George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Theater

Eccles Theater

Recently opened, the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Theater is an extraordinary 2,500 seat venue located in the heart of downtown Salt Lake City. The theater is a shared vision between Salt Lake City and Salt Lake County to create a venue for the community to experience the best touring Broadway productions, nationally prominent family shows, music and comedy acts, and local performances.

What We Did

Branding
Email
Online Advertising
Social
Video/Animated Video

The Challenge

Redirect and Wilkinson Ferrari and Co. were hired by Salt Lake City and GTS Development to build early support and understanding for a new performing arts center in Salt Lake City, subsequently named the Eccles Theater. We have continued to build awareness of the new theater, educate new and existing audiences, and engage with supporters.

Our Solution

Community Engagement Campaign for the New Performing Arts Center

Our team developed a community engagement campaign that included public involvement around the design process, community outreach at events and with interest groups, and media relations. One of the signature elements of this process was the reuse of three larger-than-life windows that were painted as chalkboards on Regent Street. The chalkboards asked pedestrians to write what they wanted to see in the new performing arts center. We developed a Facebook page and utilized two of the City's survey tools to encourage the public to share their ideas online. Once we had synthesized in a final report this information we also planned similar public awareness to communicate the public's vision for the project to the design team, stakeholders, and throughout Salt Lake County.

Brand Announcement Event

We helped project partners and the naming donor, the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation, announce the new Eccles Theater brand to the public through a press event at the top of a parking garage that overlooked the construction site. At the event our team branded hard hats and set up a curtain to reveal the first show to be booked in the new theater. We also created an announcement email and video that could be shared with stakeholders and supporters.

Brand Platform & Visual Identity

Integrated Media Campaign

In fall 2015 and summer 2016 we launched an integrated media campaign for the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Theater that consisted of both brand awareness for the theater in the Intermountain West and worked in tandem with a season ticket sales promotion with partner Broadway at the Eccles. Combined media channels included a television partnership and featured special, print publications, radio, outdoor, social content, digital takeovers and programmatic online display. Our team managed the programmatic online display that was targeted to likely ticket buyers based on third-party online purchase history, contextual keyword search terms and arts publications, and on mobile devices that were geo-targeted within a radius of the Eccles Theater and competitor venues in the state. The strategy also included events and community outreach in Salt Lake City.

Social Media and Email Engagement

In 2012 we started an email list and Facebook page for the New Performing Arts Center. In subsequent years, we transferred the name of the page to the Eccles Theater and added Twitter and Instagram properties. Engaging followers of the theater about the ongoing construction of the theater, breaking Broadway news and contests to win tickets, and shared media coverage about the theater were some of our most popular posts. As part of the project's desires to build a hub for entertainment downtown, we also expanded our posts and created a monthly email newsletter to include information about downtown Salt Lake City and performances currently available at other County venues. Since the announcement of a Broadway season at the Eccles Theater, we have seen increased reach and engagement with these assets. At the end of the Grand Opening weekend we had more than 3,000 active Facebook followers and more than 2,500 Eccles Theater email supporters.

Materials for Promoters

We worked with Salt Lake County Center for the Arts to produce a brochure, pop-up book, and video for use with promoters interested in booking the Eccles Theater for touring performances. The materials highlight the technical details and ease of load-in of the Delta Performance Hall as well as the event management, catering, and marketing capabilities.

Grand Opening Weekend

Our team worked with our partners, Baruch/Gayton Entertainment Group, and the Salt Lake City Arts Council to plan and promote an opening weekend of events for the community to celebrate the new theater. Consisting of a ribbon cutting and dedication ceremony, the Premiere Performance on Friday, an Open House and Arts Celebration on Saturday, and a special performance by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir of Music and the Spoken Word on Sunday, we helped create a campaign for these events. We extended this campaign through an integrated media plan that included a ticket giveaway contest and sponsor, media sponsor program, online, print, social media, and television for this once-in-a-lifetime moment in our city’s history.