Cardiff Fringe Theatre Festival & Hannah Dixon, Golley Slater

The Challenge

The Arts Organisation
Cardiff Fringe Theatre Festival (CFTF) was established to provide accessible theatre and stage entertainment to Cardiff, giving both established and new acts a chance to perform.

The Development Need
Run entirely by volunteers, CFTF’s Marketing Director, Alice Downing, had learnt all her marketing knowledge ‘on-the-job’. Through Skills Bank, she wished to review her current processes and develop an effective marketing strategy which would increase attendees to the festival. Alice also wanted to create a marketing template for use in future years.

The Adviser
Hannah Dixon, Senior Account Manager at Golley Slater

The Development Need
Hannah wished to apply her knowledge and skills to a new sector, develop her delegation skills, experience being involved in the entirety of a project and see the direct impact of her contribution.

The Results

For Cardiff Fringe Theatre Festival:

• Increased attendance and income
• Increased understanding of tools available to engage with audiences and measure impact of marketing activities
• Improved marketing processes that can be replicated for future festivals

For Hannah:

• Experience of working in a different sector and seeing the direct impact of her advice
• Increased confidence in her own abilities
• A more creative approach to marketing and PR strategies

The Endorsement

I don’t think we would have matched ticket sales from the previous year, let alone exceeded them, without Hannah’s help! Working with her has given me a more audience-driven perspective, which is vital to ticket sales and the ongoing sustainability of the festival. Hannah has a wealth of knowledge and introduced me to different methods and tools of marketing, meaning I could be more productive with my time.

Alice Downing, Marketing Director, Cardiff Fringe Theatre Festival

The placement has really developed my consultancy and delegation skills and provided confidence in my abilities – without a director or team to validate my decisions, I had to trust my gut. Working with limited time and budget has helped me to take a more creative approach to marketing and PR tactics.

Hannah Dixon, Senior Account Manager, Golley Slater