Vancouver Opera is using street art as a way to recruit a younger audience and raise awareness about bullying with “There’s a monster in all of us,” a campaign developed by DDB Canada’s Vancouver office.
Also designed to promote the company’s production of “Stickboy,” an opera that explores the inner life of a young boy transformed by bullying, the campaign profiles the work of four Vancouver artists: Nick Gregson, Carson Ting, Ben Tour and Ola Volo.
Each was commissioned to create murals that interpret their inner bullies in the form of monstrous, monochromic graffiti shadows. Each mural is tagged, “There’s a monster in all of us,” and encourages people to visit StickBoyOpera.ca. Visitors to the site can read artist statements, purchase tickets, contribute their own monster interpretations, and share their personal bullying stories. The work is currently on display in four high-traffic areas of Vancouver.
According to Cosmo Campbell, chief creative officer at DDB Canada, the creative plays on the idea that everyone has been touched by the “monster” of bullying in some way, be it perpetrator, victim or onlooker. The campaign is not only an attempt at luring a younger audience to the opera, but also an effort to change some minds.
“The main objective was to try and target a much younger audience and put a fresh spin on opera so it showed a person what opera could be, and what they thought opera was is not entirely true,” Campbell said.
“The impact that bullying is having on our society, is a critical thing to get out there, and how we can use old art forms and new art forms coming together to tell that story. We wanted to bring it up in the collective consciousness of Canadians and hopefully change more than the perception about bullying, change the perception about opera.”
Additionally, the campaign includes a series of posters, also on display in downtown Vancouver. Intended to confront onlookers with aggressive and provocative statements such as, “Time for a diet, fatty” and “Go away. Nobody likes you,” the posters are meant to give passersby a taste of what bullying feels like, Campbell explained.
“There’s a monster in all of us” is in market now and will continue until the end of “Stickboy’s” run on November 7. OMD Vancouver was responsible for the media plan and buy.
“Stickboy” was composed by Neil Weisensel with libretto by spoken-word artist Shane Koyczan. Founded more than 40 years ago, Vancouver Opera is the second largest opera company in Canada.
