I always do research on my shows after they’ve been running for a while . . . even when things are going well. Especially when things are going well.

Because “good” is not the goal. Better is.

So after Once on This Island opened and before we were lucky enough to win the Tony, we ran a focus group. We talked to people who hadn’t seen the show yet. We wanted to know: what would it actually take to get them in a seat?

The answer turned out to be a goat.

When we mentioned the show, someone in the group said, “Oh wait, is that the show with the goat?” For context: director Michael Arden had made the bold choice to use real live animals in that production. Goats. Chickens. The works. This person hadn’t seen it, but they’d heard about the goat. And then someone else said, “Oh yeah, the goat.” And just like that, the whole room was buzzing.

That’s what I call a talkable topic.

Word of mouth has always been the most powerful marketing tool we have. But word of mouth doesn’t just happen . . . it needs something to latch onto. Something people haven’t seen before. Something they can’t help but repeat. The goat was that thing.

My big takeaway from that focus group was simple: we needed to keep the goat front and center. So if you go back and look at our advertising from that point on, you’ll notice something. The goat starts showing up everywhere. A little bug next to the “get tickets” button, a playful graphic around the show logo, a banner ad with the goat in the corner. Nothing overwhelming. Just a reminder. There is a goat in this show. Yes, a real one.

Then the Tony nominations came in, and I decided to take it to the next level.

I went to my wife and said, “As much as I’d love to take you down the red carpet this year . . . I’m taking someone else.”

She was not thrilled. Until I told her it was Sparky the Goat.

I escorted Sparky down the Tony Awards red carpet, and people went absolutely nuts. The press coverage was everywhere! You can Google it right now and see it pop up all over the place. Why? Because it had never been done before. And because Sparky, for his part, was trying to eat the flowers off the backdrop. And then stole a look at Nathan Lane during our performance.

The goat was a star. And more importantly, the goat was a reminder of everything that made that production unlike anything else on Broadway.

So here’s the question I want you to ask about your next show: what’s your goat?

What’s the one thing about your production that people who haven’t seen it will repeat to someone else? Find it. Amplify it. Put it in your advertising. Take it to the red carpet if you have to.

That’s the talkable topic. And that’s how you get people in the door.

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