The Albion Rep: Front row for a tenner.
The Albion Rep, 2024
A theatre job. We did the campaign, social and media.
The brief.
The Albion Rep is a 600-seat repertory theatre whose audience got older every season. Under-30s thought theatre was expensive, and not for them.
Discounts had been tried. They sold the worst seats in the house to the people least likely to come back.
The idea
The best seats, for the youngest audience.
The front row is held back every night for under-30s, at £10. Not the gods, not a restricted view: the seats closest to the stage. Then we announced it only in the places under-30s actually look.
How it was made.
Noon drops
Front-row seats released at noon on the day, so going to the theatre became a decision you could make that morning.
Where they look
Instagram stories, student union screens and late buses. No print, no radio.
The seat plates
Each front-row seat carries a small brass plate: Reserved for someone under 30.
What it moved.
Was 57Now 49
Average audience age, over two seasons. Because the offer was the best seat, not the cheapest.
11,200 front-row seats sold
Because noon drops made a habit, not a one-off.
38% came back at full price
Because once you’ve sat in the front row, you know what you’re paying for.
Made by
Ruth Abernethy (strategy), Adaeze Okafor and Ines Carvalho (creative), Søren Holm (social) and Tomas Quist (media).
Results are for the period stated, against the client’s own figures from the year before. Full numbers are shared in person.
project