National Arts Centre Orchestra (NACO) is in the midst of an advertising campaign from Toronto-based Giants & Gentlemen that seeks to bring in a younger 35 to 45 demographic with the arrival of new music director, Alexander Shelley.
The campaign, titled “Classical Reincarnated,” is centred on Shelley, who, at 34, is part of the new generation of young conductors. The team at G&G has been using him as the vehicle to communicate the new look (and sound) of the NACO. The campaign, launched in February with a series of online videos featuring Shelley’s arrival in Ottawa, and has expanded to OOH, other online efforts, social media and print, which includes a lenticular brochure that mimics NACO’s “Classical Reincarnated” video.
“The whole idea of Classical Reincarnated was really this idea of how [Shelley] was still performing classical music, but he’s embodying it in a whole new way, and the way he expresses it is new and different,” said Alanna Nathanson, co-founder and co-creative director of Giants & Gentlemen.
While Shelley makes for an easy-on-the-eyes centerpiece for the campaign to target younger patrons, G&G was aware of the potential to alienate existing fans of the NACO. The test was finding a way to do both.
“The real challenge was keeping the current subscribers happy and not feeling alienated while bringing in the younger audience,” said Nathanson.
It seems the effort is paying off, with the campaign videos garnering over 145,000 views online in just over two months. Though ticket sales are one of the main indicators of the effectiveness of the campaign, those numbers won’t be available for quite some time.
“Change can be challenging, especially when your core audience is older, have been with you for years—some for decades, and have come to know what to expect from their orchestra,” said Bobbi Jaimet, NACO senior marketing manager, in a press release. “But, we know we have to start bringing in a younger audience, and Classical Reincarnated was the perfect concept to bridge that gap. The results so far are very strong and we are getting great feedback from existing subscribers and new comers alike.”
