Digital Marketing Officer Marketing Manager - Abbey Theatre

ABBEY THEATRE Amharclann na Mainistreach | Job Description
JOB TITLE: Digital Marketing Officer
RESPONSIBLE TO: Marketing Manager
The Abbey Theatre, Ireland’s national theatre, occupies a unique position in the hearts
and minds of Irish people. The Abbey’s mission is to create world-class theatre that
actively engages and reflects Irish society: we place the writer and the theatre artist at the
heart of the Abbey Theatre.
In 2011, the Abbey Theatre presented a programme of five world premieres, national and
international touring and new work from new and established Irish writers. There were
436 performances of 18 productions at the Abbey Theatre in 2011 on the Abbey and
Peacock stages. Over 120,000 people attended these productions.
Each generation of Irish playwrights has a found a home at the Abbey Theatre which has
nurtured and premiered the work of major playwrights such as J.M. Synge, Sean O’Casey
as well as contemporary classics from Sebastian Barry, Bernard Farrell, Brian Friel,
Thomas Kilroy, Tom MacIntyre, Frank McGuinness, Tom Murphy, Mark O’Rowe, Billy
Roche and Sam Shepard. Last year alone we presented four new plays in a row, from Irish
female playwrights Marina Carr, Nancy Harris, Stacey Gregg and Carmel Winters.
The Abbey Theatre toured extensively nationally and internationally in 2011. The national
theatre completed a 15 venue national tour, with the award-winning, B for Baby which
also visited the Tampere Festival in Finland. Tours visited three continents with John
Gabriel Borkman touring to New York and Terminus touring to the Australia, the U.K. and
the U.S.
The Abbey Theatre Casting Department conducted over 500 auditions in 2011 and 298
roles were cast across productions, readings and workshops. 33 actors made their debut at
the Abbey in 2o11 and 110 actors were employed across the Abbey and Peacock stages in
the year.
The Abbey Theatre Literary Department, Ireland’s only full-time literary department has
up to 25 playwrights under commission at any given time. It receives over 300 unsolicited
scripts every year and attended over 100 productions all over Ireland in 2011 including
shows at the ABSOLUT Fringe and Dublin Theatre Festival. Throughout the year, it
presents a series of play readings and new short play commissions.
The Abbey Theatre is one of the only theatres in Ireland with a full-time Costume
Department. It established a public costume hire service in 2009, following restructuring
in the organisation. The department maintains over 20,000 costume pieces collected over
100 years. Due to the growing success of the costume hire facility in 2011 the department
had to increase the number of days it opens from one to two.

Abbey Theatre Amharclann na Mainistreach
PURPOSE OF JOB
If you would like to join a thriving national arts organisation which represents the past,
present and future of Irish theatre, this could be the opportunity for you. This role
requires a person who is an innovative and a creative thinker with a passion for cutting-
edge digital marketing and the ability to develop a vibrant online community.
The successful candidate will have demonstrable experience in on and off line marketing
with an enthusiasm for a creative approach to problem solving. This person will be a
confident and articulate individual who can lead projects and work collaboratively with a
variety of teams and stakeholders to deliver successful digital communications, and
traditional marketing when required.
RESPONSIBILITIES
Duties of the Digital Marketing Officer include but are not limited to:
Campaign Implementation
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Develop and implement integrated marketing campaigns for Abbey Theatre
productions, visiting productions and associated activities to drive sales and grow
the brand at home and abroad.
Use creative and innovative tactics to bring the past and current workings of the
Abbey Theatre online and seek innovative ways to allow more Abbey stakeholders
to interact with the content.
Work closely with departments throughout the Abbey, our directors, playwrights
and actors to create compelling online videos, pod-casts and vox-pops which have
a wide viral reach.
Keep up to date on user trends on all online and digital media channels and make
recommendations to enhance our presence in these areas.
Generate persuasive copy to support Abbey Theatre productions and other
activities.
Website Development
Increase traffic, unique visits, gift vouchers, and ticket and merchandise sales.
Update the website on a daily basis to ensure all website content is relevant, high
quality, keyword rich and copy is on brand.
Work with the Abbey’s web developers to ensure the site is maintained and
recommendations are made to develop the user friendliness of the Abbey’s site.
Ensure the website is the best possible representation of Ireland’s national theatre.

