A new twist on Swan Lake at Sydney’s iconic Bondi Icebergs. Photo: Dan Boud; image supplied.
Just as The Australian Ballet’s internationally acclaimed production of Graeme Murphy’s Swan Lake breaks all stereotypes of this Tchaikovsky classic, so too does the company’s twist on marketing it to Sydney audiences.
A swan on an iceberg melds two Sydney icons – Bondi’s home of salty swimmers with the nation’s premium dance company.
We caught up with the company’s new Director of Marketing, Penny Rowlands, to get her thoughts on what is driving this international trend to ‘think beyond the tutu’ and how she plans to drive the image of The Australian Ballet forward.
‘We want to challenge people’s perceptions about ballet. There are lots of entry points to ballet – its athleticism, music, couture costumes – endless potential to expand those stories and provides relevance for audiences,’ said Rowlands.
‘Our marketing strategy is as simple as tell a story and showcase a hero.’
The first campaign Rowlands worked on was the highly successful Chroma. It immediately defined an exciting vision of The Australian Ballet – sexy, contemporary, edgy and extreme.
Marketing image for Chroma; courtesy The Australian Ballet.
‘We are reviewing everything we are doing. The reason we are doing things like swans at Bondi icebergs, is that we want to be relevant; we want ballet to be just like cricket,’ said Rowlands, adding that it was also about tapping into being an Australian company.
Ballet and sport
The arts-sports combination is not a new one; we only have to look at the Basil Seller’s Award in the visual arts to know how serious that cross-dimensional mix can be. And, while we might immediately yawn at the more clichéd pairing of dancers with footballers, more interesting is drilling to the heart of ballet to find connection – its athleticism.
Take for example the Dutch National Ballet’s poster campaign (pictured below) that sold this message brilliantly.
Rowlands said: ‘A lot of the guys I have taken [to the ballet] in past months are pleasantly surprised by the discipline of achieving that level of fitness. People take away different things.’ It is important to explore all those stories.
Artistic Director, David McAllister, echoed Rowlands’ position. ‘Murphy’s Swan Lake is the ballet that perfectly embodies The Australian Ballet’s motto “caring for tradition, daring to be different”. It showcases the technique and athleticism of our dancers while storming into new territory with a modern, sensual and dramatic narrative.’
Ballet and fashion
The global trend has been to democratize the ballet experience, forming connection with other things. Ballet and fashion is another obvious marketing direction.
The Australian Ballet has had a long relationship with Vogue Australia; this month’s issue has turned over several pages and the front cover to the company.
This month’s Vogue partnership extends an earlier 2012 photo shoot Heavenly Creatures (pictured above) which was also posted on YouTube that puts the Australian in ballet. It makes you want to change your beach attire!
Similarly, Collette Dinnigan has a longstanding relationship with the ballet designing for their productions, and worked with the company in 2012 releasing a children’s range at Target in celebration of the company’s 50th anniversary.
Like Vogue, the ballet has revisited that creative partnership. Rowlands said: ‘We are working on finalizing our next collaboration with Collette Dinnigan on a children’s range to be launched at the end of the year.’
Other international labels have taken the ‘sports’ line or the embedded approach of dancer and fashion. GAP did it to launch a line of stretch jeans. And so did Levi’s with a brilliant campaign using the Korea National Ballet (2012) posted on YouTube.’
The power of using video within your marketing mix today has the potential to go viral if done well. You tap into an immediate other tier of circulation building your brand. What video does is transport audiences to the dress circle with highly emotive stories without punching a dint in your marketing budget.
New York’s City Ballet released a 12-part mini-series on AOL, narrated by Sarah Jessica Parker, who sits on the ballet’s board, that is cut at times a bit like a video clip – fast, raw and real. Location is key to the branding of this company – something The Australian Ballet has used, as with its recent swan’s campaign.
The Australian Ballet’s video story The Tutu, posted on YouTube (February 2014), has had over 60,000 hits; and an earlier posting En Pointe! (November 2011) has amassed nearly 640,000 views.
Rowlands said: ‘Our Instagram has tripled in the last three months. It is now at 12,000. We hired a digital team this year for the first time. They are really focusing on telling the stories and capturing content. And, hopefully, that will convert and they will see a show.’
While in the past marketing tools such as giveaways drove a potential buyer to act – such as The Australian Ballet’s extremely successful tote bag package in 2010 – social media is now used in tandem.
Rowlands added: ‘Watch this space! We have a lot more planned with merchandising, our outdoor presence and driving digital media.’
‘We want to create moments for our brand playing in popular culture spaces … demystifying it. It’s about Australians and about making it relevant,’ concluded Rowlands.
The Australian Ballet’s Swans at Sydney’s iconic Bondi Icebergs. Photo Dan Boud; image supplied.
Swan Lake jetés into Sydney 20 – 28 February 2015.
Inspired by the notorious love triangle between Princess Diana, Prince Charles and Camilla Parker-Bowles, this is no traditional good versus evil love tale of mythical swans. Created especially to mark the company’s 40th anniversary in 2002 and last performed in Sydney in 2008 it will staged for the first time at the Capitol Theatre.
Tickets are now on sale through Ticketmaster.
