Theatre Engagement Campaign

We recently started working with The Spring Arts & Heritage Centre in Havant to support them with their marketing and PR needs. Working with a wider team including a local designer and copywriter to deliver a fully integrated service, one of the main objectives for this year was to promote their Christmas show, Hansel & Gretel.

As well as pitching cast interviews and features to press and delivering a successful social media campaign, we identified an opportunity to work with local schools to promote the show and also develop a relationship between The Spring and the local community.

We put together a competition campaign, asking local school children to design a gingerbread house on a poster – these could be painted, collaged or designed on a computer. We invited the local mayor and Entertainments Editor at The News, Chris Broom to take part in the judging as well as partnering with local bakery, Heidi’s Patisserie to coordinate a prize of a handmade gingerbread house.

The competition was sent to all local schools and supportive collateral was produced to help with the campaign. Despite the short lead time, there was an excellent response with dozens of entries sent in to The Spring. The campaign not only successfully helped raise awareness of the Christmas show to local schools and families, it also provided interesting and engaging content to be used on social media.