3. 2.Research
Problem Analysis
According to the report from Audience Agency, the largest age group of regular theatregoer
is between the ages of 65 and 74 nowadays (Snow, 2016). If the opera companies want opera
to be a sustained art form in the future, it needs to attract younger generation as a part of the
audience.
For today’s younger people, they prefer other trendy art forms, such as exhibition, pop concert,
films and so on (Berlins, 2008). Opera for young people is out of date and only old people can
stand for siting at the seat over 3 hours (Mielonen, 2003). In the rapid development of informat-
ion society, people around 20 to 30 years old are seeking for highly frequency and full informa-
tion activities. The speed and contents of story telling for opera cannot satisfy these high-tech
savvy generation’s needs (Kari, 2014). Because of lacking of patience and focus, young people
are still unwilling to watch great opera with translation. In their stereotypes, opera is an art form,
which is boring, expensive, outmoded and not related to their contemporary lives (Poole and
Doherty, 2012).
ROH
4. 3.Research
Opera
In the end of 16th century, opera was born out of royal entertainment in
Italy and France. Kings and nobles were using opera as a social method
to show off their wealth and power (Victoria and Albert Museum, 2013).
This performance combined music, dance and magnificent processions
with spectacular technical effects and extravagant costumes. The stories
or themes were usually taken from the ancient stories and myth of the
Greeks and Romans.
In the 17th century, British allowed composers to perform opera for the
public and also translated foreign language opera into English (The Op-
era 101, 2008). After has experienced prosperity and the development
in the 20th century, today’s English opera is thriving with lots of popular
composers. In the contemporary world, opera is just using big human
theme (life, love, death, loss, passion, joy, anger and humor) to offer au-
dience a reflection of who we are, how we relate to others, and what it
means, collectively and individually, to be human (The Guardian, 2014).
Contemporary Opera Insight
Fun Modern Abstract
Technological Reality Relatable
Reasonable Local Language Casual Dress
ROH
5. 4.Research
Target Audience Lifestyle
Target audience aged 20s to 30s who also known as generation Y
(PrincetonOne, 2008). As children, Gen Yers are still protected by
their parents and grow up with high self-esteem. Under the rapid
development of globalization environment, this generation is mo-
re open-minded and adaptable on new things than other age gro-
ups (Schofield, 2012). Also they are group-oriented and being co-
mfortable to share their entire life on the social network. They in-
tend to let people to see them as a cool person, so they prefer to
attend some events, which enable to make them more attractive (
Valentine and Powers, 2013).
Target Audience Insight
- They are high-Tech Savvy.
- They are self-regarding.
- They are optimistic, social and high expectations
for themselves and others.
- They like to hang out with friends.
- They are confident and indepent.
- They have strong receptiveness.
- They are impulsive consumers.
- They prefer to attend events with interaction or
advanced technology.
ROH
6. 5.Media Analysis
Although the Royal Opera House is one of leading companies in the world,
to appeal and to well communicate with new audience is important to ROH
because it has to maintain diverse audience for sustainable development in
the future (Williams, 2015). Advertisement is shown in different media cha-
nnels, such as social media, website, outdoor and its own guidebook. The
performance form in ROH goes to digital, the advertising method followed
logically focus more on the social media and websites (Campaign, 2015).
Also for the present purpose of attracting young people, ROH need to ch-
oose an effective way to communicate with target audience. So ROH is not
only need to put some print ads on the billboard, but also need to do lots
of real time interaction via social networks in order to keep the activity level
among the young people (Roberts, 2016).
ROH
7. 6.Strategy
Opera
Rich People
Vanity
Entertainments
Show Off
Friend
Share
To Be Understand
Young People
Fun, Joy
Relax
Enjoy Their Lives
Hang Out With Friends
Share Feelings
Self-Regarding
To Be Understand
Creative Concept
‘it is not what you expected’
In the past, royal and nobles use opera as a tool to show their wealth and
power. Everything will become meaningless, if the guests cannot underst-
and their behavior (Victoria and Albert Museum, 2013). Same with the yo-
ung people aged 20s to 30s, they enjoy trying different and novel things,
and they like to put their feelings and experience on social networks. This
behavior is mianly to show off their lives to their friends, and most impor-
tant is to seek approval from others (Sutton, 2010). Opera is gradually lo-
sing funs these years, it’s not because this art form cannot catch the fasten
pace of development world, but result from the younger generation refus-
es to know the new opera, they are denying the constantly innovating art
form just based on their prejudice. It is not helpful to accept a new thing,
they need to stop using stereotype and learn new things by themselves (M-
cLeod, 2015). People shouldn’t judge things until they experience. Opera
is not what you expected, it is trendy, technological and relatable for your
life. Overall, I figure out that today’s opera and young people have same
feature, which is they all need to be understood. So my concept is ‘it is not
what you expected’, I intend to encourage people to know more aspects
about opera and experience more by yourself before you define it.
