Cinderella

There were three main objectives here: 1. To celebrate and draw attention to a newly refurbished building (the St James Theatre) to which the Ballet was returning for the first time after extended works. 2. To grab the attention of new ballet audiences, particularly the rainbow community, and show them this ballet was a thoroughly modern fairy story. 3. To bring the Ballet to the street, and make it more accessible to more people (not just ticket-holders).

The design solution was to go big, no, HUGE, and bold. We decided to celebrate the building by bringing it into focus, projecting onto it, and enhancing its beautiful features with projection mapping. We also decided to make the characters of this ballet larger than life, literally, and bring their performances onto the building, using the building as another character; as a part of the set to interact with; and as a backdrop to the action. Finally, we’ve also highlighted the rainbow aspect of the ballet, without giving the ending away, to show this story has a very modern twist.

The building is in a busy street servicing bus commuters, that comes alive at night with partying fun. It was winter, so early darkness meant projecting onto the building was perfect for commuters & bar patrons in the area. The feature had the highest social media engagement of anything Council had done. Feedback included “I’m going to go home and say I’ve seen the ballet!” (from someone who wouldn’t normally afford to go). The projections created the highest volume in ticket sales across the entire season, and the theatre was energised by new audiences loudly enjoying this hilarious and inclusive ballet.

Making it unmissable, by having such a large scale on an historic building, meant that it was noticed. It was talked about. It was filmed and shared. No other medium could have got us such impact with our city based young mobile audience, and sold so many tickets so fast. Highlights for the crowds have been the ugly sisters who get up to all kinds of trouble; the magic of the Fairy Godmother sprinkling fairy dust; the very evil wicked stepmother; and our princes owning the rainbow! Of course, there’s no show without the beloved St James Theatre - shown in all its refurbished glory (with bit of palace bling being added). Central to the RNZB’s aims for the activation was a heightened, unexpected and creatively integrated profile for season sponsor Ryman Healthcare. At the time of the Cinderella campaign and tour, the RNZB was negotiating a new and substantial ‘Principal Partner’ multi-year sponsorship package with Ryman. Negotiations were successfully concluded after the Cinderella season, with this activation, coupled with Ryman’s own investment in in-theatre add-ons for audience members, a contributing factor and a larger than life demonstration of the opportunities, profile and sheer good fun afforded by sponsoring the RNZB.