Open Forum

I was so excited about how our current marketing is going for our school's upcoming production of 'Antigone' that I wanted to share it, as it seems to be doing the incredible: students who have no involvement with our drama program are already talking excitedly about turning out to see an ancient Greek tragedy! 

Let me share it, and if others have suggestions as to how it could be worked better, then please! Respond and let me know what you think.

So with our production, we've added a visual prologue to the play; we have Eteocles and Polynices and their respective armies fighting to the death, played out to a very loud, driving, pumping, menacing techno track. The boys playing Eteocles and Polynices are pretty popular kids and respected well by the students, so we came up with an idea to market the play based on their rivalry (in the play - they're best friends outside of the play!): we've filmed a couple of 30 second spots for the morning show in which they stake their claim to the throne in no uncertain terms. We have a design for a t-shirt with the show details on it ready to send to print; the shirts will be available in two colours, one for Eteocles and one for Polynices.

SUGGESTIONS PLEASE: we're thinking either a hot blue for one, and camo for the other, or maybe a hot blue for one and a hot red for the other. Thoughts? Alternatives?

T-shirts never make that much money, but as a way of generating buzz, many are talking, which is amazing, as this is a taut Greek tragedy that would otherwise be yawned through in English classes. We're shamelessly taking advantage of the performers popularity and turning this into a 'Whose side are you on?' campaign: If you're for Eteocles, buy his shirt, if for Polynices, buy his. So far, the buzz has been incredible. Even teachers in departments other than English are bought in to this production, which is a lovely boost!

SUGGESTIONS NEEDED: I really don't want to put 'TEAM ETEOCLES' or TEAM POLYNICES on the shirts. Does anyone have a good alternative slogan that would work? Or do you guys think that the colour differentiation would be enough? 

We are balancing the promotion of these two characters with 'campaign addresses' from Antigone and Creon as well (we've set the play in a contemporary context, with Creon as a modern leader of any particular near-totalitarian/authoritarian regime you'd care to identify it with, with the Chorus as 'members of the press/journalists').

Any thoughts or ideas would be gratefully welcomed and received with wild abandon. 

I am so grateful for this community and the wisdom you folks have to offer. Thanks for everyone's advice on my previous question about portable lighting!

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Phillip Goodchild

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First off I want to applaud you and your school for thinking outside the box, that is such a cool idea! Secondly, I am unfamiliar with the show however my "two cents" on the different colored t-shirts is to order red and blue. Because those colors are contrasting, and can be easily used to differentiate "sides" between the school.

Let us know how it all turns out!

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Alex Minton
Omaha NE
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Original Message:
Sent: 04-09-2014 08:16
From: Phillip Goodchild
Subject: Marketing Ideas...

I was so excited about how our current marketing is going for our school's upcoming production of 'Antigone' that I wanted to share it, as it seems to be doing the incredible: students who have no involvement with our drama program are already talking excitedly about turning out to see an ancient Greek tragedy! 

Let me share it, and if others have suggestions as to how it could be worked better, then please! Respond and let me know what you think.

So with our production, we've added a visual prologue to the play; we have Eteocles and Polynices and their respective armies fighting to the death, played out to a very loud, driving, pumping, menacing techno track. The boys playing Eteocles and Polynices are pretty popular kids and respected well by the students, so we came up with an idea to market the play based on their rivalry (in the play - they're best friends outside of the play!): we've filmed a couple of 30 second spots for the morning show in which they stake their claim to the throne in no uncertain terms. We have a design for a t-shirt with the show details on it ready to send to print; the shirts will be available in two colours, one for Eteocles and one for Polynices.

SUGGESTIONS PLEASE: we're thinking either a hot blue for one, and camo for the other, or maybe a hot blue for one and a hot red for the other. Thoughts? Alternatives?

T-shirts never make that much money, but as a way of generating buzz, many are talking, which is amazing, as this is a taut Greek tragedy that would otherwise be yawned through in English classes. We're shamelessly taking advantage of the performers popularity and turning this into a 'Whose side are you on?' campaign: If you're for Eteocles, buy his shirt, if for Polynices, buy his. So far, the buzz has been incredible. Even teachers in departments other than English are bought in to this production, which is a lovely boost!