ROH
8. 7.Idea Development
< WHO AM I >
The masks are like different young
people waiting here to be recogn-
ised. Only the person who really
understand them can findout the
truth.
< MORE THAN YOU THINK >
The first time you see the image,
you will think it is just a man’s face
with long beards. But when you
upside down the image, you can
see a face of a terrified woman.
< MORE THAN YOU THINK >
The part over the surface is very small,
but the stem under the ground is like
a small tree. Because in the desert, the
plant need to put its stem as deep as
it can to get more water. If you don’t
see the whole thing, you won’t under-
stand.
< MORE THAN YOU THINK >
It’s the side face or the front
face of a man?
Sometimes, things are not that
simple as your imaged.
ROH
9. 8.Idea Development
< THE LIFE >
To use sound wave to shape the
figures of people, and the whole
line is the review of people’s life.
The peak of the line is the good
time, and the bottom represent
the low point of the life.
< MORE THAN YOU THINK >
The shadow of messy clothes
is a woman’s head with a hat.
< MORE THAN YOU THINK >
The figure of a ballet dancer is
a triangle, added it’s reflection,
they like the buttoms on the ra-
dio for changing songs.
< GO IN FRONT >
The curtain is like stereotype,
which is a barrier for learning
new things. You need to open
it and go in front of it to see
the scene by yourself.
ROH
10. 9.Idea Development
< LOVE OR HATE >
The chain and the bars are symbols
of imprisonment. It shows her desire
for her stepson. But her love makes
him injury.
< LOVE OR HATE >
The dying body of a man, and the
name of the stepmother cross his
body. It’s like a chain to tie it up.
The distorted love lead to the de-
ath of her stepson.
< LOVE OR HATE >
The mad woman, the wounded man
and the sea are the main elements of
the whole story. The use of collage is
trying to create a modern style for the
target audience.
< LOVE OR HATE >
Rose is beautiful, but it also danger.
The tighter you hold it, the more you
get hurt.
< Phaedra >
This posters are based on the opera
called ‘Phaedra’. The story is about
the stepmother fall in love with her
stepson, but the stepson refuse her
confession. When she realises that
she can’t get him anymore, she tells
her husband his son admires her. It
makes her husband very angry and
kill his own son.
ROH
11. 10.Idea Development
Boy’s versionGirl’s version
< SURPRISEING GIFT >
The take away box actually filled with gifts or
electronicproducts, which meanings technol-
ogical elements in the opera. The atitude to-
wards take away boxes just like the people’s
imression of opera, which is boring. But when
you watch the new opera, you will impress by
the advanced facilities. It express my concept ‘
It’s not what you expected’.
ROH
12. 11.Final Visual
Tone of Voice
Young people aged 20s to 30s are impulsive and have short atte-
ntion span (Marketing Schools, 2012). If the poster can grab the
attention in the first place, they will interst in it and curious about
the contents. When they read the taglinewith patient, the effect of
educating target audience will achieve the expectation. So the ta-
gline on the poster have to be briefly and easy to read, and it also
need to explain the concept ‘It is not what you expected’. ‘More
than you think’ is the sentence which can meet the criterias. After
read the tagline, target audience may curious about the more sp-
ecific meaning. The curiosity can motivate them to desire new kn-
owledge with enough patient (Litman and Spielberger, 2003). It
is an appropriate chance to deliver the information to them, and
the second line of ‘Discover the technology in the theatre’ can s-
atisfiy their needs. When they feel they understand the purpose of
posters, they may like the advertising and then the relationship b-
etween the target audience and the client will be built (McDevitt,
2013).
Rational Behind Decision Making
As the goal of this campaign is to persuade the audience to go
to the theatre and watch the opera for the first time, I want to do
something that can impress people in order to let them know the
benefits of watching opera. From the research, I find that gener-
ation Y is the largest group who uses social media more frequen-
tly than other age groups and highly interested in technology.
