Advertising

Orbit Creative Fulton Theatre Advertising Case Study
Fulton Theatre

ADVERTISING CASE STUDY

Strategy

Fulton Theatre needed a design team that could work closely with their marketing director to create pieces for their show seasons that would literally “sell” the show well in advance of the actual production.  They needed the design work to be unique, while grabbing the attention of a wide audience with a varying “theatre experience.”  Their goal was to go into each season with a solid level of booked business and fill it out with the momentum from each show.  Their competition:  People’s time and other entertainment venue offerings in Lancaster County.

Creative

Orbit Creative was called in to create new design concepts and messaging and execute that message in subscription brochures, box office brochures, group sales brochures, annual campaign brochures, direct mail postcards, store front posters, theatre front posters, as well as Fulton Academy brochures.  Each season consisted of a central theme and all pieces for that season revolved around that theme.  The challenge:  To showcase each season in a fresh and differentiating way that kept the existing subscription members in a renewal mode, while attracting new theatergoers, who may have been individual ticket buyers, and converting them into season subscribers.  Secondarily, the goal was to attract interest in the academy programs and to increase awareness resulting in donations through their annual campaign solicitation.

Results

Over the course of the five seasons working with Fulton Theatre, we were honored and proud that they reached some very significant sales milestones.  In the 2006-2007 season, Oliver! was their highest grossing musical in the history of the theatre, which was surpassed by the 2007-2008 seasons’ West Side Story and Fiddler on the Roof.  The production of Sherlock Holmes - The Final Adventure surpassed their 100% sales goal and was the second-highest grossing play, only to the production of Mousetrap.  The 2008-2009 season brought extraordinary success with the opening production of Oklahoma! and the closing production of Les Miserables.  As the Fulton continued to gain national recognition, the marketing pieces were inspired by their diverse selection of season productions.  The 2009-2010 season was a perfect example, opening with the classic, Hello Dolly! and closing with Phantom.  All of the advertising and marketing pieces continued to add significant value to the “Fulton brand promise” while consistently delivering each season’s offerings in a differentiating, yet orderly, manner as evidenced by the achievement beyond sales goals.