St. George OpenAir Cinema repositions brand via Sydney design company Churchward/Melhuish
Sydney design company Churchward/Melhuish has repositioned the St.George OpenAir Cinema. The following advertising campaign has led to a record breaking 37,000 tickets sold on the first day.
Says Julian Melhuish, creative director at Churchward/Melhuish: “The OpenAir experience is a liberating one. Released from the office, it’s an opportunity to dress up, and let your hair down. Hence the campaign title: BREATHE.
“Our brief was to reflect the prestige and move it upmarket, more towards the premium experience of theatre, opera and ballet, and to distance itself from mainstream cinemas.”
The event itself is much more than a cinema and includes socialising, fine dining and bars. It has become a fixture on the corporate entertainment calendar.
Says Rob Bryant, the managing director of Cinerent OpenAir, the producers and owners of the event: “We sought a campaign that would capture the imagination in the significant way the event does. It was time for us to move on from location imagery, and introduce new associations that would resonate strongly. Churchward/Melhuish’s Breathe concept delivered on all fronts.”
Media included outdoor, transit, press & digital.
23 Comments
Well done boys, beautiful work that obviously resonates with the consumer – 37,000 ticket sales on the first day! Got any freebies for a mate?
Great work guys.
Does the poster remind anyone of The Monkeys ‘The Ship Song Project’ ? ….
http://www.themonkeys.com.au/#!/work/work-the-ship-song-project/
Great work guys!
Yes
Did you guys get Simon Harsent to shoot it as well?
So is the cinema underwater then? Yes another bad design idea trying to communicate with people. 37K tickets sold in a day! Right!!!!
@Advertising Creative Director …………….only when it’s raining genius.
I know ‘Advertising Creative Director’. He isn’t.
Groucho and Bilby… What a combo!
If you both think this is good work, send it my way and I shall use one of our D&AD pencils to rectify it!
@Advertising Creative Director Bilby’s word is good enough for me, no need for you to prove it.
I also want see this type of cinema.
G&B
On the contrary lets look at your strategy… Uh huh! that the problem, there is none and on that basis I am digging deep to find the credibility in this piece of communication.
I would attend the event but fear that I might have to throw myself into the water just to see the movie while I suffocate trying to gasp for air!
NO STRATEGY = A BAD IDEA = NO EFFECTIVITY!
@Advertisiing Creative just because you can’t see the strategy doesn’t mean it isn’t there.
As Bilby said……. and as I said there is no need to prove it.
(By the way the commentary alongside the picture may help you, though perhaps not)
So will you have the commentary on the poster?
If any idea needs explaining then it’s not a success, you boys know that one!
Now I am trying to think of how to end this commentary on a positive note…
…………….. ………. ……… …………… Ah yes, nice typography.
Best wishes for Christmas everyone, its been fun and regardless what I say, we hope the event is a success!
er no “Advertising Creative Directory’ the commentary is there for those readers who , for what ever reason, don’t get it. The brief was to aim the campaign at the more intelligent, upmarket, and sophisticated audience. The commentary was there to help the others. And how confused would they be without it.
The problem is that this series has ‘become a fixture on the corporate event calendar’.
The domain is a public place, and as such not for private, monied concerns, but for the people of Sydney.
When 37K tickets are sold on the opening day, and corporates are lined up to take the bulk of the tickets on offer, making this one time public experience a de facto private affair, then the whole spirit of the program that began not in the hands of Cinerent OpenAir but with the events department of the NSW government, and our tax dollars is being lost.
The fact that this abstract and meaningless image campaign that had no relationship to the event is getting PR here is as irrelevant and pointless as it is dull and unimaginative.
Look to who this print campaign targets and you’ll see the shortcomings of the strategy, not mention the fact that an event series that has for several years sold out the morning of its issue doesn’t need advertising, unless the point is not to sell, but to show.
Oucho Groucho. Im speechless. You’ve really told me!!!!!!
Drown The Rich.
Welcome aboard. Your comments reaffirm my position on the creative. I simply cant see how this poster could possibly generate $37K in sales. But now that you have cleared it up, that makes complete sense.
Groucho, Dildo & Razor, it appears that you have managed to wing this one and take credit for a lineage that is truly not your to claim. I’d seriously think again next time before you want to post your work here. Its open for slather and if you took a moment to consider what others are saying then you might possibly learn something about effective communications and not waste your time defending something that quite truly is a level of thinking that gets tossed before my juniors even walk into my office.
@ Advertising CD I can’t speak for the wonderfully named Dildo, or for Razor , but I can say until this was published I had never heard of the agency, don’t know anybody there, and don’t know anybody who knows anybody there. If your juniors are treated as badly as you suggest by someone too stupid to check his facts, and who shows as little judgement as you do they should get out before their resumes are indelibly tainted, their enthusiasm drained, and their suspicion that they are in the wrong industry is confirmed.
You continue to affirm Bilby’s earlier post, and as I said before, it’s proven so there is no need to continue .And to those juniors, there is no shame in admitting you chose the wrong place, and getting out as soon as you realised will show good judgement.
Thank you Groucho. I shall take your comments on board and review at our next board meeting.
As for my juniors…. they have both won awards through working at our agency and treated with the respect they deserve. Plus I think a handsome pay rise this year is sure to affirm our commitment in their development.
Now if this excites you, we have a junior position coming up early 2013. Let me know if you are keen and I’ll get my juniors to take your interview.
Enjoy the rest of your holidays and thank you for your engagement. You have really delivered a strong argument!
I love these. So true, I’ve come across all these scenarios myself. I would love to aspect some of your posters on my blog. Please let me know if you would be ok with that.