For us, a highlight of every new season – beside the shows, obviously – is the opportunity to get our creative juices flowing by developing a new season campaign. This consists of a concept that gets carried throughout all elements of our marketing efforts: the graphic design, copy, tv/radio spots, print ads, brochures, website, etc. An admission: it’s competitive…we always try to top ourselves plus our colleagues both locally and internationally. Sometimes we win, sometimes we lose.
For our 2010-2011 KeyBank Broadway Series, we once again passed the creative baton to The Communications Factory agency. We challenged them to use the “experience of Broadway at PlayhouseSquare” as the heart of the work and to integrate the shows in a clever way.
They came back to us with a few options, but the one we liked the best was “There’s No Substitute for the Real Thing”. See, the shows on this season exist in other formats (films, books, soundtracks, etc.). You can sit on your couch and experience them all…but that pales in comparison to experiencing a show live, connecting to real people on stage and sharing a laugh with 3,000 others. (True, Avatar made plenty of money. However, putting on 3-D glasses merely simulates an experience PlayhouseSquare has been offering since 1921.) The Factory juxtaposed the limits of other forms of entertainment vs. the live experience in a funny and thought-provoking way that hopefully reminds us that the value of the “real thing” is worth leaving the house to experience.
Does it work? You be the judge and tell us what you think.
(You can see the campaign here).
-Steve
Tags: 3-D, Acting, Broadway, Cleveland, Comedy, Design, Drama, Entertainment, Graphics, Performing Arts, Theater
