What Assets do you Need for a Successful Theatre PR and Marketing Campaign?

To horrendously misquote the old cliché, an image can be worth a thousand tickets.

But as well as getting the perfect shot it’s about using the right format for the right medium.

Head of Press Emma Berge and Senior Marketing and Digital Account Manager Anne Dillow give their top tips on what they’re looking for from images to run the best campaigns with.

Press

There are different types of images we use for press, the top being promo images, headshots and production images (more on that here in our five types of images to support your press campaign). But the rule of thumb is pretty much the same for all of them:

Landscape. Yes, even headshots. Portrait shots are sometimes used as well, but landscape will fit a website better and many won’t use portrait.

Colour. Many publications won’t use B&W – try it, open a newspaper to the theatre pages and see what’s there.

No text. Again, most publication won’t print or publish an image that has text on it.

High res. Generally by this we mean something at least 1MB, though most publications won’t need larger than 3MB.

Photographer credit. Most photographers will want crediting for their work! It’s less usual on promo images or headshots, but will always be asked of a rehearsal or production shot.

Level. Whilst sometimes it’s good to have you images taken at an angle, press will always want the floor to be where the floor should be.

A photo. A drawn image or graphic can be great for other materials, but generally press want a photo for editorial.

Marketing

Although Press and Marketing work hand in hand, there are some significant differences in the assets we'd ask for.

With more and more marketing running digitally and socially, and people used to having visual aids to almost everything, sadly it doesn't matter how good your show and marketing is - without the right assets there just won't be the same pick up. To best cover all campaign bases we'd look for as many of the following as possible:

Again, high-res. The better quality an image the more polished the show appears. High-res is also vital for print.

Design. Not only do we want high quality images (more on that below), but a photo or graphic version of the show artwork including the title, dates, tagline and venue is really key for booking in digital ads. Sometimes you only have second to grab someone's attention, so having all the info where they can see it is best.

Photography. Headshots, productions shots, rehearsal shots, and BTS images of set and costume... without giving too much away. All this helps paint a picture of the show to tempt in potential bookers.

Videos. With so many audiences reached via social media, this format is becoming almost essential. Trailers and teasers need be high quality and can be great for digital newsletters, venue homepages and general socials, but BTS footage, Q+A's, day-in-the-life style content can afford to be far scrappier, and it can be filmed on a phone. This can help audiences understand the people behind the show.

Formats. Ideally, we'd look for landscape, portrait and square versions of all the above to make sure we can fit as many digital and print spaces as possible.

Ultimately, the more you can visually share about your show in advance, the more eyes you will catch which hopefully means the more seats you can fill!

When you've been living inside a project for months or years (we've all been there) it can sometimes be hard to remember that your audiences won't know anything about it until your campaign reaches them. And what better way of showing someone what you're about that literally showing them what you're about...?

If you'd like any support on an upcoming campaign or just have some questions on how best to create the assets and reach some highly regarded photographers/designers and videographers, please do get in touch.

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