Making a series of posters is my previous consideration of visaul
execution, but it is not attractive enough. So I decide to use print
ads and video together to appeal target audience. In the meanti-
me, the campaign will be held online because I intend to directly
reach target audience.
ROH
15. 14.Final Visual
In this series of posters, I use comparison to express the concept ‘It’s not what you expected’.
The elements are mostly from past magazines, posters and paintings, and the main tone of the
colour is based on classic opera. The style of posters is modern vintage, I use the pieces of old
paper to show the new concept. Each of the poster include a modern technological product, s-
uch as VR, projector, robot and camera. VR replaces the traditional opera glasses, the projector
replaces tons of paintings of background, robot replace the real people and camera means the
stories happened in the present. In order to remind target audience the theme of the poster, I
use different typical opera elements on the posters.
In the first poster, I use the fancy dress woman to indicate the formal occasion and the movem-
ent of holding opera glasses to tell the audience about the event. But I change the original gla-
sses to VR glasses to create an interested picture.
In the second poster, I use a lovely little boy and a terrible tiger, but the tiger is in the reflection.
Even though the effect looks like the boy will get hurt, in the end it just a false alarm.
The third poster, it is a set of stage, but in the middle of the stage the robot wore a normal cost-
ume replace the real performer.
All of these three posters indicate the opera in the modern world is not boring and out of date,
and the effect of the opera is so real and exciting.
For the last poster, the camera can record the things and when you want to review the whole pr-
ocess, you just need to open it. This poster is mean to tell people opera is not just use myths or
historic stories as its theme, but still relatable for your life. It’s the recorder for your life.
ROH
16. 15.Final Visual - Video
The video is about in a rainy day, people are hurry to go into the theatre.
The lights are off, the opera will start. Look down to the seats, you can o-
nly see the lights from people’s eyes. And there are some people using
opera glasses to see the opera clearly. But all of those are happened in
the past, in nowadays, people don’t need to worry about the distance and
clarity. The scenes on the stage are just like the realiy. It can make you feel
you are oneof the roles living in that story. The changing environment, ch-
anging time and changing characteristics create different world, but the
feelings for the audience as they watch new opera is never changed. Also,
there is robot on the stage to replace real people to play the opera. Every
thing in the newopera is not waht you expected, go and discover the inte-
rested things by yourself.
ROH
17. 16.Media Execution
Because the target audiences are high tech savvy group, and over
70 percent generation Yers have social network profile with over 8
hours a day spend on the media devices (Honigman, 2013). Aroun-
d half of the generation Yers will get information from social media
(Jackson, 2013). So the social media is the best choice to commun-
icate with my target audience. To be more specific, Facebook plays
the dominant role in news and information area, Instagram gradua-
lly grow up to one of the most popular social networks and YouTube
is the best video channel to reach the younger generation (Campm-
an, 2015). And I also put print ads on transport station, such as bus
stop, train station and subway station. Because the limited income
for the generation Yers, they prefer to take the public transportation
to commute or travel (TNS, 2013). In addition, some of target audie-
nces still have the habit to browse magazine. Refer to their prefere-
nce of the topic and the popularity of the magazine (Mcdonald, 20-
12), I decide to put advertisement on ELLE which is one of the most
popular fashion and celebrities magazine in the UK (Magazine Sub-
scriptions, 2016).
ROH
20. 19.Reference
Berlins, M. 2008. The national theatre is trying to attract younger audiences with £5 tickets. Will it work? I’m not sure. [Online]. [Accessed 31 August 2016 ].
Available from: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/aug/27/theatre.artsfunding
Campaign. 2015. How the royal opera house uses social media to engage the newcomer and ballet buff alike. [Online]. [Accessed 31 August 2016 ]. Availa-
ble from: http://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/1365770/royal-opera-house-uses-social-media-engage-newcomer-ballet-buff-alike#
Honigman, B. 2013. How Millennials are shopping: 20 interesting statistics & figures – Brian Honigman. [Online]. [Accessed 1 September 2016 ]. Available
from: https://medium.com/brian-honigman/how-millennials-are-shopping-20-interesting-statistics-figures-c76fb1231fbb#.g5daxjyup
Jackson, J. 2013. Know your audience: How the digital native generation consume media. [Online]. [Accessed 1 September 2016 ]. Available from: https://
www.themediabriefing.com/article/know-your-audience-how-digital-native-millennial-generation-consume-media
Litman, J. A., & Spielberger, C. D. 2003. Measuring epistemic curiosity and its diversive and specific components. Journal of Personality Assessment, 80, 75–86.
