Charleston Symphony Orchestra to Suspend its Operations, "This is not a ticket problem, this is a fundraising problem."

The Post and Courier reported that the Charleston Symphony Orchestra will suspend its operations immediately due to a drop in fundraising dollars.

Here is the full article http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2010/mar/29/cso-suspends-its-operations/#comments.

Some interesting points in the article:

- The drastic move was caused by a decline in major gift giving of 60 percent compared to last year."

- More than half of the symphony's budget -- $2.3 million for the 2009-10 season, reduced from about $2.8 million the year before -- depends on fundraising, not ticket sales.

-The goal of the restructuring is to stabilize the orchestra and come up with a better model.

- A telling quote by Legasey, "We're going to have to make a business case to key people that investing in this is worthwhile."

- Legasey and Scott said it was critical that the symphony design a business model that the community can support "on a sustainable basis."

- The organization has not operated within its budget for nine of the past 10 years.

- According to board president Ted Legasey, the budget has included funds for a development director, but qualified candidates have been in short supply.

The CSO has a huge opportunity to turn it around. It will be interesting to see what sort of "better model" they come up with. Hopefully it will be one that other organizations may benefit from.

W Hotels, We're Looking Forward to Your Arrival

I am spending a few days in San Diego in April and booked a room at the W Hotel. Within minutes of booking online, I received a message from the W Hotel with the subject line: "We're looking forward to your arrival‏." When I opened the email, it read:

"Well Hello There Stacy,
Who knew you were visiting? We've received your reservation and wanted to ask if you'd like anything special while you're with us? We'll be happy to provide Whatever you want, Whenever you want it. E-mail me at GM.Kaminski@whotels.com and we'll do our best to fulfill your dreams.

Want to treat yourself to a little something special? Up, up, upgrade away to our Spectacular, Cool Corner, Fantastic, or Penthouse rooms. Upgrade for a little as $20. Click on the link on the right to learn more.
Warmest wishes,"

This is a great way for the W Hotels to build brand, build customer loyalty and to entice the user to upgrade.

Harry Winston at the Guggenheim

In the market for a new watch? Check out the fancy watches that Harry Winston created with a Guggenheim Dial. For a mere $46,000 (or $41,400 if you are a Guggenheim member), you can have an 18k white gold case, chronograph quartz movement, mother of pearl spiral dial with diamonds on bezel, lugs, attachments and buckle. How many carats you ask? Approximately 2.65!

The House of Harry Winston and the Guggenheim launched this product line-the Guggenheim Collection by Harry Winston- in late October. Take a look at the other pieces here at their online store.

AOL Sponsors MIT Media Lab

According to paidcontent, AOL has entered into a three-year, $200,000 “consortium sponsorship” of the MIT Media Lab. Check out the details on the sponsorship here.

KFC Promotes "Fiery Grilled Wings" Through a Public Service Sponsorship

Back in March, I posted about the unusual KFC cause-marketing push. Now KFC is involved in another innovate partnership to promote their new Fiery Wings. KFC will provide Brazil, Indiana with funding to repair 85 fire hydrants. In return, KFC will brand the hydrants with the KFC and "Fiery Wings" logos.


CMD Global has the case study and IndyStar.com has a longer article here.

Like Ad, Dislike Ad

I love Hulu.com (no, I don't have a TV) and I just noticed that they have a "like ad" and "dislike ad" button on the side of the screen. Kind of smart.

Super Bowl and Pepsi

Change is good...

"According to the Associated Press, Pepsi will not be advertising its beverages in next year's Super Bowl, effectively ending a streak that began in 1987. The soft drink giant will instead shift its focus to marketing efforts that will mostly appear online.

Starting next month, the brand will unveil the "Pepsi Refresh Project," which will pay out at least $20 million for projects people create to "refresh" communities. A web site for the initiative goes live on January 13th where people can list their projects, which will then be put up for public vote on Feb. 1."