After the brilliance of Prof Ojos Fajuyi which was held at Ado Ekiti and in Lagos, the idea of this giant theatre festival took root
We at Duke of Shomolu in our bid to drive theatre to the hinterland have done massive productions in almost all the states in southern Nigeria and in Abuja
To firmly take root, we decided to take advantage of the rich resources in Ekiti
Ekiti comes with beautiful topography, lush meadows, rich human capital, strong infrastructure – not many but enough and very importantly a willing and supportive Government
The festival has been designed to accommodate 24 plays, engage 2,000 cast and crew with an estimated 20,000 attendees plus 200,000 visitors in Ekiti
It will also hit hospitality, tourism, aviation, and services amongst others
At an initial budget of about N200m, it is a firm, private sector-driven initiative, and all we wanted from the Government was institutional support.
The marketing strategy to raise the funds was obvious to me from the onset
Corporations doing business in Ekiti, Government Contractors, HNIs, PEPs from Ekiti who support the Arts and Ekiti HNIs
The main thrust of the marketing strategy was the HNIs from Ekiti
All we needed was 200 of them at N1m each, and we are home and dry.
The session with top mgt staff of Unity Bank, which was called in by its brilliant MD, Ebenezer and which had in attendance Tope brains of the Instutution, drilled down the strategy very clearly.
The over one hour tough session looked at so many areas of the festival – impact, CSR, institutional relationships, quantitative and qualitative relationships amongst others
When I came out of the meeting, I mentioned to my team that nothing was askes about the plays, writers etc
This has always been a thorny point for my colleagues in the industry. They usually feel disrespected when I make this salient point
At the level of the sponsor and Producer, the quality of the work is taken as given
If a personality like Prof Ojo who is the first dance professor in Africa is the Festival director why then bother my head with the details of his work.
Let him do his work and let me do my work.
So i wont sit with a sponsor and start telling that one that Akeem is the best dancer in the universe or that the play will have 30 costume changes
The session with Unity Bank was a business meeting and discussions touched on the quantitative aspects of their business including the CSR which was key to them
I showed them a ROI of over 500% over there clear quantitative deliverables, touching almost all aspects of their business including – retail, corporate, public sector, digital etc
The theatre producer of today must understand the language of business to make that inroad.
The database of Ekiti prominent citizens dropped me at 60% of budget.
Meaning that i didnt have enough Ekiti indegenes to take me home, this pushed us to another key element in sales – reappraisals
I called a meeting and told them categorically that the budget of N200m was not working and dt we had to drop it immediately whike not losing the essence of the festival
Prof Ojo at this time was screaming. I moved him into an apartment in Yaba and took a cutlass at his budget and slashed and slashed and he kept screaming – Dukeeeee
Prof go and deliver the same thing on a reduced budget if not, I will run away
Prof released his timetable yday and I must say he has designed a super brilliant event even better than the first one at the bloated cost.
In trying to shore up the database, I moved towards the Ekiti state caucus at the National Assembly with the help of my brother Lekan Ajisafe who was an early supporter
Meetings with Sen Bamidele took me to Ekiti, Lagos and Abuja and spanned airtravels, road travels and long nights. Eventually he gave his word and stood by it.
We then pushed towsrds state contractors.
Got a long list and worked very closely with the Commissioner of Trade and Investments
This also drew a dead end with only one major contractor Niger bird headed by my childhood friend Willie Omotayo rising to attention
We drew a 90% blank there. This was a little better than the HNI list were we drew a 70% blank
The trick is that as you get your rejections, you drop the names and add more names and keep pushing
Otunba Bimbo Ashiru the Odua Chairman was very powerful as he used his phones to open doors
Then we deployed the skillful use of media and my broadcast lists
I created a broadcasts list of about 100 Ekiti prominent indegenes and then bombard them with updates hoping to tweek and ginger interest
Today, 30days to the show we are 90% of budget and very confident that we will hit it.
Selling a theatre production can be very herculean but once you understand the strategy which in most cases is more quantitative benefits to those who own the resources you need, than the show itself, you will take it like a piece of cake.
Nobody should come and beat me o
Duke of Shomolu