Range of products/ services/ experiences The opera house boasts a range of products and services such as a complex concert theatre, formal and crafted landscaped gardens, luxury and retail restaurants, art centre including theatrical and musical presentations and centre for operations and other productions. In terms of architecture, the building is designed fundamentally in a style that is classic Islamic. Few of the basic details of the grand buildings and other smaller areas and structures across the region are in traditional Islamic form. The construction materials are majorly local such as wall coverings and stones raised from Omani deserts. Landscaped gardens surround the buildings and the overall land area is around 80,000 square meters (Royal Opera House Muscat, 2014). While the traditional designs from Arab culture are dominant in the complex opera house such as sculptural forms of tower, terraces and porches, the houses has also some hints of Italian architectural and construction design, which has been influenced mainly due to its designer Allison Tong (Royal Opera House Muscat, 2014). Historical Facts and Target Markets The range of services offered by the opera house is diverse. It consists of opera, recitals and concerts, presentations including stage and keyboard presentations, jazz from different cultural backgrounds, arabesque depicting the local culture and heritage music of Gulf Region, ballet and dance, family concerts and world music (Johnston and Bate, 2003). As such, the target market for the royal opera house is diversified. The works demonstrated by the Royal Opera House are multidisciplinary and as such, showcase the diverse and rich artistic creations that have evolved from the culture of Oman. The opera house has been able to successfully provide liberty for socioeconomic and cultural reflections and developmental actions. The opera house nurtures and inspires creativity as well as innovative programs. It also helps in fostering talent and cultural vitality, promoting cultural tourism, starting the practice of cultural diplomacy through reinvigoration of multi-disciplinary and global exchanges and collaboration. The customers/visitors of the opera house are not limited to local regions but also range from different ethnicities and backgrounds. While majority of the Opera House and its offers are meant for high end visitors such as luxury travellers and high-end local citizens, the opera house also conducts various events and concerts which can be purchased in discounts, such as for disabled, students, single women and other less privileged classes (Pettigrew, Whittington and Thomas, 2006). The Royal Opera House was completed in October 2011 making it 2 years and 10 months old. Furthermore, the royal opera house has seen an enormous increase in the number of visitor over the past two years. The major reasons are increase in luxury hotels and enhanced tourist destinations across Muscat and extraordinary design and technological built of the opera house attracting tourists from nearby cities such as Dubai (Times of Oman, 2013). Environmental Analysis The environmental analysis will consider PESTLE analysis. PESTLE Analysis Political The political situation of the Gulf nations is stable and most of the government institutions are self-sustaining and financially viable. The banking policies of the region are also developed and equipped so that funding and loans are easy. This is a positive opportunity for the marketing plan and the opera house can easily get fund for its future development and growth programs. Also the government is supportive in terms of supporting the practice of art and theatre culture in Oman and ensuring that with proper funding and developmental programs, the future of the Royal Opera House is secure. Economic The economy of Oman is oil dependent. However, the region has been involved in new diversification drive such as tourism. Oman is establishing policies in order to reduce the number of expatriates and foreign employees and employ more locals in the organisations across Oman. Social Social strata of Oman are divided into royal classes, working classes and tribal members. While the tribal’s, including farmers are mainly concentrated to rural areas and villages, workers and royal classes inhibit the cities. As a result majority of shopping, entertainment and other luxury recreational activities of Oman economy are targeted towards the royal and working class (BTI, 2012). As a result, the opera house can well connect not only with the classical music enthusiasts across Oman, but also across other gulf regions and also outside the gulf-region. As a result of the high-disposable income and changing lifestyle, more and more customers are looking for services with multiple offerings. The brand equity and brand awareness of the Royal Opera House is new and growing and this brand opportunity can be utilised through proper advertising and promotions of their various offerings such as luxury stores, restaurants and music theatres. Another important reason for enhancing the overall capacity and diverse performance range of the opera house is that customers of the house are always looking for broader choices in terms of cultural experiences. Therefore, the Royal Opera House should include new and diversified programs for attracting customers and keeping their interests intact. Technological The Gulf Counties can be regarded as a