offbway.com - What It Is

offbway.com --- About

DID YOU KNOW...

...that the Internet is the fastest growing method of communication in the world?

...that more and more consumers are looking to the Internet to get information about entertainment?

...that Internet ticketing is becoming so popular, there is a conference in April devoted exclusively to purchasing tickets for entertainment events over the Internet?

Theater Enters The Information Age

There was a time, not very long ago, when many successful, intelligent people thought that movies would kill live theater. But last year, ticket sales for Broadway and off-Broadway shows shattered previous sales records.

Despite this, producing theater is riskier than ever. Costs have increased dramatically in every area. Savvy producers need to find more low-cost ways to increase awareness of their shows - and thus increase ticket sales.

Marketing Your Show Online

Case Study - Tony 'n' Tina's Wedding

This popular off-Broadway interactive hit had been running for almost a decade when they turned to the Web to see if they might increase their business without dramatically increasing their advertising budget. The web site (www.tonylovestina.com) added over $100,000 to the show's wrap in just six months - without taking anything away from the usual volume of phone sales. TNT is about to begin it's fourteenth year in New York.

Why You?

You may be thinking, why should I bother? Maybe you don't spend much time online. There is no way that you would choose to see a show based on a web site. Perhaps. But there are millions of people out there who, rather than skim through the New York Times ABC's or the Village Voice Choices section, would rather browse the many online outlets for entertainment (such as CultureFinder.com, Citysearch.com) when trying to figure out the ultimate answer to the ultimate question: 'What do you want to do tonight?'

How Do We Do It?

offbway.com is where theatergoers can find out what's playing off-Broadway in New York City. Each show gets their own web page (www.offbway.com/the_name_of_the_show). We charge reasonable fees (see below) that cover design, hosting and maintenance. Your page can be simple, elaborate, or somewhere in between. No matter what, though, your audience will be able to easily find out everything they need to go see your show:

- Where It Is: After answering the eternal question of 'what do you want to do tonight?', the next one is, 'do you know where the theater is?' We know, and we will give your audience all of the information they need to get there, including subway and bus information, and maps from MapQuest.

- What It's About: 'I don't know that show. What's it about?' We can tell visitors to your site everything about your production. And unlike the press, we print whatever you want - remember, it's your web page, and you are in charge.

And last, but certainly not least:

- How To Get Tickets: Once convinced that your show is what they need to do tonight, your customers have to know how to buy tickets. We can help, with phone numbers, and links to the appropriate ticketing services (TicketMaster, Tele-charge, Smarttix, TicketWeb, even Culturefinder). You'll never hear, 'I wanted to see your show, but I didn't know how to get tickets!' ever again.

Fees

Designing a website can cost as much as $10,000, and that doesn't include hosting, and monthly maintenance. offbway.com is considerably less, making it an affordable option for off-Broadway budgets. Hosting and maintenance costs just $150 per month. Set-up for a basic page costs just $750 - a one-time fee. (Additional design services are available, see below for more information.)

What You Get

Each show gets their own separate page on offbway.com. The format is simple - offbway.com/yourshow. But the best part is that anyone who visits offbway.com on the internet can easily find your production. Your audience will have an easy time remembering your page - they don't even have to remember the name! As long as they point their browser to www.offbway.com, they will find a list of all of the shows that are currently part of the site, and one click will take them right to your event. We will register your site with all appropriate search engines (Yahoo!, Hotbot, Lycos, etc.) to help you get the most possible 'hits'. In addition, we will do everything we can to promote the site in general. Anyone who wants to know what's playing off-Broadway can just go to www.offbway.com, where they will find a list of all of the shows on our site. Don't you want to be one of them?

Your Page

When you sign up with offbway.com, you will receive the following:

- Any text you like (usually a press release or similar marketing copy)

- Up to three images (for example, your logo and two production shots)
- A staff list

- A link to the appropriate ticketing service (Tele-charge or TicketMaster), so your audience can easily purchase tickets to your show.

- One update per month: you provide us with the text and/or images, and we'll post them for you. For example, when your reviews come out, you may want us to post quotes, or links to the entire review.

Additional design services are available. For example, if you like, we can create a page with headshots and bios from all of your cast members. Please contact us and we will help you to design the most effective web presence for your show.

Submissions

All artwork must be submitted camera-ready, or on disk as either JPEG (filename.jpg) or GIF (filename.gif) files. All copy must be submitted on disk or via email as plain text (also known as ASCII) files. Please note: if you are submitting text via email, please send the text as part of the email message, not as a file attachment. If you have any questions at all about how to submit artwork to us, please write to us and we will be glad to help.

More Information

To find out more about offbway.com, just write to us and we will be glad to answer any questions you may have.

For now, take a look at the site, and see what being a part of offbway.com can do for your show.

Designed and maintained by Brett Singer & Associates, LLC