Funny Girl
Integrated Campaign
Case Study

Crafting Award Campaign Strategy for a Rebranded Show

Assignment

AKA NYC wanted to create an awards case study about the reinvention of the advertising strategy for Funny Girl once Lea Michele assumed the lead role. My task was to highlight our agency's ability to shift sentiments surrounding the show and star through innovative creative design, video production, strategic media placement, and more.

Solution

I decided to craft a case study video to accompany the required write-up to narrate Funny Girl's ultimately triumphant run following AKA's strategic rebrand.

My Contribution & Results

As lead Awards Producer, I spearheaded collaboration across all departments, ensuring a cohesive strategy plan.
Conducted interviews with key team members and crafted the video script for the case study.
Authored the extensive written entry portion, articulating our new approach, challenges, and successes.
Our entry won a Bronze Clio Entertainment Award.

Case Study Video

Written Entry

The Challenge

Funny Girl was struggling. Several months into its Broadway run, the musical revival had lukewarm sales, and while the announcement that Lea Michele would take over the lead role of Fanny Brice generated plenty of buzz, public sentiment around her was mixed.

Both Funny Girl and Lea Michele needed audiences to give them a second chance.

The Solution

With our new Fanny coming in we had the opportunity to rebuild the brand with a bold look to

match its new larger-than-life star. We knew we had to make this a major event--but first we had to be humble.

Rather than herald her as a star from the start, for our Lea Launch TV spot, we embedded a cinematographer over seven days of rehearsals, creating a black and white, cinema verité-style documentary that positioned Lea as an artist you could root for – a dedicated performer and castmate doing the hard work of transforming herself into a legendary character, including learning to tap dance for the first time and having fun with her co-stars.

For print, we wanted several images to create a “36 expressions campaign” we knew we would use later in the run, as well as a singular shot that would become our new brand key art.

Photographer Mary Ellen Matthews, known for shooting the stars of Saturday Night Live, was hired to record Michele’s joy and enthusiasm as she tackled a dream role. We chose a cinematic black and white palette to match our video with choice pops of color to bring in a touch of modern fun.

After the campaign launched, social sentiment was immediately positive. Ticket-sales were though the roof. Anticipation was high about what Michele would achieve as Fanny Brice.

Now that audiences were on her side it was time to celebrate her.

We unleashed the full panoply of images from the “36 expressions” shoot (including a production shot recreating one of Barbra’s most iconic images), on Bus Sides, a Times Square Subway Domination, link screens, live boards, and newsstands across the city.

When the rave reviews came in, the campaign evolved to highlight what was hailed as a once-in-a-lifetime performance. The Post Open TV spot, built from a setup shoot to capture the show’s most memorable moments, went huge with the quotes – blown up nearly full screen and tracked into each shot, making the rapturous reviews a major visual element underscoring the historic nature of her performance.

The Result

Glowing reviews and record-breaking ticket sales confirmed her performance was an event. Lea Michele had, at last, become “the greatest star.”

With Lea in the role of Fanny Brice, Funny Girl set a new box office record for an eight-performance week at the August Wilson hitting a gross total of $2,062,739. On August 7th, 2023, almost 11 months to the day of Lea joining the show, Funny Girl recouped its investment.