technologically advanced nation. Apart from the high research and IT facilities, technology has penetrated into the daily lives of common people. The house is also trying to minimise its cost of operations by implementing latest and cost-effective IT efficiencies. At the same time, the overall architecture of the opera house is unique. Availability of highly technological sources will also help the opera house to create faster solutions and accelerate the overall process of implementation. Therefore, it can be said that the Royal Opera House is Equipped with state-of-art technology which enables the house in delivering extraordinary and unique experiences for its customers and patrons. Environmental Due to extensive petroleum manufacturing and the growth of metropolitan cities across the region, pollution has increased, leading to various environmental issues. Therefore, the opera house will have to follow the strict policies and guidelines laid down by the Oman government for pollution reduction and environmental protection (BTI, 2012). Legal Most of the legislative policies of Gulf Nations including Oman are derived from Islamic Sharia. The civil laws are derived from Egyptian, French and British sources. The current legal policies of Oman are aimed at generating more employment options for the local workers across Oman that will be helpful for the Royal Opera House and it is presently facing a lack of local workers for its ground level activities (BTI, 2012). SWOT Analysis A SWOT analysis will help in analyzing the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats associated with the Royal Opera House which can be further utilized for establishing strategies and advertising implementation. Strengths: 1. The biggest strength of the Royal Opera House Muscat is its existence itself. The opera house is one of its kind and the only fully established, functioning opera house in the gulf region, the next opera house being in Cairo (Johnston and Bate, 2003). 2. The architectural design of the Royal Opera House is one of its kinds. It is equipped with high-end technological gadgets and equipments. Apart from being technologically advanced, the opera house is extremely attractive due to its sophisticated designs of gardens, alleys, hall ceilings and exotic colour combinations (Ferguson, 2008). 3. The opera house boasts not just musical centres but also hosts of other services such as retail and luxury restaurants, theatres and musical arenas, giving its visitors a lively and complete experience. Weakness: 1. The popularity of the Royal Opera House is still at a nascent stage and as a result the return on the capital expenditure has not been recovered fully. 2. Tourism is the Gulf States occur mainly for shopping experiences and business purposes. This creates a gap of knowledge among the foreign tourists who are largely unknown about the opera house and its various concerts and shows (World Folio, 2012). 3. The Royal Opera House is still reliant on the volunteer services and lacks skilled and experienced full-time employees. Apart from the above, the organisational structure of the opera house is not well-built and established yet, making the management to rely on external agencies to locate potential employees and managers for the opera house. Opportunity 1. With proper advertising and communication strategies, the Royal Opera House has the potential of becoming one of the most famous opera houses across the globe. The house can accommodate more than 1000 people at once and with such large capacity, hosts of local and international tourists can enjoy the music festival. 2. The luxury restaurants, stores and other facilities provided by the restaurant can be marketed to the local and foreign tourists through effective marketing and advertisement (Johnston and Bate, 2003). Threats/ Competitors 1. One of the major threats to the Royal Opera House is the emergence of new forms of music and their rising popularity. Individuals loyal and consistent to opera house concerts have been diminishing and people are finding new forms of entertainment avenues such as pop and cultural music concerts, movies and other related pastimes. Marketing Mix/Future Marketing Strategy Marketing mix strategies for the Royal Opera House will include product strategy, pricing strategy, promotional strategies and distribution strategies. Product Strategy The overall architectural design of the Royal Opera House is a self-selling product. The opera house is filled with not only high-end technological equipments, but the landscape gardens, interiors, wall designs and the halls are designed keeping in mind the royal and contemporary heritage. Every element inside the building has been designed with attention such as complicated and handcrafted décor, hand-carved and wooden decorations, crystal chandeliers and golf leaves. The auditorium is state-of-the art and has seamlessly transformed a simple theatre art into a symbolic and sophisticated concert hall (Rafiq and Ahmed, 1995). Apart from the main concert and musical houses, the Royal Opera House also consists of many complementary features such as luxury shops and restaurants, hotels. In sum it up, the Royal Opera House is a complete one-stop shop for local tourists and music enthusiasts, international and foreign travellers looking for recreational holidays. Pricing Strategy In general the target customers for the Royal Opera House are high-end