Ballet Austin’s recent partnership with Austin-based virtual production company Virtigo Pictures set the stage for an integrated marketing campaign featured in AdWeek. Ballet Austin and Virtigo Pictures used a giant, curved LED screen with virtual environments built with Unreal Engine technology, to create the cinematic trailer for the World Premiere of Stephen Mills’ POE / A Tale of Madness. The ballet, which premiered on March 22, explores the tragic life and macabre works of American writer and poet Edgar Allan Poe.
While Virtigo Pictures showcased the cinematic trailer at the SXSW Creative Industry Expo, ECPR Texas helped promote it through experiential marketing. On the expo’s Austin Industry Day, an actor dressed as Edgar Allan Poe toured Downtown Austin in a pedicab adorned with a QR code to the trailer. The actor engaged with SXSW attendees, reciting Poe’s most famous works to festival goers.
ECPR Texas also used its in-house programmatic advertising platform NAVY to target Downtown Austin residents and past Ballet Austin production attendees. These individuals received ads for Stephen Mills’ POE / A Tale of Madness, the cinematic trailer and a ticket giveaway. Our campaign was able to increase ticket sales from Downtown Austin residents and re-engage people who previously attended one of Ballet Austin’s performances.
Media relations further promoted the production and trailer, resulting in features in the Austin American-Statesman, ATX Today, Pointe Magazine, Dance Magazine, CultureMap Austin and Good Day Austin, among others. The production also received critical acclaim from the Austin Chronicle.
Insights article written by Kat Griffith, senior vice president at ECPR Texas.
