#and zadkins aslhjdkf

[izloveshorses]

Tell me about the red dress campaign!

I got into Anastasia in 2021 :( there's barely any fandom left and even those who write fanfiction for it don't even talk about it anymore!

Tell me everything!!!

okay so. to talk about the year two marketing campaign, we need to talk about year one first.

the year one campaign focused more on the ~journey~ aspect of the show. anya wears her iconic maroon traveling coat, facing away from the audience and generally faceless, very mysterious. who is she? where is she going? what is she looking for? it inspired questions actually relevant to the themes of the show. and, as good marketing does, it gives us just enough info to capture our attention while also leaving us wanting more.

this coat is what she wears on the posters, playbill covers, everywhere on the marquee. it's the same structure that carried onto every other production's marketing strategy. and it makes sense! because she's traveling! of course she wears a traveling coat. for her Journey.

was it a perfect strategy? no. do i get chills every time i read "rumor, legend mystery" on the marquee over our beautiful broadhurst?? absolutely.

now. year two. derek leaves in april 2018, and in may they film a new ad with the current cast.

but the whole marketing strategy completely changes as well. it now consists of basically just the Red Dress™ and digitally airbrushed christy smirking at the camera and otherwise provides very little information about what the show is actually about.

this is an aside, but i feel like i should mention that when they shot and filmed this campaign, they styled christy's actual hair. she's not wearing a wig! slay!!!!! she went live that day and zadkins did a takeover on the anastasiabway account, i remember she looked absolutely stunning and was excited as she always is.

but still. the success of your marketing strategy (or the whole show for that matter 💀) should not rest on this woman's shoulders, as lovely as she is.

so here's my beef with the Red Dress campaign: it's such a shallow interpretation of the show. even though the red dress is iconic and linda cho deserves the praise for it, i don't think it represents who anya is or what she's looking for at all. the stage version of anastasia isn't a rags to riches story, nor a princess story, not really. it's about a girl looking for who she was. home love family etc etc etc. the red dress represents a life she ultimately chose to abandon in the end! so by limiting the imagery to just this dress she wears only in the last few minutes of the show, casual audience members may interpret this show as Just Another Princess Story competing with frozen that had just opened literally across the street, and choose to not see it. which is exactly what happened.

@asecretshekept has written a lot about this and understands marketing more than i do, so feel free to browse her blog too for more detailed posts.

not to mention like,,,, the silly financial decisions behind this?? they spent so much money to replace the marquee and stage door with the faces of people who left the show like six months later?? and then they replaced the stage door AGAIN when cody arrived january 2019. so silly. they could've stuck with the generally faceless campaign of year one to avoid this issue, but. i'm not in charge.

but yeah. going from this

to this?????

downgrade of the decade fr. booooo 1/5 stars (one star for christy) 👎

#asks #Anonymous #anastasia broadway #thank u for asking!! #this is another rant i have locked and loaded at all times ashldjkfgd #but yeah out of all the things u could do with this show?? u chose this?? #i will blame the downfall of my favorite musical on whoever was in charge of this marketing team #and zadkins aslhjdkf #also that new commercial is a bitch to gif and color