This case study is old, but is so representative of the Hive at its best that we like to include it from time to time. The assignment was to advertise a new Broadway-style run of La Bohème for the San Francisco Opera. The challenges were huge: the run was three weeks instead of three days, and the venue was The Orpheum Theater, which has twice as many seats as the Opera House. This meant we needed to reach a broader, younger audience in order to fill the seats, but without alienating loyal opera-goers.
We created a campaign that that piqued interest in the plot, and a visual style that was true to the opera’s opulent history. The humor helped intimidated newcomers see that opera was not as stuffy as they thought. Not only was La Bohème a sellout, but 67% of the attendees had never been to an opera before. The average age of the audience dropped from 55 to 35. The success was so dramatic, it was reported nationally in the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and on NPR. The case study is even used in a well-known marketing textbook. And the work, well, like opera, it's timeless!