individuals seeking luxury recreational activities and holiday destinations. As such, the prices of the concerts and other allied services can be fixed in line with the overall brand equity and the association of the house with the royal heritage. After careful review of the aforementioned factors, the tickets, luxury restaurants and retail shops provide high-end products and services for the target customers. The pricing strategy of the opera house will reflect high-end attributes of the target customers as well as the uniqueness of the offered experiences. It can be said that the overall brand positioning is related to the pricing strategy as well. Distribution Strategy The Royal Opera house will have to establish effective and long-term contracts with the high-end retail and food suppliers, especially during festivals and holiday seasons (World Folio, 2012). Promotional Strategy Almost every communication channel should be utilised in order to promote the campaign. The opera house follows above-the-line advertising, in order to convey its message to the customers. The opera house centres its campaigns on various product promotions (Williams and Cutis, 2012). The Royal Opera House can follow a 360 degree communication channel in order to create awareness, likeability and sustained interest for the opera house. The promotional strategy will be nationwide and will also reach potential customers across the continent. It is a known fact that in the contemporary world, using one or two media channels is not sufficient and any organizational or firm will have to reach present and potential markets (Bradley, 2002). The Royal Opera House can use a variety of media channels in order to reach its customers. Television broadcasting Television broadcasting in the form of commercials has be an effective manner through which the Royal Opera House can be introduced to the outer world and to potential international travellers. It can be either in form of testimonials or a visual advertisement showing the architectural excellence of the opera house (Marieke, 2004). Social media- You tube, Facebook and Twitter Online and social media advertising has become an important element in any marketing strategy. As technology is becoming cheaper and highly available, the volume of potential customers using this medium is increasing fast. Social media platforms such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter among others have become an important source for spreading news and awareness regarding products, services and offerings by hosts of brands. Therefore, Royal Opera House can instil positive awareness to its target customers by launching attractive social media campaigns, forums, help lines and websites (World Folio, 2012). In-store promotions- Distribution of leaflets and exclusive catalogues Many customers come to the opera house only for visiting the luxury retail outlets or the luxury restaurants. However, these customers can be drawn towards the music theatres and concerts by offering those exclusive catalogues and designer leaflets wherein different schedules and performers name and event can be given (Haberberg and Rieple, 2008). Outdoor advertising- Billboards, signage and hoardings across major target areas Outdoor advertising can be used for mass advertising by placing billboards and hoarders in across target market areas. These can be nearby luxury apartments and recreational places across Oman such as horse riding courses, luxury swimming and sauna centres, arts and crafts exhibitions and also luxury car showrooms (Drejer, 2002). Sponsorship This includes inviting corporate and similar other organisations to sponsor the shows and events at the Royal Opera House. While the corporate will receive promotional advantage through the sponsorships, the opera house will receive important funding for the development and further growth of the house. Current Marketing Strategies of the Royal Opera House Since its inception, the company has been involved in aggressive marketing activities in order to achieve a differentiating position in the artists and music industry. The Royal Opera House’s current marketing activities can be described as follows; 1. Focus on increasing brand equity and service optimisation The Royal Opera House is one of the first opera theatres or any music concerts theatre which has been established in the entire gulf region. As a result, one of the initial challenges faced by the management of the Royal Opera House is filling the vacancies with the appropriate employees (World Folio, 2012). The overall experience and skill set required for these institutions is very limited and at present the company has mostly international employees working in the opera house in order to fulfil the services. Also, the management has been providing extensive training and development facilities to local employees, especially young and enthusiastic individuals, so that they minimise the gap between demand and supply in the opera house (Collis, 1991). Besides that, it has also started using social media campaigns so as to drive more traffic, enhance customer base and enhancing overall awareness (Barreto, 2010) 2. Effective customer engagement and promotion The major objective of the management of Royal Opera House has been developing long-term relationship with the people of Oman. The general marketing plan aims at engaging audiences from wide culture, ethnic and international