The Everyman is Gloucestershire's largest theatre and is the oldest working example of Frank Matcham's designs. It is a unique and historically important gem of a theatre that both produces and presents a range of work over two auditoria. Everyman ReachOut - the community and education department - last year worked with over 30,000 local people on countywide projects. On top of this we run a free art exhibition space, restaurant, café bar, and Cheltenhams only free internet café.
So, a whole lot of work and great things but the age-old arts quandary of 'how to tell everyone about it'? The huge and semmingly unending DISTRIBUTION DEBATE!
At the Everyman we have been through the full range of options; agencies that refuse to reveal exactly where they go, agencies that will reveal it but won't actually go there, agencies that will go where they say but only once every 6 months, and many more combinations besides…
We had often dreamt of bringing the distribution in house but the price of a vehicle was prohibitive. Until we met up with Brian Kane who runs The County Cheltenham Group - the principal local dealership for Mercedes Benz and Mazda. We proposed a sponsorship package with them which gave them branding in our main bar (used by 200,000 people per year) and extensive branding around the county via the distribution network.
In return they donated not one but two vehicles to the Everyman. A V-Class Mercedes Benz, a 9-seat multi purpose vehicle, to be used by our ReachOut practitioners enabling them to commit to more and more projects. For distribution they agreed to supply us with a Mazda Demio, a hatchback with good storage space for brochures and leaflets.
Both vehicles are sign written with the appropriate logos to make the partnership between theatre and dealership clear to all. With both vehicles covering the length and breadth of the county it is seen in every town, village and city in the locality.
An excellent option on this kind of sponsorship, with benefits for both the dealer and the theatre, is to upgrade the vehicle regularly. This enables the dealer to launch new models and demonstrate their latest products, not to mention not losing too much value on the original vehicle, and the theatre to have snazzy new wheels!
This option will result in the Everyman taking delivery of the brand new Mazda 2 - the newest Mazda model of The Cheltenham County Group.
This sponsorship, recently renewed and extended, has just qualified for a New Partners award from Arts and Business. This rewards The County Cheltenham Group for their wisdom and foresight to sponsor the arts and enables their staff and customers to benefit more from the Everyman's work.
We now take our leaflets where we want them to go when we want to go there. Freedom at last!
If any of you yearn to have control of your distribution operation working with a local transport dealership can be a very useful and mutually positive partnership. To hear more about the Everyman's experience you can contact Derek Aldridge, Marketing Manager on 01242 512515 ext. 228.
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