We were commissioned to create a campaign for the London Symphony Orchestra’s (LSO) 2019/20 season – the third under the direction of Sir Simon Rattle. The season’s theme ‘Roots & Origins’ – is an exploration of the origins of classical music.

Fundamental to this campaign is the new identity for LSO – at the heart of the identity is the movement of the conductor, captured precisely with 360° motion data. This data informs every expression of the visual identity, for example, the data is brought to life by various digital artists to create a unique animation for each new season – the film and subsequent stills form the basis of each new season’s campaign.

To reflect this year’s theme, ‘Roots & Origins’, we took inspiration from how the natural world blooms but with a simple twist, we developed the creative idea; ‘reverse bloom’.

The season’s film is an interpretation of a full bloom scene which traces its way back to the seed – following the precise movement of the conductor (the motion data), with moments echoing the music, ie, vibrating leaves reflect the violins vibrato.

Where possible the marketing campaign utilises the season’s film, such as online and social. For print applications, stills are taken from the film and used in sequence to reflect the ‘reverse bloom’ narrative of the film. For example, a concertina features a series of five stills, starting with the full bloom sequence and ending with the final scene of the seed.

In both print and digital, typography is integrated with the images, and the motion of the conductor is echoed in the movement that strikes through selected letterforms.

The new season only launched in January 2019, however, initial ticket sales have been very positive. Online advertising has shown a significant increase in engagement levels compared to this time last year.

The posters for the new season enable the LSO to resonate with new and younger audiences – something they have previously struggled to do, when they had a more traditional representation of the experience; static photographs of musicians and conductor in traditional looking music halls – which reinforced the negative perceptions of the music held by younger people – that being traditional, elitist and boring.