Overview

Once On This Island is a Tony Award® winning Broadway musical. Performed in the round, the 2018 Revival quickly won over people’s hearts with its immersive set (including fire, water, sand, and live animals) and innovative costumes; all composed of found materials. Storytelling is not only the central theme of the show, but became the impetus for how to approach marketing this unique production online, specifically for social media. A show in the round also “creates a strong sense of community,” so it became very important to develop a brand that put community first.

The lyrics to the finale “Why We Tell The Story” served as our mantra and forced us to take a step back and ask “Why?” before putting anything out into the world. 

Solution

• Develop an aesthetic that carries out the show’s theme of storytelling and commit to building upon a beautifully, curated Instagram feed in which fans are obsessed with following and talking about.
• Create campaigns that take followers directly into the show and provide an all-access look at the set, the costumes, the cast, the creative team, and the entire creative process in the digital space. Be immersive in the theater AND online.
• Empower fans. Let what they say online, inform campaign decisions and direction.
• This is not a "typical show." Always think outside of the box.

Results

• Over 100K followers gained in less than a year. 
• An average increase of 17% of total growth* each week (*total percentage increase in likes and followers over Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram over the previous seven days).
• Estimated 20M impressions and 5K mentions a week.
• 900% more traffic to the website weekly direct from social, compared to the industry average.