2,009 in 2009

UPDATE 12/20/09: Wow. We did it! Read my new message about an incredible goal reached here …

UPDATE 12/7/09: Excitement!  We are getting soooooo close. 1,966 TimeLine subscriptions sold during 2009 — just 43 more to go before we reach 2,009 and stop selling FlexPasses this season. Two-admission FlexPasses (good for ‘Master Harold’ … and the Boys + The Farnsworth Invention) are a good holiday buy, available for as low as $43 (for a Weekday pass; Anytime pass is $56). Grab ’em while you can!

UPDATE 11/6/09: As we prepare to open When She Danced tomorrow, subscriptions have reached 1,922. 87 more to go and already a 42% increase over last season. Incredible.

UPDATE 10/22/09: Passed a big milestone today – 1,901 subscriptions. 108 more to go!

UPDATE 10/14/09: 1,874! When She Danced starts previews 3 weeks from today …

UPDATE 10/7/09: 1,841 … at this rate we could meet our goal — and stop selling 2009-10 subscriptions — in just 12 days!

UPDATE 10/6/09: Four days after we hit 1,800 subscribers and officially launched this “2,009 in 2009” campaign, we’ve already added 27 new FlexPass holders. 182 to go!  Keep following this post – we’ll continue to update whenever there is news on this topic.

ORIGINAL POST 10/2/09: I love numbers. I obsess over numbers, specifically ticket sales. The good, the bad and the ugly. Doesn’t matter. Lara Goetsch, TimeLine’s Director of Marketing and Communications, and Tracy Domeracki, TimeLine’s Audience Services Manager, can tell you how annoying this obsession can be.

I watch single-ticket sales for our shows constantly. I usually have the daily sales screen open on my computer from the time I sit down at my desk until the time I leave. I try to figure out the date by which a show will reach its single-ticket goal — or if it isn’t going to reach the goal, how far it will get.

This year our subscription numbers have been off the charts. So I obsess about those numbers, too.

We were very conservative in our projections for this season because we weren’t sure how the economy would affect sales. But we met our goal of 1,230 quickly, sometime in July. Then we extended The History Boys. We were all amazed at how many new subscriptions were purchased each week by people who saw The History Boys.

About five weeks ago, I walked into Lara’s office and threw out this idea/question: What if we try to get to 2,000 subscribers this year? We talked about it for awhile and brainstormed ideals for a full-fledged marketing campaign. The next day a friend suggested we make it 2,009 subscribers. 2,009 in 2009. We planned to announce this campaign on September 3, the day of the 100^th performance of The History Boys.

All My Sons had not started previews yet. Little did we know at the time that ticket demand for All My Sons would be equal to that of The History Boys. So we got a little sidetracked in launching a marketing campaign around 2,009 in 2009. So we have just been talking about it to patrons at the theater.

To date we have sold 1,800 FlexPass subscriptions — 209 subscribers away from the goal of 2,009.  Already that is a 33% increase over last season, an incredible accomplishment in any year, much less during a recession!

2009 has been an amazing year at TimeLine. It would not have been this way without the unwavering support of our subscribers, donors and single-ticket buyers. To those of you who number among our 1,800 subscribers, I thank you.

And if you haven’t subscribed yet, I encourage you to do so. Now that All My Sons is closing, we offer 3-admission FlexPasses to see the remainder of our season for as low as $64 (for a Weekday FlexPass; $84 for Anytime). You can order by calling our Box Office at (773) 281-8463 x6, or online via our Web site.

Don’t wait! 2,009 subscribers will be a 50% increase over last season, and for a company like us dedicated to managing our growth effectively, that is enough expansion for now. So once we sell that 2,009th subscription, we’ll stop. Because then I’ll have lots of other things to obsess about!