Stuart GouldenThe marketing campaign for the York Mystery Plays 2012 has been shortlisted for a prestigious TMA award.
The shortlist for the annual Theatre Management Awards was announced in The Stage newspaper today and York Mystery Plays 2012 are up for the ‘Marketing Achievement of the Year’ award.
Abbi Wright, Head of Communications at York Theatre Royal said ‘We are delighted to have been shortlisted. The marketing team for the Mystery Plays included staff from York Theatre Royal, York Museums Trust and Riding Lights Theatre Company as well as a fantastic team of volunteers who helped promote the show. It was a brilliant summer and we all feel really proud to have been part of the wonderful team that worked on this huge project for York.’
A total of 32,790 people saw the Mystery Plays during August. The marketing for the production started almost two years before the show and consisted of a mix of traditional print, advertising, commissioning an original illustration for the show’s branding and developing online platforms to engage new audiences with the project. A series of six promotional videos, including a cinematic trailer of the production have gained over 26,000 views on YouTube and were screened at City Screen cinema. A team of 40 volunteers helped to distribute print and were great ambassadors for the project by having a presence at large events around the region. A twitter and facebook presence was maintained by one of our volunteers who engaged online audiences and got York trending using the hashtag #York2012. The campaign also included working with Pilot Theatre to live stream the performance on 11 Aug and we believe approximately 4,000 people watched this around the world, including a theatre that screened it to an audience of 200 in Amsterdam. The recording of the production can be watched again on www.thespace.org as part of the BBC and Arts Council programme of live streaming.
Other shortlisted nominations include Shakespeare’s Globe and The Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury.
The award ceremony will take place on 28 October in London at the Guildhall.
