Spotlights Theatre is a performing arts school that offers classes in drama, dance and singing for children of all abilities and ages. Their experienced team are passionate about the performing arts and are each specialists in their own particular discipline of acting, singing or dance.
Together, they deliver a structured, four point programme made to boost self confidence, nurture active learning, encourage teamwork and help children to fully realise their creative arts potential.
Spotlights existing brand and website was impacting its ability to attract new members and springboard its business growth. It was time for a brand refresh that was engaging, focused, and matched the businesses ambition. It was time to call Huddle.
The brief
The original Spotlights brand and website were beginning to feel tired, and the performing arts school was starting to feel that it was having a detrimental impact on their ability to engage with new members, and kickstart the next phase of its growth.
In particular, the team wanted to focus on delivering a more interactive experience online, converting more enquiries from parents of children aged 13+, and expanding the number of locations that the Spotlights brand operated in.
With our help, a brand and website refresh would allow Spotlights to:
- Target new members with a clearly defined and focused proposition and engaging brand identity
- Deliver a more interactive and efficient experience throughout the website
- Build on the success of their past whilst achieving vital growth targets and ambitions for the future
What did we do?
Our main challenge was to create a brand that would resonate with audiences of different ages, from young children, to teenagers. So to build that, we needed a solid - yet scalable - brand strategy and a robust, but authentic, brand identity.
In order to complete our targets, we set about breaking the brand refresh down into three specific stages which would each benefit from meticulous attention to detail.
Action: refresh brand, create brand guidelines and develop a website.
Spotlights needed to improve the functionality of their website to offer an online experience that was just as captivating as their in person one. Customers needed to be able to book free trials, shop merchandise and check availability for new courses digitally just like they could physically.
So that's where we started.
We overhauled the brand identity and its assets, placing a main focus on the website so that the brand and website were both unified, and able to more accurately reflect the quality of the organisation and the services it delivered as a renowned performing arts school.
Phase one: Building the brand strategy and finding the brand identity
We began the process of reinvention, reboot, and reimagination for Spotlights by using our tried and tested Huddle Hack formula with its collaborative and explorative sessions.
We collaborated with the Spotlights team to narrow down their aim and vision, as well as accurately identify the audience and clients they intended to develop connections with on both a psychological and demographic level. This enabled us to reveal the brand’s core values and use those to position the brand in such a way that it would resonate with its intended target audiences.
Inclusive - we celebrate individuality and everyone has a chance to shine
Credible - we are an experienced team with over 15 years in the business
Fun - we strive to create special and memorable moments filled with joy
Family - it’s in our DNA and it’s what makes our business different and special
To support our work, we undertook competitor analysis and market research to further explore potential audience pain points, to understand what key target audiences sought in a performance school, and to identify the values that truly made Spotlights a cut above the rest.
Altogether, this produced a brand strategy that was grounded in authenticity, that was genuine, and that was able to drive the brand forward by utilising its core values and specialisms to create meaningful connections with its audience, showcasing the school as a leader in helping children to realise their full performing arts potential.
Phase two: Designing and building a brand new website
Following our tried, tested and proven process we started with the Information Architecture and wireframes. These helped us pay close attention to the functionality that was required for a new and engaging website, as well as help us begin drafting initial design concepts and UI development that would be necessary for a seamless mobile first design experience.
From there, we suggested building the new website in WordPress to balance both functionality and cost. Frontend build and CMS integration with QA and testing, plus high level SEO strategy and recommendations to cover the domain name change were all included in our scope to provide a comprehensive and supported new website build.
And the result? A fully functional, responsive, tested, usable and engaging website designed to resonate with Spotlight's key target audiences.
Phase three: Crafting a variety of marketing materials
Working closely with Spotlights, and as part of a final phase of this project, we will arrange for a series of photoshoots and videos to be taken with the children wearing the new official uniform with the refreshed logo and branding.
We then plan to also create a suite of marketing content for Spotlights, including an interactive digital brochure, an overhaul of the social media branding and a strategic social media content calendar that repeatedly reaches the right audience, on the right channel, at the right time.
We look forward to continuing our working relationship with Spotlights by delivering Huddle on Demand - our on-going support service which provides regular consultancy, advice and expertise to our clients based on evolving (or changing) business and branding goals, needs and objectives.
