In America, the land of big box 'category killer' retailers, branding campaigns can feel homogenized. Campaigns are generally rolled out en masse across 50 states where the idiosyncrasies of consumers the South may be worlds away from the North East. As part of Macy's strategy to offer a more compelling local experience across its 798 stores, they needed to find a way to make a closer connection with families in America, during the most important retail period of the year – the lead up to Christmas.

To spread the word, we built a grassroots campaign for school drama and music teachers, offering them production tools and materials far beyond the usual. Through musical publishing companies, we reached out directly to drama teachers and parents. To attract more attention we announced that the first 100 schools to enroll would receive a $1,000 production grant. These grants and the larger program were promoted through digital banners on theater and education sites.

We partnered with Stagedoor Manor, a prestigious theater arts camp, to workshop and film the show’s debut. This gave teachers and students a visual to shoot for. This film, along with all the other materials teachers would need to stage their own production, was assembled on yesvirginiamusical.com.

Our PR teams worked with individual schools to ensure sell-out crowds. From reviews, in-store appearances, and local ad campaigns, we promoted each one like a Broadway show.

Audiences really embraced the show. It invoked a strong sense of community at participating schools. Parents got involved and students put in long hours of rehearsal. They tweeted reviews and posted performances on YouTube. The 100 production grants were claimed before the school year had even begun. In the end, more than 1300 schools participated and interest has already been mounting for year two. The client was equally enthusiastic and has begun production on year two site upgrades and full scale TV campaign aimed at double the number of participating schools. Just as our vision is to make this an annual tradition with kids, it will now be a fixed part of Macy’s holiday marketing.