Out of home campaign

The Barbican Classical Music

A vibrant and exciting out of home campaign created for Europe's largest performing arts center.

The Barbican – largest performing arts centre in Europe. Opened by Queen Elizabeth II in 1982, it is owned, funded, and managed by the City of London Corporation, the third-largest arts funder in the United Kingdom. Our relationship with the center focussed on the Classical Music division, particularly related to live concert events. Our work for the Barbican included campaign visual identity, portrait photoshoots, bespoke imagery creation, out of home media, print and digital advertising and printed communications.

The early concepts featured just natural environments combined with silhouettes. We later decided to introduce urban structural elements to contrast with the human portraits.
The early concepts featured just natural environments combined with silhouettes. We later decided to introduce urban structural elements to contrast with the human portraits.

Firedog has worked together with the Barbican to produce a series of above the line campaigns designed to communicate the Barbican’s classical music offering.

We were required to express classical music in a new, exciting way that conveys the emotional experience of attending a concert. Clearly, experiencing this genre of music in all it’s three dimensional and multi-instrumental form, is very thought provoking. Previous marketing efforts lacked punch and did not provide enough of an emotional narrative to what it may be like to experience a live classical musical experience.

We juxtaposed images of jarring, urban structures with softer, natural landscapes.

Research suggested that The Barbican’s communications lack openness and personalisation. Firedog’s solution was the “Dreamscape”, a series of landscapes reflecting the intensely diverse imaginative and emotive reactions upon listening to classical music at The Barbican. To signify this breadth, we juxtaposed images of jarring, urban structures with softer, natural landscapes. While the images retain soft hues of brown, lilac and light blue, each reveals the use of dense materials such as concrete or steel to offset this contrast.

We deliberately worked with real people - either friends of Firedog or the Barbican Center.
We deliberately worked with real people - either friends of Firedog or the Barbican Center.
Firedog partnered with the Barbican over a four year period, producing a number of campaigns.
Firedog partnered with the Barbican over a four year period, producing a number of campaigns.

We achieved the Dreamscape through using multiple-exposure techniques to create a series of surreal images.

We achieved the Dreamscape through using multiple-exposure techniques to create a series of surreal images, illustrating an ethereal place that has been created in the mind of the audience.  Using “real people” for the photo shoot enhanced the authenticity we were aiming for and we designed, illustrated, and post-produced everything within the Firedog studios.

The extensive placement of media on the Tube combined with the broad use of varying assets created a recognisable and striking campaign.
The extensive placement of media on the Tube combined with the broad use of varying assets created a recognisable and striking campaign.

Firedog was nominated as a finalist in the Drum Creative Out of Home Awards.

255 posters have been displayed in 129 tube stations across the London underground. Firedog has worked with the Barbican over a period of four years, producing the key seasonal campaign imagery as well as a raft of tactical performance based campaigns. Based on the success of our work, the Barbican has launched a Facebook “musical journey” app and have extended our creative work into animation and film. Firedog was nominated as a finalist in the Drum Creative Out of Home Awards for 2013 for this memorable campaign.

The assets are combined with key copy and utilised across all print and ambient media.
The assets are combined with key copy and utilised across all print and ambient media.
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