The new musical Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York) was coming to Broadway! The musical is a smart, funny, big-hearted love letter to New York City. To launch the show we needed to build our world and invite New Yorkers into it while aligning the show with everything “REAL New York.” This would involve remaking key art, shooting legit NYC content, working with NY influencers, and getting the iconic music from the show out there in a big way.
The goal was to make this show a part of New York. We would use traditional media, social content and in-world promotions to break into the Broadway buzz!
Our work started by redesigning the poster to reflect iconic New York films and rom-coms (which are referenced throughout the musical).
With NYC photographer Andreas Verrios (@mrnycsubway) we did a series of “in-world” content shoots throughout the iconic locations mentioned in the musical, including Flatbush Ave in Brooklyn, Times Square, Central Park, the subway, and more! The videos and photos from this shoot became the building blocks for the first wave of the campaign. Content ranged from the characters performing trends to them literally carrying cake across the city!
The second part of the campaign positioned the original song “NEW YORK” as the hero song of the season! The song gained momentum quickly. The music video from the recording session amassed nearly 8M views! The cast was even invited to sing “NEW YORK” at the New York Emmy Awards!
Then we took to the streets! We organized influencer events at iconic New York locations and activations with New York partners like Summit 1, Magnolia Bakery, BIG BUS, and many more. The show took over out-of-home ads in Times Square and in NYC including taxi TV, New York Times, The New Yorker, Time Out New York, and Gothamist.
Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York) took over the city and the Broadway conversation. Just like in the musical, the marketing proved that anything can happen… especially in New York!
Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York) won the hearts of New Yorkers. In a New York Minute, its hero song's music video ("NEW YORK") had nearly 8 Million views. The Spotify streams of the Two Strangers studio album spiked 10X their typical volume. The show’s social media following grew by over 50,000 users across accounts after releasing the song "NEW YORK." This growth was Ranked #1 for two straight weeks compared to all Broadway shows. Content from the influencers' events flooded Broadway-focused social feeds. The show's content and advertising made it an instant New York icon. The advertising and content created so much buzz that the show became the talk of the town!
