Théâtre du Nouveau Monde
Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme on Twitter

Prix Média 2010 from Infopresse in the category “Unique interactive media approaches”

Winner at The 2010 Bees Awards (1st international social media competition) for Best Use of Micro-Blogging Platform.

Classical theatre is often seen as old and corny by younger generations. Pairing the traditiobal with the modern, Phéromone, in association with ARTV, made the TNM a symbol of modernity by making Twitter the hub of a viral communications strategy where the characters from Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme came to life on this social network: in 140 characters or less, Molière’s characters introduced themselves over a month to a new clientele by tweeting away frivolously in classical French verse

Objectives
- Create excitement around TNM and its production of Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme and attract a new clientele to classical theatre.
- Learn to better take advantage of social networking and better understand client behaviours in a 2.0 environment.
- Support the sale of tickets for the 24 shows.

Solution
Traditional campaigns often convey a unique message in multiple media, while the social network of Twitter allows the delivery of multiple messages on one medium. In this way, Twitter was chosen as the hub for a truly innovative viral campaign:
- Three profiles were created – the Bourgeois, his wife and the Marquise – and social media hosts were hired to play them.
- Deceits, anachronisms, ribaldries and misunderstandings: they held nothing back. The characters not only interacted with each other but also directly with young Twitter users who were exposed to the verbal thrusts and parries of characters many of them did not know from Adam.
- The Twitter profiles were designed to reflect the personalities of the characters and link them to TNM.
- We identified the “influencers” on Twitter in Quebec (people with high Twitter ratings whose interests touched on technological innovation or culture).

Résultats
The protagonists attracted a total of 1,045 subscribers on Twitter and sent out more than 1,000 tweets. This generated a primary visibility of more than 60,000 people and a secondary visibility of more than 600,000 people.
- This use of Twitter, a medium that is by definition free, allowed TNM to invest in content rather than in media placement.
- Four shows were added during the campaign along with sold out rooms.
- The originality and never-seen-before character of the initiative had an impact extending Canada-wide in the Web media and the traditional press, equivalent to a placement campaign worth tens of thousands of dollars.

To better understand the size of this campaign, we invite you to watch the presentation video.