Kari, M. 2014. Why do many young people (seem to) hate opera? [Online]. [Accessed 31 August 2016 ]. Available from: https://www.quora.com/Why-do-
many-young-people-seem-to-hate-opera
Magazine Subscriptions. 2016. Fashion magazines | what are the top UK fashion & beauty magazines? [Online]. [Accessed 1 September 2016 ]. Available
from: http://www.magazine.co.uk/fashion-and-beauty-magazines
Mielonen, H. 2003. Attracting new audiences: Attitudes and experiences in attending classical music concert of students in their twenties. [Online]. [Acces-
sed 31 August 2016 ]. Available from: http://asimetrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Attracting-new-audiences.pdf
McLeod, S. 2015. Stereotypes. [Online]. [Accessed 1 September 2016 ]. Available from: http://www.simplypsychology.org/katz-braly.html
Marketing Schools. 2012. What is youth marketing? [Online]. [Accessed 1 September 2016 ]. Available from:http://www.marketing-schools.org/types-of-market-
ing/youth-marketing.html
McDevitt, D. 2013. What makes a brand appeal to generation Y? [Online]. [Accessed 31 August 2016 ]. Available from:http://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/1
211416/makes-brand-appeal-generation-y
Poole, H. and Doherty, R. 2012. Is opera really accessible to regular young people? [Online]. [Accessed 31 August 2016 ]. Available from: http://www.voice-on-
line.co.uk/article/opera-really-accessible-regular-young-people?fb_comment_id=10150995540188336_30756433&quicktabs_nodesblock=0#f1e615ea0
PrincetonOne. 2008. Understanding generation Y what you need to know about the Millennials. [Online]. [Accessed 1 September 2016 ]. Available from: http:
//www.princetonone.com/news/PrincetonOne%20White%20Paper2.pdf
ROH
21. 20.Reference
Roberts, A. 2016. Commercial collaborations. [Online]. [Accessed 31 August 2016 ]. Available from: http://www.artsprofessional.co.uk/magazine/269/article
/commercial-collaborations
Schofield, C.P. 2012. CULTURE SHOCK generation Y and their managers around the world Acknowledgements. [Online]. [Accessed 1 September 2016 ]. Ava-
ilable from: https://www.ashridge.org.uk/getattachment/Faculty-Research/Research/Current-Research/Research-Projects/Culture-Shock-Generation-Y-and-
their-Managers-Arou/Gen-Y-Report_Nov2012_FULL_lores.pdf
Snow, G. 2016. Audience Agency data shows ageing demographic of theatre goers. [Online]. [Accessed 31 August 2016 ]. Available from:
https://www.thestage.co.uk/news/2016/audience-agency-data-shows-ageing-demographic-of-theatregoers/
Sutton, A.T. 2010. Connect with generation Y: 5 insights from recent research. [Online]. [Accessed 1 September 2016 ]. Available from:
https://www.marketingsherpa.com/article/how-to/5-insights-from-recent-research
The Guardian. 2014. ‘Opera can make us see, feel and hear the world differently’: The UK’s opera chiefs tell us why their art form matters. [Online]. [Accessed
1 September 2016 ]. Available from: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/may/09/inside-opera-live-why-opera-matters-uk-opera-chiefs
The Opera 101. 2008. English opera history. [Online]. [Accessed 1 September 2016 ]. Available from:http://www.theopera101.com/operaabc/history/english.html
TNS. 2013. Are the wheels coming off for generation Y? [Online]. [Accessed 1 September 2016 ]. Available from:
http://www.tnsglobal.co.uk/sites/tns-uk/files/TNSUK_Auto2013Nov22.pdf
Victoria and Albert Museum. 2013. The early history and development of opera - Victoria and Albert Museum. [Online]. [Accessed 1 September 2016 ].
Available from:http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/t/early-opera/
Valentine, D.B. and Powers, T.L. 2013. ‘Generation Y values and lifestyle segments’, Journal of Consumer Marketing, 30(7), pp. 597–606. doi:10.1108/jcm-07-
2013-0650.
Williams, T. 2015. Royal Opera house: Alternative mobile apps. [Online]. [Accessed 1 September 2016 ]. Available from: http://artsdigitalrnd.org.uk/wp-content/
uploads/2013/06/RD-Report-Royal-Opera-House1.pdf
ROH
