Stand out - stand out from the crowd and become a national or even worldwide audience success. Our client Tino Andrea Honegger produced a promising new family musical at the Bernhard Theater in Zurich: The Lion Who Couldn't Write. In this blog, we'll tell you why the lion musical has the ideal prerequisites for a broad media presence - and what you need to bear in mind if you want to do PR for a musical.
First of all, the most important news due to the current situation: After the successful premiere on March 7, 2020 and three further shows "The lion who couldn't write" had to be discontinued. However, a revival is already planned, because the lion doesn't give up easily.
Despite the current exceptional situation, the musical was already the talk of the town before its premiere. If you also want to get your production off to a flying start in the media, you should read the following four tips for success as carefully as possible:
1. a jungle full of storylines - on and behind the stage
This doesn't just apply to PR for musicals, but in general: the more different storylines you create, the more media you can serve. Because here too, the media want to report on things that no other medium has discovered before them. This means that you also have to look behind the scenes in search of exciting stories. There was so much potential with the Lion musical that we first had to come up with a battle plan to exploit all the storylines. On the one hand, we had four prominent actors: Jesse Ritch, Ronja Borer, Lucas Fischer and Nina Burri - the perfect candidates for people stories. Secondly, in Tino Andrea Honegger, we had a director and producer who was a successful musical performer and was starting his very first production. Migros Magazine particularly liked that. And the creative team behind the musical also featured interesting personalities such as Katrin and Simone Baumberger: a brother and sister team who created the set design and all the costumes together - ideal characters for media such as the St. Galler Tagblatt and Schweiz am Wochenende.
2. plus point celebrities
Even if some people don't like it, celebrities can be the be-all and end-all of a new production. They are a guarantee for media attention. Even if the main focus of the article will partly be on the celebrity's private life, the engagement creates a topical hook that gives a report the necessary news value. We therefore provided an exclusive story on Jesse Ritch in the Blick and Schweizer Illustrierte, SRF visited the rehearsals as part of "May I please?" and Glanz und Gloria came to the premiere to accompany the director, but also to capture the voices of the celebrity actors and celebrity guests. Because the following also applies to the guest list at the premiere: many well-known names increase media interest. By the way: a celebrity guest appearance can be a breath of fresh air during the season. We proved this with Anita Buri, Daniel Bösch and Claudio Zuccolini on the Walensee stage.
3. professional content production
The importance of good media images when it comes to PR for musicals is often underestimated. And just one professional shoot is by no means enough. In the best case scenario, the photographer should be booked at least three times: for the first pictures of the cast and crew, which can be used to announce the production or cast, for the first costume pictures, and for stage sets in full costume at dress rehearsals to herald the countdown to the premiere. Oh yes - and at the premiere itself, a photographer is of course a must. Also videosdocumenting the rehearsals or the stage construction, or an emotional trailer are not only helpful in marketing, but also welcome by the media.
4. eye-catching marketing with bite
The visual appearance of a musical is also a very important PR factor. It needs eye-catching posters that catch the eye and captivating images that convey a first impression and whet the appetite for more. For the lion musical, this took the form of a lion's head on a bright yellow poster - definitely impossible to miss. We also used a lot of color and emotion in our other marketing measures, such as setting up advertising and media partnerships. And we showed bite: we successfully brought major media brands such as Schweizer Familie, FamilienSpick, Radio Zürisee and Tagblatt der Stadt Zürich on board as media partners, which in turn brought us editorial coverage.
The Löwen musical is a prime example when it comes to standing out from the crowd with a new production and making a splash in the media. We are looking forward to the revival in November 2020 and are only too happy to continue supporting this unique play with lion-strong PR work and marketing support.
