To promote our company in the best way possible we have discovered that it is crucial to form a useful network of tradesmen who can complete tasks we cannot to a professional standard. This can incorporate a range of factors from graphic design to producing leaflets like the ones you can see below.
After we decided on a name for our piece through market research, it was now time to discuss poster production for example. The right poster and or leaflet when advertising a show is invaluable to attracting an audience and selling a good amount of tickets. This is because posters are ‘more of a promotional medium than advertising’ (Prakashan, 2007, 3.34) and a striking picture can catch the eye of potential theatre watchers with appealing imagery that reflects the company’s wishes. We managed to secure a graphic designer for our latest production who we ultimately had to use to create both our company logo and current production poster/leaflet.
When making a logo, it will be there for your entire process as a company. Therefore getting it right is crucial. As our company’s performances are devised, it means we will be creating a range of theatre. We decided as a result of this, something simple seemed the right direction as opposed to anything too picture heavy. When you do not have people who can complete certain tasks, finding those who can is important and ‘understanding how to network will put you on the fast track to becoming a more successful and effective person’ (Lluch, 2011, 3). This is too relevant for a theatre company. I secured our current graphic designer through a friend of a friend, which enabled us to get a deal on our product. Through having this connection it ensured we could present ourselves in the best way possible and we now have a future designer for posters and leaflets. Knowing how to communicate with your team is another relevant factor. We disliked the first logo template as it seemed difficult to read. Although it fitted our rough brief as it looked as if it had been hand written and our company is all about changing text and the written word, it did not come across as clear enough. This helped me discover how distinct you have to be when working with a designer to achieve what you want. You do not necessarily need to say the exact font and so on, but an idea of who you are as a company is important. It is all about communication to achieve the desired effect. Our second design after suggested amendments worked well with our company and was clear, which suggests how crucial communication is within networking and the designing process.
(Above: Our first logo design, and Our final design, Taken by Kirsty Jakins 23.3.14)
After making the connection with our graphic designer, we then needed a poster for our current production. It has been suggested ‘Posters offer advertisers a host of opportunities and are a powerful, highly visible and cost effective means of communication’ (Burtenshaw & co., 2006, 14). Other companies that have used posters to their advantage include Filter Theatre. As both our companies are currently producing shows with elements of Shakespeare that have a new take, it is important to get this imagery right.
(Below: Poster, Taken by: Filter Theatre)
As you can see, Filter Theatre’s performance described as an ‘explosive and irreverent new take on this story of romance, satire and mistaken identity combines dynamic narrative drive with a torrent of sound and music creating one of the most accessible Shakespeare productions of recent years’ (Filter Theatre, 2014) uses its poster’s colour and technology within the image to add to its appeal and represent the change to a classic text. Take me by the Tongue’s poster has developed overtime too. Our current production contains a range of sources and to reflect that we tried and tested pictures of famous heads. Here we had to present a clear idea of what we wanted to our graphic designer and then decide amendments that needed to be made. Clearly knowing what you want in a company is crucial and you have to have someone to make the final decisions. As I am a member of the marketing team, this responsibility landed to me. I had to not only make the connections, but decide what advertised our current production sufficiently. All companies need to reflect their aims with a clear image and direction. We used many images such as Marilyn Monroe on our poster before deciding on our final two. This decision was made as when promoting a show the obvious choice is always right. We included the tagline ‘From Shakespeare to Pitbull’ (Hand Me Down Theatre, 2014) within our title. Therefore the choice to have these two heads on the poster seemed and was the most logical. It also shows the range of text that will be in our production and creates the idea we will be using text throughout the ages. Our designer listened to what we wanted and gave us a range to choose from, yet this one remained the most effective. Working in this way, you need options to make the right choice and through finding the right graphic designer and correctly communicating ideas, this was made possible.
(Our Current Production Poster. Taken by: Kirsty Jakins, 12.4.14)
Works Cited
Burtenshaw, K. and Mahon, N. and Barfoot, C. (2006) The Fundamentals of Creative Advertising: An introduction to branding. London: AVA Publishing.
Filter Theatre (2014) Filter Theatre Productions: Twelfth Night [online] Available from: http://www.filtertheatre.com/page/productions/ [Accessed: 14.05.14].
Lluch, A.A. (2011) Let’s Leap Ahead: 3rd Grade Trivia. San Diego: WS Publishing Group.
Prakashan, N. (2007) Advertising and Sales Promotion. Budhwar Peth: Niralli Prakashan.