Abbey Theatre Amharclann na Mainistreach
E-Communications
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Co-ordinate all e-communications to include writing copy and working with the
Abbey’s in-house graphic designer and Tessitura administrator to create monthly
e-newsletters; trigger e-mails; e-cards; and e-videos.
Use identified audience segments in Tessitura, the Abbey’s CRM system, to create
targeted e-communications to increase conversion rates.
Social Media
Create a vibrant and interactive online community using social media platforms
including but not limited to: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr and social
networking tools such as Tweetdeck.
Empower multiple users in the company to post on Facebook and Tweet for the
company.
Introduce integrated ticket sales to this platform.
Analysis and Reports
General
Establish Key Performance Indicators to report on website activity; ecommunications;
and social media.
Manage the messaging, placement and response to online advertising.
Monitor competitors activity, online marketing trends against the Abbey’s activity.
Track consumer behaviour and trends online to inform decisions to improve the
Abbey’s online presence.
Use reports to increase conversion on a weekly and monthly basis and inform on
developments and recommendations.
Assist in developing the Abbey’s internal communications.
Network and represent the Abbey Theatre at industry events, internal events and
meetings.
Establish strong relationships within the wider arts community.
Support the work of the Marketing Manager and Head of Communications and
undertake any other tasks as may be deemed reasonable and appropriate.
Input purchases to Opera, the Abbey’s financial management system.
PERSON SPECIFICATION

Abbey Theatre Amharclann na Mainistreach
The post holder will have:
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A marketing qualification with at least three years relevant experience.
Demonstrable experience of creating and implementing successful integrated
marketing campaigns using excellent copy writing skills.
Demonstrable experience of innovating and improving the online customer
experience and showing sales uplift through online customer acquisition.
Have an understanding of the arts sector and ability to build relationships within
the sector.
A demonstrable commitment to working as part of a team and demonstrable
experience of team-work.
Search engine marketing experience including PPC and SEO.
Substantial experience and expertise in the use of using a CMS, a CRM database
(ideally Tessitura).
Demonstrable experience of Google Analytics, graphics editing using Adobe
Creative Suite (Illustrator/Photoshop).
Demonstrable experience in the areas of planning and budgets.
Written and spoken Irish is a plus but not a requirement.
KEY RELATIONSHIPS
Internal
External
Engage and Learn
Production
Sales and Customer Service
Development
Literary
Abbey Theatre Customers
Graphic designer
Website developer
Media buying agency
TERMS AND CONDITIONS
Post: This is a Full Time Permanent post with the Abbey Theatre.

Abbey Theatre Amharclann na Mainistreach
Hours: Standard hours are 09.30 to 17.30 with an hour for lunch. This post requires
attendance at performances and events outside of normal hours on a regular basis.
Annual Salary: Salary commensurate with skills and experience.
Probationary period: 6 months
Holidays: 24 days per annum (including Good Friday & Christmas Eve)
Public Holidays : 9 Public holidays per annum
Pension: The Abbey Theatre provides employees with access to a Personal Retirement
Savings Account (PRSA) and will match contributions up to 5.5% of salary.
Employees must contribute a min. of 3% to avail of employer contributions. Contributions
are made through payroll.
Life Assurance: The Abbey Theatre Group Life Assurance plan provides a benefit to all
employees of 4 times annual salary in the event of death while in service.
Health Insurance: Employees are provided with the option to join the Abbey Theatre –
VHI Group Scheme. Participant employees receive a 10% discount on any VHI plan and
the subscription is deducted through payroll.
APPLICATION PROCESS
To apply, please send an up to date CV and a covering letter outlining why you want this
particular position and highlighting the skills and experience that you could contribute,
to:
Please send an up to date CV and cover letter to:
Michelle Sheridan
HR Administrator
Abbey Theatre
26 Lower Abbey Street
Dublin 1
Or alternatively email: recruitment@abbeytheatre.ie
The closing date for applications is Friday 9 March 2012 at 5.30pm.
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Abbey Theatre Amharclann na Mainistreach
The Abbey Theatre is an equal opportunities employer.
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