The best orchestra season launches of 24/25 and what makes them special
Season launches should be one of the most interesting announcements an orchestra makes each year. I’ve long been fascinated by why orchestras haven’t made the most of this opportunity and how they could do it better (Season launches are boring… but they don’t have to be)
This year there have been two that have stood out as something special amongst the mass copy-pasting of “we are delighted to announce our 24/25 season”.
So, this year I thought I would do something a little different and celebrate the good, while doing a mini breakdown of what makes them special.
Minnesota Orchestra
“There’s a magic to it…”
WHAT A HOOK. In a world where the first 2 seconds of a video are vital to connect to audiences, most orchestras waste the first 10 seconds of their video with a pointless logo reveal. Not only do the Minnesota Orchestra get straight the content, this instant hook means that audiences are curious to hear more.
There is so much I love about this. The video is purely about the emotion of going to a concert and the brand of the orchestra. There isn’t a long list of composers names, or a slide show of soloist I don’t know.
Like all companies that are great at marketing, like Apple, Nike etc, it focuses entirely or showcasing the experience, putting the customer at the centre of it, and aiming to create an emotional reaction.
As a cherry on the cake, the voice over for the video is their chief conductor Thomas Søndergård. Avoiding having a cheesy broadcast voice and opting for the voice of the figurehead of the organisation makes for a much more personal video that gives you a chance to connect. This also ties into their recent social posts of “less maestro, more Thomas”.
The result is the most emotive season launch I’ve come across.
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
“Turn up the joy!”
The CBSO’s 24/25 season campaign “turn up the joy” is exactly that… joyful.
This is a great example of a campaign that is transferable everywhere, in print, online, and in social posts.
Focusing on such a simple and emotive term as “joy”, really puts the strong focus back on the audience and what they’re going to experience. But the genius of this is how it can be embedded in everything the CBSO does and what audiences might engage with, making boring and repetitive calls to action into emotive user-centric material. For example:
“Find out about our 2024/25 season” becomes “find your own moments of joy in our 2024/25 season”.
It is also a copywriter’s dream, with some amazing bits of text. My personal favourite is:
“Whether you’re looking to fill an afternoon, an evening or even make a weekend of it, it’s time for you to take your seat, forget the world for a while and fill up with our most joyful season yet.”
Totally audience/customer centric and has a slight feel of “jobs to be done” solution focussed marketing (shoutout to Ruth Hartt).
This campaign is so subtle and wonderful. It manages to solve the difficult problem of how do you write something that appeals to someone coming to their first concert and someone coming to their millionth. Joy is personal and subjective, and it means something powerful to everyone. And looking through a season to see what is joyful to me feels more like an adventure than a chore.
You’ll also notice a couple of variations on the theme, with taglines like “share the joy” and “a season full of joy”.
My favourite place for this campaign is the CBSO’s website. With a ton of engaging and emotive copy, as well as some great User Experience touches (loving the “quick book” feature and its placement).
At a time when there is so much negativity in the UK classical music industry, I think we could all do with turning up the joy.
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