Content Strategy: Heart of America Shakespeare Festival

PROJECT

Support the Heart of America Shakespeare Festival (KC Shakes) with content strategies, campaign ideas, and social media posts.

BACKGROUND AND DELIVERABLES

Every summer, KC Shakes puts on a massive show in a midtown park and thousands of Kansas Citians show up with blankets and picnic baskets to watch the magic.

Each Heart of America Shakespeare Festival production is, always has been, and always will be free to every one of the thousands of audience members. The event keeps expanding: Pre-show entertainment! Contests! Food trucks! And so does the organization, offering camps and classes and more Shakespeare-inspired events.

To help expand its audience and keep the main event free, KC Shakes reached out to Hallmark for creative and content inspiration. We delivered with some up-front strategic planning followed by day-long brainstorm sessions and creative execution.

MESSAGE ARCHITECTURE

FIRST PROJECT: I facilitated a conversation with our social media studio and the KC Shakes team to articulate their message architecture using techniques developed by Margot Bloomstein.

EXCERPT FROM MILLENNIAL EMPLOYEE RESOURCE GROUP SUMMER ENTERTAINMENT SURVEY

In year two, I created a survey for Hallmark’s Millennial Employee Resource Group to uncover insights that informed audience profiles and communication touch-points.

“YOUNG CREATIVES” audience profile (EXAMPLE)

communication touch-point opportunities (EXAMPLE)

Social media creative

Shakespeare in Love | #sharethelove

Encourage user engagement and expand reach. Concept by Hallmark team, execution by KC Shakes.

Screenshot

The Tempest | #conjurethefun

Concept and execution by Hallmark team (Designs, below: Jul Melograno. Player illustration, above: Jack Pullan. Writers: Kendra Keller/Players, Kevin Dilmore/Trivia, Emily Akins/Family Tips. ).

AUDIENCE: YOUNG CREATIVES
GOALS: MAKE SHAKESPEARE ACCESSIBLE

AUDIENCE: MILLENNIAL MOMS
GOALS: MAKE IT FUN FOR FAMILIES