Show Stoppers: Visa becomes latest sponsor to open on Broadway.

Visa USA is counting on a long and profitable run for its latest sponsorship, a deal with various professional theater organizations that makes the company the preferred credit card for purchasing tickets on Broadway and beyond.

“We wanted to round out our portfolio with a major entertainment property,” says Michael Lynch, vp-event marketing and sponsorships. “From a brand standpoint, we want to align ourselves with the best in the business. [Broadway] is great positioning for us.”

San Francisco-based Visa spent more than a year working out its latest arrangement, and it’s no wonder: The multi-year sponsorship has more legs than the Rockettes kick line, featuring partnerships with the League of American Theatres and Producers, Inc., the American Theatre Wing, Tony Award Productions, and SFX Entertainment.

“Nearly everywhere a consumer comes in contact with Broadway, Visa will be there,” says Lynch. Looking at a rundown of the agreements, it doesn’t sound as if he’s at all exaggerating:

– The League of American Theatres and Producers, the industry’s trade association, makes Visa the preferred card of Live Broadway, a major marketing initiative launched in 1997. The partnership will be touted on The Broadway Line toll-free information hotline and at the Times Square-based Broadway Ticket Center.

– Planned duets with the Theatre Wing, the industry’s nonprofit educational arm, will have Visa co-developing community programs to promote live theater and expanding distribution of the Wing’s televised seminars.

– Tony Award Productions makes Visa the only card accepted at the industry’s annual Antoinette Perry Awards, held in New York City and broadcast on CBS. That gives the card additional fodder in its ongoing strategy of blocking out rivals American Express and MasterCard from major events.

– Linking with SFX Entertainment, which owns theaters and runs national tours in 15 markets and currently produces Jekyll and Hyde and The Scarlet Pimpernel on Broadway, expands Visa’s preferred status across the country. SFX is providing exclusive advance-ticket sale, priority seating, and hospitality programs for Visa cardholders. It’s the first time SFX has signed a national sponsorship deal for its theater concerns.

Visa began getting its preferred-status designation in October, and marketing campaigns should begin “in very quick order,” says Lynch. Efforts will include national TV advertising, a national sweepstakes, online activity, and “countless merchant promotions,” he says. The mix will also include P-O-P signage, at-sale prompting, and logos on tickets. BBDO, New York City, will handle advertising while Manhattan-based Ketchum takes care of p.r. Visa hasn’t determined which promo agencies will be used, according to Lynch.

DEPTH OF A SALES PLAN

The Visa deal “signals a new era in the marketing of Live Broadway,” says Meg Meurer Brossy, who as director of business development for the League of American Theatres and Producers helped launch the program (February 1998 promo). “We couldn’t have asked for more in terms of a media partner.”

The League has been slowly but surely building a short list of long-term marketing partners since Live Broadway’s 1997 debut. Visa joins Continental Airlines, Dr Pepper/Seven-Up’s Cadbury-Schweppes division, and First USA in the current cast.

Continental, Houston, pitches special travel packages and offers discount tickets to corporate customers, travel agents, employees, and members of its OnePass frequent-flier program. The airline signed on in ’97 to leverage Broadway in efforts to promote service to and from New York, and for that purpose the alliance “has been very successful,” says Eric Kleiman, senior manager of promotions and product marketing. “The League has been extremely professional and is always looking out for its business partners.”

First USA, Wilmington, DE, offers a Live Broadway affinity card that gives members opportunities for restaurant discounts, trips to London, backstage tours, and other bonuses. There are about 20,000 active cards.

Cadbury-Schweppes, Dallas, activated its sponsorship last year with a national sweeps offering a Broadway getaway weekend on more than 14 million products. The program returns this year with a local focus giving away tickets to touring shows in 30 markets via in-store sweeps. Tickets are also being offered to trade accounts.

Live Broadway ultimately wants to sell six to eight marketing partnerships, and is only interested in brands “that are pertinent, that you can relate to the Broadway experience,” says Meurer Brossy. “You’re not going to see Broadway Diapers.”

Upcoming events on the Live Broadway calendar include special performances at Celebrate 2000, the massive New Year’s Eve celebration being held at New York City’s Javits Convention Center, and the fifth-annual Kids’ Night on Broadway, a program that doles out free ducats to kids 18 and under who are accompanied by an adult with a paid ticket.

The January-February Kids’ Night events take place in about 20 markets nationally, and offer extra activities at Kids’ Fan Fair outings and restaurant discounts as additional incentives. This year’s festivities kicked off in October with a “Rising Stars” talent contest at the Broadway Ticket Center. Nearly 300 youngsters showed up to sing it out for a chance to headline at the New York City Kids’ Fan Fair next month.

Theater enjoyed its best season ever in 1998-99, with attendance reaching 11.7 million on Broadway and 14.8 million at touring venues around the nation. “We certainly hope so,” says Meurer Brossy, when asked if she thinks Live Broadway’s efforts have helped boost the box office.

With negotiations to sign a fifth partner imminent, according to Meurer Brossy, seating for Live Broadway is becomingpretty limited.