Posted: 9/27/16 at 7:47am
Worst marketing I ever seen
Posted: 9/27/16 at 8:55am
Re Steve Martin writing bright star: He did do an interview on one of the most highly rated late night tv shows and the cast did a performance so it's not like they didn't try to market the show to the mass of America.
Posted: 9/27/16 at 9:13am
I remember finding the Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson marketing a bit misguided. The posters made the show seem like something it wasn't.
Posted: 9/27/16 at 9:47am
I'm going to add In Transit to this list just because I keep forgetting that its running
Posted: 9/27/16 at 9:48am
Mysteriousgrowl, I've seen a lot of creepy GIFs, and that one definitely makes my top 5.
On-topic, I have to concur about Bright Star not milking Steve Martin enough. They could've gone with the Waitress/Sara Bareilles route, which certainly seemed to work in the show's favor. (As an aside, I finally caught Waitress with my guy on my birthday, and I only cried three times...)
I don't know if Bridges' marketing was BAD necessarily, but I think its really polarized reviews made it tough for their team. Also, I wish the big non-profits (i.e. Roundabout) did more fan interaction in general. It really gets me pumped for what they put on.
Ditto that GGLAM has the most fun marketing campaign I've ever seen for a show.
Posted: 9/27/16 at 9:52am
"High Society" with the cats in the sailboat was pretty bad.
The "Dance of the Vampires" marquee with the tag line "The one Broadway musical that really sucks" was unfortunate, especially since it stayed up months longer than the show ran.
Posted: 9/27/16 at 12:02pm
I really can't believe no one has mentioned American Psycho yet. They really, really dropped the ball.
Posted: 9/27/16 at 12:14pm
American Psycho for sure could have had more fun with marketing but I did think the design they had was very slick.
I don't remember Dance of the Vampires having that on their marquee, I thought it said something using the word 'bite' not 'suck'
And how can anybody think Something Rotten's advertising was bad? Their marketing team did a great job.
Posted: 9/27/16 at 12:24pm
In recent memory, I'd have to say the Side Show revival. It was vague and generically show-biz. The production was never gonna be a hit, but c'mon. It's a show about conjoined twins. Do something interesting with the posters.
Updated On: 9/27/16 at 12:24 PM
Posted: 9/27/16 at 12:30pm
I think HANDS ON A HARDBODY wins the award for worst marketing. The cast and creators are still angry over it, and they have every right to be.
Posted: 9/27/16 at 12:54pm
I Agree Hardbody was marketed terribly, a major rock star wrote the music, they only staarted mentioning Trey Anastasio's name a few weeks in the ads before it closed.
Posted: 9/27/16 at 1:57pm
Currently, I would say the Hello, Dolly TV ad is horrible. It's very condescending and pisses me off rather than encourages me to buy a ticket. On Your Feet is a show that is full of excitement and fun but the ad for it is horrible. It looks like someone did it in Photoshop for their community theatre.
And I'm with the first posters who mentioned Bridges of Madison County. The original ads for that show were just horrible! Unfortunately, they spent too much time using those before they switched. I think, by then, it was too late. People had already made up their minds about going to see the show. Neither ad campaign took advantage of the how attractive the leads were in a musical about romance. As much as I love Kelli & Steven, showing them in a recording studio sing away from each other didn't cut it.
Posted: 9/27/16 at 3:25pm
broadwayindie said: "I'm going to add In Transit to this list just because I keep forgetting that its running
"
*SNAPS* Agree 100%. I walked by the marquee the other day and couldn't tell it apart from a Subway sign. Worried that it'll look too much like a metro card to catch any attention on a bus or taxi topper
Posted: 9/27/16 at 5:37pm
Nerds
Posted: 9/27/16 at 7:17pm
Posted: 9/27/16 at 8:58pm
I watched an interview with Hugh Panaro on Seth Rudetsky's chatterbox years ago and was intriuged by what he had to say about Side Show's marketing. The team hired to do the work for that show did the production an unfortunate disservice with the work they did, and the show unfortunately closed up shop way sooner than it should have (never got to see it to my regret, was too young at the time!) I've felt similarly about marketing for other shows like Next to Normal. They look pleasing aesthetically, but at the same time, they don't tell the average consumer (outside of us theater nerds) much about the shows content - and its those markets that the producers rely on for a show to run for a while. Always been of the opinion that guys like Scott Rudin, producers with significant artistic acumen, hire the best firms and know what they want conveyed in the marketing for their shows. If you look at the TV marketing for Mormon (did a cursory search and couldn't find the exact firm he hired) it's successful on a ton of different levels - Brantley quote, music from the show - executed in a catchy, fun, light hearted way.
Linked artwork from Next to Normal so you guys can get a sense of what I mean (the coloring is pleasing - anything in purple looks good, it's cool imagery, but the actual quote says little about the show other than it being something that will pull at the heart strings): Next_to_Normal_original_poster_art.jpg
Posted: 9/27/16 at 10:29pm
I thought Next to Normal was pretty great. Especially with how they dressed the theater with the really "bleak" head shots. I got a good sense of what it was.
Posted: 9/27/16 at 10:32pm
Also, while there are legal, official clips of Mormon out there, they've never released much of a B-roll and still haven't used footage from the show in any ads. The ones of the guys dancing that's been shown in Times Square, on popup ads, and on TV wasn't even filmed until the show had been running for 3 or 4 years. (Their social media voice is kind of obnoxious, but I guess it works for them.)
Posted: 9/27/16 at 11:47pm
Not Broadway, but this tumblr account compiles some of the worst posters/pictures/campaigns of regional theater companies and some of these are gems: https://prisdifficult.tumblr.com/
Posted: 9/28/16 at 12:55am
The last WICKED TV commercial was awful. The One was good and one was Wicked one. Just saw the new one today. It is a bit better.
Posted: 9/28/16 at 3:35am
I actually found Book of Mormon's Facebook page to be very funny.
Posted: 9/28/16 at 3:37am
You know I did not even think about Bright Star when I went to NYC. If they had mentioned it was by Steve Martin then I would have seen it. I think I would of preferred it to Shuffle. The problem was I did not even know much about it. When I knew heaps about Shuffle
Ado Annie D'Ysquith said: "Mysteriousgrowl, I've seen a lot of creepy GIFs, and that one definitely makes my top 5.
On-topic, I have to concur about Bright Star not milking Steve Martin enough. They could've gone with the Waitress/Sara Bareilles route, which certainly seemed to work in the show's favor. (As an aside, I finally caught Waitress with my guy on my birthday, and I only cried three times...)
I don't know if Bridges' marketing was BAD necessarily, but I think its really polarized reviews made it tough for their team. Also, I wish the big non-profits (i.e. Roundabout) did more fan interaction in general. It really gets me pumped for what they put on.
Ditto that GGLAM has the most fun marketing campaign I've ever seen for a show.
"
Posted: 9/28/16 at 3:55am
Absolutely "American Psycho", the staging, choreography, the music.. way too much neglected. I don't know if it will become a "Carrie", maybe it will have another life. Only time and blood will tell.
