Opera Holland Park Q&A

After posting about Korn/Ferry International and Opera Holland Park (OHP), Michael Volpe, General Manager of OHP sent me a wonderful note. He kindly pointed out that the interview I referenced was not the "full content" of OHP's value proposition. Hats off to Michael for reminding me of this!

In addition, he reminded me of his success in raising tens of millions of dollars for the company. Of course I saw this as an opportunity to get some insight into his achievements. I asked him to answer some questions and being the true gentleman that he is, he agreed.

Here is part one of a two part Q&A with Michael Volpe, General Manager of Opera Holland Park:

1. First, could you tell us more about Opera Holland Park? Audience, male/female, age, how many members, how many emails in database?

OHP is now one of the most unique and successful opera festivals in the UK and enjoys a reputation for producing rare and neglected (usually late Italian) works alongside the popular favourites. The audience profile is extremely varied as a result of many years of competitive pricing. Attracting new audiences to the lyric arts has been a big part of our development. There are some fairly obvious aspects to the demographic in as much as there is a wealthy element (our locality means this is inevitable). We are currently surveying our audience so we will have an up to date profile soon. We expect there to be continuing variations since we have done a great deal of work on accessibility in recent years. Male/female is virtually split exactly down the middle - slightly favouring female. There are 40,000 people on our database

2. Could you tell is about the intangible benefits that you offer sponsors? For example, networking opportunities for B to B companies, "money can't buy" experiences for VIPs, prestige of brand.

Networking opportunities are a big part of the OHP experience - face time. We offer an utterly unique environment for spending time with clients and associates and among opera companies offer a very relaxed yet sophisticated urban experience. I suppose when you are standing on the balcony of the Dutch Garden lounge looking at the view on a warm night looking forward to a spectacular production of something or other, that is a difficult experience upon which to place a price! For a company hosting important clients, such things have a resonance eventually.

3. What do you feel are the most important aspects of OHP's brand?

Innovation, broad appeal, quality, uncompromising honesty in pursuit of our artistic goals, risk taking, creativity, energy, unforced elegance, talent development. And of course a stunning physical space to visit.

4. What do you think makes for an engaging, memorable audience experience in regard to your audience? How could a sponsor add value to the audience experience?

Everything we do leads back to the art on stage; that is what drives the vast majority of visitors. A sponsor's investment makes a direct contribution to what we do as a company - to our product. Of course, much depends on the sort of business a sponsor is themselves engaged in as to whether they can make any other direct contribution, but in the case of Korn/Ferry for example, it was a good opportunity for us to upgrade many of our services and practices. The discipline of a named global sponsorship is quite a motivating factor in the sort of experience you offer your audience and in the way individuals within your organisation behave and work with customers.

5. Where do you see sponsorship going in the next two years?

There is no question that companies are wanting to see more community and outreach dimensions to their sponsorships. This is a major aspect of virtually all major (and minor) arts organisations' work. Sponsors do not want to display conspicuous consumption in this day and age and need to see value for their sponsorships and some core integrity to their investments in this area.

6. What is the most challenging part of corporate sponsorship? For example, education, cold calls, getting them to move away from logos...

Well of course, logos can be important for some companies whose imperative is profile! I think it is vital to manage expectations of sponsors and, conversely, sometimes it is necessary to encourage them to take advantage of their investment. Not all do surprisingly and it often comes down to the quality of personnel working for sponsors and the coherence of their own strategies. Companies are fairly well informed when they come to us and frequently know precisely what they want from us.

Bravo Michael!

This is very helpful. I 100% agree with this statement, "I think it is vital to manage expectations of sponsors and, conversely, sometimes it is necessary to encourage them to take advantage of their investment."

I will post part 2 of the Q&A soon which will give us insight into the Korn/Ferry partnership.