September 18, 2003
Media contact:
Alicia Springer
(530) 898 9855
alicia@contentbureau.com
Return to article listHow an opera season becomes ‘hip’
300FeetOut designs ad campaign, targeted to single ticket purchases for the San Francisco Opera
Imagine twenty-somethings choosing Opera over going to the cinema. Creative agency 300FeetOut seized a challenge to bring new audiences and single ticket viewers to the Opera. In fact, their new advertising campaign has made pining for the Opera hip.
Missing are barbers-with-razor-in-hand on the Barber of Seville poster. Instead, a series of scratched-out names of past lovers is graffitied over the minimal and Meier-esque stage backdrop. Lady MacBeth of Mtsensk, a story of a woman straddling a loveless marriage and a manipulative lover, reveals in the poster a passionate woman drenched in saturated magenta juxtaposed with graffiti etching of the word ‘poison’ alongside a goth skull and crossbones.
300FeetOut has built visually descriptive narratives representing the character of each opera, and the mystery unique to each story. This tact has allowed the Opera to move from promoting a generic brand into the role of storyteller, capturing a wider audience. The advertising campaign links outdoor, print and radio to specific opera stories. For each of the nine operas, the campaign reveals emotional treachery, deceit, love and passion. Program guides will be handed out at each performance with the cover of the particular opera viewing that evening. A series of ads appear on the sides of buses, and on transit shelters.
The campaign directive aimed at broadening the audience for the Opera points to the incredible leadership of Pamela Rosenberg, General Director of the San Francisco Opera. Highly credentialed, her tenure at the Stuttgart Opera led to the award for “Best Opera Company of the Year” on four separate occasions. At a time when arts organizations across the country are forced to struggle for survival, the San Francisco Opera searches for a new audience. 300FeetOut addresses this need with an advertising campaign that makes each story real, in much the same way that a movie poster tells you what you are about to view on the screen.
300FeetOut, a leading creative firm, is unsurpassed in translating business concepts into results-oriented visual communications. The company’s expertise in marketing strategy, branding, corporate identity systems, collateral, web design, and advertising traverse multiple industries. Clients include: Adobe Systems, Microsoft, Dean & DeLuca, Genentech, Leading Hotels of the World, Post Ranch Inn, Hotel Hana-Maui, SF MOMA, Draper Richards and the National AIDS Memorial Grove.