It wasn’t too long ago that the most buzzed phrase around the biz was “The future of advertising is online.”  Broadway (and the rest of the world) got swept up in the digital marketing revolution so fast that our head is still spinning.

(I can remember exactly where I was when I first heard about an “AdWord.”  And, just like some of my older peers can talk about the days when Broadway tickets were only a dollar, I can talk about the days when AdWords were only a nickel!)

It has been a whirlwind for sure, and while our industry will always lag behind so many other industries in our adoption of new technology (primarily because our audience is older and doesn’t adopt it as fast as, say, the music audience), one guy has been making sure that we not only stay relevant, but that we’re also pushing into new digital frontiers.

And that guy’s name is Damian Bazadona.

Damian is the founder and man-in-charge of Situation Interactive, arguably Broadway’s first online agency, and he’s my guest on the podcast this week!  And why sure, you should listen to this podcast if you want a lesson in how “tech” can help theater expand its audience (and how it can help your show), but what I love about Damian is that he’s the industry’s top digital mind . . . yet his ideas, his initiatives, his campaigns are so rooted in classic,  ol’ school marketing.  It’s like this . . . Michelangelo and da Vinci were both classic painters.  They just used different brushes.  Damian uses a digital brush to paint some of the coolest marketing campaigns around (including for the Super Bowl).  But he’s a marketer first and foremost.

Listen in to hear . . .

• What Damian has in common with Al Gore.
• How he got more Twitter followers for a Broadway musical than a major brand and major celebrities.
• Where he was and what he did to boost If/Then sales when John Travolta butchered Idina’s name on the Oscars.
• Why Broadway should give away 15% of its inventory every year to kids who can’t afford it, and why it wouldn’t cost us a penny.

If that last bullet point doesn’t get you listening, then I don’t know what will.

But the other reason you should listen to him is that as you can see by the picture in this blog, Damian is a young gun.  And he loves Broadway.  So we’ll be listening to him for a loooooong time.  Might as well start now.

Enjoy!

Listen to it here.

Listen to it on iTunes here.  (And give me a rating, while you’re there!)

Download it here.

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