I had an idea that I wasn’t sure was legal.

We were deep in development on Gettin’ the Band Back Together which is set in the fictional New Jersey town of Sayreville. The show had been born out of improv exercises, and when we were figuring out where to set it, Sayreville kept coming up. It’s the town Bon Jovi was rumored to be from. Jersey through and through.

>> Watch: “How I Made an Entire Town a Broadway Producer”

So my team and I did something that I think more producers should do before they open a show.

We got on a bus.

THE RESEARCH TRIP

We went to Sayreville. We visited the high school. We went to the Dairy Queen. We walked around and soaked in what that place actually felt like. We wanted the show to have real DNA . . . and it did. The town’s welcome sign made it into the production. A local diner called “The Pank” showed up on stage.

This wasn’t just about authenticity. It was about marketing. If Sayreville was the soul of this show, we needed Sayreville to know it.

THE IDEA

That’s when it hit me. What if the town of Sayreville wasn’t just the backdrop for the story . . . what if they were a producer on it?

I contacted the mayor.

And the town of Sayreville, New Jersey said yes.

The title page of Gettin’ the Band Back Together read: “and The Town of Sayreville, New Jersey” with the list of all the producers.

The press release went out. It generated buzz. Because it was genuinely different.

THE INVITED DRESS

Then I did something I had done before. (I stole this idea from my show 13, where we invited an audience of teenagers to be the first to see the show.) The very first people to see Gettin’ the Band Back Together were the residents of Sayreville.

For free.

An all-Sayreville invited dress.

The crowd went absolutely crazy. Jersey pride in a Broadway theater. The energy in that room on that night was something I’ll never forget. These were people who saw their town on stage, heard their accent in the dialogue, and knew we hadn’t used Sayreville as set dressing.

We meant it.

THE LESSON

Here’s what I want you to take away from this:

Marketing isn’t always about buying the right ad or nailing the right tagline. Sometimes the most powerful thing you can do is make the people your show is about feel like they own it.

We made Sayreville a producer. We gave them tickets before we gave them to anyone else. We treated them like partners, not an audience. And in return, we got word-of-mouth, press coverage, and a room full of people who became the show’s first true believers.

That’s real marketing, folks. And it didn’t cost us a dime.

What’s the community that your show belongs to . . . and have you made them feel like they own it yet?

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