Our brief from ENO was simple: ‘help us make opera more accessible’. But further to research, one of the key challenges was the perception and assumption that opera is elitist, expensive and sung in a foreign language. So ENO asked us to help them break down barriers and connect them with the culturally literate audiences they should be attracting.

So our new approach to their marketing and advertising took inspiration from the publishing world, where a book cover may engage buyers visually, but it’s often the synopsis on the back that clinches a purchase. Consequently, all campaigns now lead with the stories (rather than a title only likely to mean something to opera lovers), and clarify that each production is either sung, or translated, into English. We have also highlighted that 500 tickets have been made available for each production at £20 or less.

Box office takings since the rebrand (which launched in March 2016) have risen from £8,629,000 in 2015 to £11,406,000 in 2016.

Mobile traffic to the ENO website has also risen by more than 400% since rebranding.