Master’s Thesis research focused on creating a marketing campaign for Theatre Baton Rouge’s summer 2013 production of “Les Miserables.” The core of this research examines fan activity and audiences’ perceived realism of the characters as well as their connectedness to the narratives of the stage play, when interacting with their favorite characters through the medium of Twitter. This method of promotion was both a Revolution for the non-profit theatre, as well as a new way to look at media effects research with a quasi-experimental approach.
Read ICA Paper ProposalThis campaign required nearly a year of researching the story of “Les Miserables,” reinterpreting the narratives of the characters through their pseudo realistic Twitter personae, managing social media and distributing nearly 400 Tweets from nine character accounts, collaborating with Theatre Baton Rouge to craft messaging targeting audiences in promoting the campaign as well as promote the follow-up survey hosted on Qualtrics, and collecting data in conjunction with running analyses in SPSS to test research questions and hypotheses.
(VIDEO: TEDxLSU student speaker submission 2014; discuss research as well as the connection to both my personal interests and the purpose of TED Talks.)
Original “Les Miserables” artwork licensed to Theatre Baton Rouge for use in campaign and promotions for the production. These designs are an extension of this brand, creatively adapted for use in the campaign.
