Modern Access for a Timeless Institution: How The Old Globe Elevated the Patron Experience

A legacy institution with eyes on the future

Nestled within the iconic Balboa Park in San Diego, The Old Globe is a revered West Coast cultural institution. Celebrating 90 years of artistic excellence, the venue is renowned for its dynamic programming; a blend of Shakespearean classics, Broadway-bound musicals, American standards, and bold new plays.With three distinct theatres and a surrounding hub of cultural attractions, The Old Globe attracts a diverse audience, though its core demographic tends toward an older, highly engaged base.

Dean Yager, the IT Director and a 32-year veteran of The Old Globe, leads a team of three who oversee the technical operations. His deep operational understanding, beginning from his early days in the Box Office, positions him uniquely to navigate the crossroads of tradition and innovation.

Bridging the digital gap from The Old Globe to mobile tickets

Despite its artistic prowess, The Old Globe faced several operational hurdles:

• Digital Adoption Doubt: Legacy systems and other digital ticket providers required customer logins, an intimidating barrier for an older demographic. As a result, adoption rates lagged, and technical support needs spiked.
• Disjointed Communications: Performance-related messaging was cumbersome. Their traditional email platform offered no integrated SMS capabilities, leading to fragmented communication workflows and missed audience touchpoints around the event.
• Rigid Software Options: The Old Globe's leadership often required customized workflows and rapid changes. Many third-party systems were too rigid, expensive, or mismatched, especially those geared primarily towards issues like ticket fraud and resale prevention, a non-issue for The Old Globe’s audience.

In short, The Old Globe needed a flexible, intuitive, cost-effective solution without sacrificing the dignity of their esteemed brand or the experience of their patrons.

"People hated having to log in or doing something difficult to get their tickets. Our marketing director was adamant: he didn’t want something that required a login."

— Dean Yager, IT Director, The Old Globe

Lightweight visitor experience tech that comes with a digital ticket

After evaluating the market, The Old Globe selected Encore Pro as their digital ticketing and communications partner. Here's why:

• Login-Free Simplicity: Easy access to digital tickets via personalized links, removing the intimidating “username and password” gauntlet.
• Unified Communication: Combining email and SMS messaging within a single ecosystem created a smoother, faster communication strategy, particularly critical around live performance updates.
• Rapid Customization and Support: The platform accommodates unique Old Globe branding and customization and support is responsive — a critical agility factor for arts organizations navigating evolving audience expectations.
• Cost-Effective Deployment: The solution was well-priced relative to competitors and eliminated the features unnecessary to The Old Globe

An immediate impact with crowdEngage

While still within their first season of deployment, the early results are telling:

• Easy Adoption: Change management, often a pain point in arts organizations, turned out to be smooth and frictionless and loved by frequently attending key donors and board members.
• Positive Audience Feedback: Patrons reported high satisfaction with the ease of accessing their tickets and receiving timely updates, reducing box office burdens and pre-performance confusion.
• More Reliable Performance Emails: Critical performance-based communications have become faster, more reliable, and less labor-intensive

"It met us where we were, made changes faster than we could ask for, and turned our first digital ticket rollout into a total audience success."— Dean Yager, IT Director, The Old Globe

The Old Globe’s future with crowdEngage

The Old Globe is now able to offer a streamlined, efficient experience for patrons while maintaining the high standards that their audience expects. They’ve found a long-term partner that delivers on their goals of improved patron communication and engagement without the technical complexity or hidden fees of other systems.

By focusing on simplicity and scalability, Encore Pro has become an essential tool in The Old Globe’s operational toolkit, helping them stay ahead of challenges and deliver an exceptional experience for their diverse audience.

To learn more about The Old Globe and its current season, visit their website. Want to explore how your team can deliver smarter, smoother visitor communication? Learn more about our visitor experience solution here or contact us to discuss how our solutions can improve your visitor communication.