GradPro.
Julie Bowers, CEO of bbodance (the British Ballet Organisation), is passionate about helping young dancers fulfill their potential and was deeply affected by the stories she was hearing about the impact of Covid on young dancers.
The effects of the pandemic are far reaching and for recent graduates they were facing the prospect of no job, nowhere to perform and feeling that all that hard work had been for nothing. When Julie shared her vision with us for a new event to help get these people on a better path we just had to get involved.
BRAND DEVELOPMENT
New Corporate Identity
MARKETING
Social Media and Website
What We Did...
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We listened carefully to Julie and her co creator, Brandon Lawrence Principal Birmingham Royal Ballet to understand what they wanted to achieve, the image they wanted to portray and their measure of success.
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The event needed its own identity and a name and fairly quickly we came up with GradPro which set out the journey from graduate to professional dancer. Our initial market testing showed that our target audience understood the aspiration.
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After the name came the logo and our creative team came up with some great ideas for Julie. The identity we created incorporated a logo with the strap line´Your Next Step´.
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GradPro was now up and running and we need to communicate what we were doing to our target audience. The GradPro web site was designed so that it would showcase the event and the fantastic array of dance professionals that were supporting the project.
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To help with the messaging we came up with four key statements that would help participants understand quickly what GradPro was here to do. Coaching: Performance: Opportunity: Funding. We enhanced these with their own emblem.
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The web site incorporated an online booking and payment facility for students to select the regional event they wanted to participate in. A simple process with automated messaging back to students throughout the process.
The Result...
GradPro was launched in November 21 and had an incredible response to all its regional events. The showcase in May 2022 will feature some of the brightest new talents in British dance, all supported by the GradPro team and the many other professional contributors.
“GradPro has been a realisation of a dream I have had for many years to find a way to support young dancers. Out of the pandemic Brandon and I have found away to help graduates remain positive and experience working alongside professionals who have a genuine desire to provide a helping hand. We are so proud of what we have all achieved in such a short period of time"