backgrounds. The opera house has also partnered with various communities sharing similar interests such as Lebanese, Egyptian or Syrian communities. These communities are attracted through numerous discounts, promotions and special offers (C.A. Rao, P.B. Rao and Sivaramakrishna, 2009). The opera house also conducts open houses wherein concerts and shows are shown to children and families for extremely low-costs. The house also carries out daily tours for promotions. In order to increase its awareness and spread the music and art culture, the opera house management is also planning to tie up with the schools and universities across Muscat and Oman (World Folio, 2012). Conclusion At present the Royal Opera House is following a more mixed approach wherein both contemporary and traditional approaches are implemented for advertising and promoting their campaigns. However, in order to drive greater footfall in the opera house and associated businesses and generate more revenue out of the campaign, the Royal Opera House opted for a more aggressive and rather intellectual approach to connect with its consumers. This strategy followed a 360 degree marketing campaign including price, place, promotional and product strategies. These strategies will provide competitive advantage and differentiation for the opera house. The communication channel included usage of television advertisements, social media platforms, in-store promotions and outdoor advertisements to pull traffic towards the Royal Opera House and increase overall audience for the concerts and other programs. The above factors were chosen as appropriate marketing activities as the brand awareness of the Royal Opera House is still as a nascent stage and mass marketing and advertising was selected as the most appropriate strategy according to the current situation. Recommendations From the above elaborate description of the current marketing activities and proposed marketing plans through marketing mix strategy, two major recommendations emerge. The first recommendation is effective communication of the offerings and benefits of the Royal Opera House, with the objective of attracting local and foreign customers visiting Oman and nearby places such as Saudi Arabia. The second recommendation is to minimise the operational costs through effective budget segregation. An example has been provided in the appendix (Figure 2) wherein the opera house in Sydney has efficiency segregated its annual budget. A similar annual budget strategy can be adopted by the Royal Opera House Oman and through maintaining the budget, cost of operation can be minimised. Reference: AME, 2014. Royal Opera House of Muscat announces first time participation at Arabian Travel Market. [online] Available at: [Accessed 19 August 2014]. Barreto, I., 2010. Dynamic capabilities: A review of past research and an agenda for the future. Journal of Management, 36, pp. 256-280 Bradley, F., 2002. International marketing strategy. New Jersey: Prentice Hall. BTI, 2012. Oman Country Report Bertelsmann. [pdf] Stiftung’s Transformation Index (BTI), Available at: < file:///C:/Users/USER/Downloads/Rakin_upload-CountryReports-48.pdf> [Accessed 19 August 2014]. Collis, D., 1991. A resource-based analysis of global competition: The case of the bearings industry. Strategic Management Journal, 12(5), pp. 49-68. Deloitte Australia, 2013. Sydney Opera House worth $4.6b to Australia. [online] Available at: http://www.deloitte.com/view/en_au/au/26f4b5931f2c1410VgnVCM3000003456f70aRCRD.htm [Accessed 23 August 2014]. Drejer, A., 2002. Strategic management and core competencies: Theory and application. Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Group. Ferguson, R., 2008. Word of mouth and viral marketing: Taking the temperature of the hottest trends in marketing. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 25(3), pp.179 – 182. Haberberg, A. and Rieple, A., 2008. Strategic Management. Oxford University Press: New York. Johnston, R.E. and Bate, J.D., 2003. The Power of Strategy Innovation: A New Way of Linking Creativity and Strategic Planning to Discover Great Business Opportunities. American Management Association, New York Marieke, D., 2004. Consumer behaviour and culture: Consequences for global marketing and advertising. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Pettigrew, A. M., Whittington, R. and Thomas, H., 2006. Handbook of strategy and management. California: SAGE. Rafiq, M. and Ahmed, P.K., 1995. Using the 7Ps as a generic marketing mix: An exploratory survey of UK and European marketing academics. Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 13(9), pp.4 – 15. Rao, C.A., Rao, P.B. and Sivaramakrishna, K., 2009. Strategic management and business policy. New Delhi: Excel Books. Royal Opera House Muscat, 2014. Overview. [online] Available at: [Accessed 19 August 2014]. Sydney Opera House, 2014. Access Strategic Plan. [pdf] Sydney Opera House, Available at: [Accessed 23 August 2014]. Times of Oman, 2013. Now, visit ROHM any day from 8:30am to 10:30am. [online] Available at: [Accessed 19 August 2014]. Williams, J. and Cutis, T., 2012. Marketing management in practice. London: Routledge. World Folio, 2012. Hitting the right notes. [online] Available at: [Accessed 19 August 2014]. Appendix Figure 1: Communication Strategy for an Opera House (Source: Sydney Opera House, 2014) Figure 2: Budget Segregation (Source: Deloitte Australia, 2013) Read More