Case Study: Should You Listen to the Customer?

This case is based on Delacroix, a modern dance troupe based in New York that had five companies touring the U.S. and Canada. Despite the stagnant economy, Delacroix was growing at a healthy pace, in part because of its policy of keeping ticket prices reasonably low. Marketing's role has been limited till then but Natalia the chief executive thought that a change was in order and the company needed better marketing to support its expansion strategy. She hired Elizabeth, a dancer herself with years of experience in Marketing (DeLong, 2012).

When Elizabeth came on board she found that Delacroix has never gathered information of any kind from customers before. Marketing's only responsibility had been to decide how to advertise shows and what to charge for tickets. The company did not really know who its customers are or why they come. She thought Delacroix should start, at a minimum, by doing a simple customer survey to gather some basic information and find out what they like best about the shows.

But Elizabeth and Natalie had tough opposition from Henry, the creative head who argued that their business depends on the creative expertise of its artists not on what the audience wants.

Key Problem and Role Players

As discussed above the key question here was should Delacroix launch a customer research initiative? Tabulated below are what the key players Elizabeth, Natalie and Henry had to say.

Elizabeth and Natalie (Pro Customer) Henry and the artists (Pro Artists)

Market Research would get some insight into other audiences and markets Delacroix should target. People came to their shows expecting to have an unbelievable, unique experience cannot tell Delacroix what they want because they have not seen it before

The company has practically no data on its customers and has no idea which opportunities to pursue next. It was their job to tell the customers what they want to see.

The company was thinking of going international but knew little about what international audiences wants to see. Delacroix would not be able to keep its artists inspired and innovative if it lets customers dictate

It needs insight as to how to present and sell itself to the media or to corporate partners. The creative section of the firm were firm believer that success would come only if they trust their own creativity and instincts

A recent show that featured dancers in huge masks had terrified the children in the audience. There were walk-outs and flood of complaints about the masks. Natalie believes that Customer research would help minimize the risk. Few board members held strong to the principle that they shouldn't bow to what the customer dictates and did not remove the masks from the show. But they also state that they do not want to see that sort of mistake again.