Project Overview
A magnificent backdrop. A formidable dragon. The most spectacular opera of the season.
In the fifth year Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour (HOSH), Opera Australia presented Puccini’s Turandot: A tragic love story where powerful lust meets an icy heart. Propelled by Puccini’s famous Opera and the grandeur of the production, eskimo was asked to captivate new and existing audiences with an engaging outdoor campaign.
Project Commissioner
Project Creator
Team
Design Director: Zoe Pollitt
Creative Director: Mary Talato
Art Director: Elizaveta Pogossov
Designer: Caroline Hunter, Giulia Baldini
Photographer: Georges Antoni
Retouching: Ghinny Lau
CGI Artist: James McDonald
Project Brief
Faced with the challenges of cultural change, digital disruption and stale preconceptions, Opera Australia has reaffirmed their leadership in the arts by reinvigorating the entire experience of opera. This new strategy is reflected in the exponential success of HOSH, which combines bold interpretations and an impressive setting to inject new life into famous operas.
eskimo was tasked to art direct, shoot, design and roll out a dramatic campaign for the 2016 HOSH production of Turandot. Inspired by early schemas of the production and the storyline of Puccini’s famous tragedy, eskimo created a compelling image that captured the cold-hearted queen and her dragon in a spectacular water-front setting.
The creative direction for the campaign roll-out evolved with the conceptualisation of the image and the monumental set design. Our aim was to envisage the excitement of a production centred around a fire breathing dragon.
Project Innovation/Need
In addition to traditional advertising campaign collateral, such as flags, billboards and bus ads, eskimo designed a series of experiential activations to grab Sydney’s attention in an unexpected way. What better way to show off Opera Australia’s Turandot production on Sydney Harbour than an eye-catching bus wrap, weaving its way through Sydney’s streets like a dragon on the loose?
eskimo saw an opportunity to bring the characters in the production to life and set out to create a compelling bus wrap that used a visual illusion of the bus appearing to be crushed by a dragon as it bustled through city streets. This effect was created utilising both CGI artistry and retouching techniques, layers of imagery manipulated to create this visual pun.
Design Challenge
In a market dominated by advertising constricted by billboard space and simple solutions, our design took into account the medium of its location and was guaranteed to turn heads. The artwork appearing on this dramatic bus was reinforced by a full suite of marketing and advertising materials, saturating Sydney in Turandot.
The campaign artwork for Turandot relied on the effective combination of a number of elements. Capturing a beautiful portrait, wrangling a backdrop of Sydney harbour and creating a CGI dragon and textural elements, the skill was in composing these diverse elements to create a holistic and memorable image. Alongside this creative process eskimo considered how to add another dimension to the image and visualise the new production of a famous opera in an unexpected way. This unprecedented and bold strategy pushed opera into exciting territory and reaffirmed Opera Australia’s voice in the arts.
Effectiveness
The creative direction of Opera Australia’s 2016 season has revitalised the perilous art form and challenged the widely held belief that opera is boring, intimidating and fusty entertainment for the rich. Our campaign for Turandot successfully created excitement about Puccini's famous story while breaking away from the expected approach to delight a new audience.
Client testament:
“eskimo was an integral part of delivering those objectives and ensuring consistency across all elements of the outdoor campaign. For the bus wrap specifically, eskimo ensured that the integrity and quality of the Opera Australia brand was maintained along every step of the way. eskimo have an incredible way of delivering creative on an incredibly large scale—a skill only befitting for the advertising of an opera company. Their excellent attention to detail consistently ensures that the vision of our brand is executed in an efficient and impactful way.” (John Quertermous, Marketing & Tourism Sales Manager)
Advertising - Outdoor, Retail, POS
This award celebrates creative and innovative design for visual communication including traditional and digital signage intended to persuade an audience to purchase or take some action upon products, ideas or services. Consideration given to the technical, conceptual and aesthetic elements, audience engagement and message delivery.
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