San Francisco Ballet

Close-up of a carved wooden nutcracker face.

6 white sparkle illustrations in various sizes flashing randomly to look like they're shining.

TRANSFORMING BALLET INTO A BLOCKBUSTER EVENT

Green neon brushstroke on a black background.

Nutcracker

3 fireworks explosion animated illustration.

Capabilities

Creative

Design

Media

Production

Strategy

PROBLEM

As COVID restrictions eased and consumers in the Bay Area started looking for live events to attend, ballet wasn’t on their radar. Only 5% of consumers believed that the San Francisco Ballet was for them.

OUTSIDE-INSIGHT

To be in culture, you have to let go of being cultured.

Red, orange, and yellow animated flame illustration.

SOLUTION

Bigger Than Ballet – a platform that broke SF Ballet out of the category tropes and placed it at the center of culture; demonstrating how a night at the ballet is akin to going to a blockbuster movie, concert, play, sporting event, and art show, all in one. A must-see event, with something for everyone.

MEDIUM

We maximized our impact across San Francisco by leveraging mediums such as movie trailers and movie posters to show up like a blockbuster event across OOH, and with contextually relevant digital partners such as Fandango.

SF Ballet Nutcracker street poster with King Mouse.

Close-up portrait of Clara from SF Ballet's Nutcracker.

Tablet displaying SF Ballet's Nutcracker on Fandango website.

San Francisco Ballet Nutcracker street banners for December 8-27.

Smartphone showing SF Ballet Nutcracker's snowy world with text: Prepare to enter a new world.

SF Ballet Nutcracker poster on a phone with text: A Heroine Rises.

Smartphone screen showing SF Ballet Nutcracker: A Gift Unlocks A New World text over a lush garden conservatory.

SF Ballet Nutcracker poster at a San Francisco bus stop.

OUTSIZED IMPACT

Nutcracker sales were a blockbuster success with the highest ticket revenue in the history of SF Ballet, reversing two years of pre-pandemic declines. We were able to attract 58% new-to-SFB attendees and generate a return on ad spend of 635%.