STL
Symphony
A world-renowned, 130-year-old institution, the St. Louis Symphony is a cultural cornerstone of the city, but it has also dealt with its fair share of turmoil. During some particularly significant financial troubles and tension among its musicians, the symphony turned to UPBrand to help reposition itself to better reflect its essence and place in the community.
Brand Strategy
Through our discovery process that included both qualitative and quantitative research, we learned that while the reputation of the symphony was improving, those changes weren’t being perceived by the larger audience. We needed to tell a new story about the St. Louis Symphony; one that was less old and stodgy and more welcoming and accessible to the community.
Branding & Identity
Using a new message platform as inspiration, UPBrand designed a new identity for the symphony, including a logo that utilized a streamlined name – STL Symphony – to better reflect the times and usage of how our community identifies themselves. We also recognized the strong emotional connection people had with the symphony’s primary venue, Powell Hall, and added it as a descriptor to the master brand identity.
Debuting The New St. Louis Symphony
To start the rollout of the new identity on a high note, we launched a campaign featuring direct mail, a new web presence, brandumentary film and some Emmy-nominated television spots. The results were music to everyone’s ears: a 36% increase in total ticket revenues, a 12% increase in average attendance per concert and nearly 20,000 new households added to the house file, giving new life to an established St. Louis brand.