SUGGESTIONS NEEDED: I really don't want to put 'TEAM ETEOCLES' or TEAM POLYNICES on the shirts. Does anyone have a good alternative slogan that would work? Or do you guys think that the colour differentiation would be enough? 

We are balancing the promotion of these two characters with 'campaign addresses' from Antigone and Creon as well (we've set the play in a contemporary context, with Creon as a modern leader of any particular near-totalitarian/authoritarian regime you'd care to identify it with, with the Chorus as 'members of the press/journalists').

Any thoughts or ideas would be gratefully welcomed and received with wild abandon. 

I am so grateful for this community and the wisdom you folks have to offer. Thanks for everyone's advice on my previous question about portable lighting!

-------------------------------------------
Phillip Goodchild

-------------------------------------------

If you have any gang issues in your area, I strongly advise against using blue and red, as those are the colors associated with the Crips and Bloods.  We used burgundy and teal for our production of "Romeo and Juliet" last year because we wanted to avoid seeming to identify with gangs.  

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C. J. Breland
Asheville NC
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Original Message:
Sent: 04-13-2014 20:03
From: Alex Minton
Subject: Marketing Ideas...

First off I want to applaud you and your school for thinking outside the box, that is such a cool idea! Secondly, I am unfamiliar with the show however my "two cents" on the different colored t-shirts is to order red and blue. Because those colors are contrasting, and can be easily used to differentiate "sides" between the school.

Let us know how it all turns out!

-------------------------------------------
Alex Minton
Omaha NE
-------------------------------------------






Original Message:
Sent: 04-09-2014 08:16
From: Phillip Goodchild
Subject: Marketing Ideas...

I was so excited about how our current marketing is going for our school's upcoming production of 'Antigone' that I wanted to share it, as it seems to be doing the incredible: students who have no involvement with our drama program are already talking excitedly about turning out to see an ancient Greek tragedy! 

Let me share it, and if others have suggestions as to how it could be worked better, then please! Respond and let me know what you think.

So with our production, we've added a visual prologue to the play; we have Eteocles and Polynices and their respective armies fighting to the death, played out to a very loud, driving, pumping, menacing techno track. The boys playing Eteocles and Polynices are pretty popular kids and respected well by the students, so we came up with an idea to market the play based on their rivalry (in the play - they're best friends outside of the play!): we've filmed a couple of 30 second spots for the morning show in which they stake their claim to the throne in no uncertain terms. We have a design for a t-shirt with the show details on it ready to send to print; the shirts will be available in two colours, one for Eteocles and one for Polynices.

SUGGESTIONS PLEASE: we're thinking either a hot blue for one, and camo for the other, or maybe a hot blue for one and a hot red for the other. Thoughts? Alternatives?

T-shirts never make that much money, but as a way of generating buzz, many are talking, which is amazing, as this is a taut Greek tragedy that would otherwise be yawned through in English classes. We're shamelessly taking advantage of the performers popularity and turning this into a 'Whose side are you on?' campaign: If you're for Eteocles, buy his shirt, if for Polynices, buy his. So far, the buzz has been incredible. Even teachers in departments other than English are bought in to this production, which is a lovely boost!

SUGGESTIONS NEEDED: I really don't want to put 'TEAM ETEOCLES' or TEAM POLYNICES on the shirts. Does anyone have a good alternative slogan that would work? Or do you guys think that the colour differentiation would be enough? 

We are balancing the promotion of these two characters with 'campaign addresses' from Antigone and Creon as well (we've set the play in a contemporary context, with Creon as a modern leader of any particular near-totalitarian/authoritarian regime you'd care to identify it with, with the Chorus as 'members of the press/journalists').

Any thoughts or ideas would be gratefully welcomed and received with wild abandon. 

I am so grateful for this community and the wisdom you folks have to offer. Thanks for everyone's advice on my previous question about portable lighting!

-------------------------------------------
Phillip Goodchild

-------------------------------------------