Intervu Izzy Moore
“Izzy Moore”
Izzy Moore is many things: a director, a designer, an actor, and a close personal friend. You probably know her as Oxford's favourite Marketing Manager, though. If you saw No Peace on St. Jude, Our House (TT26), Translations, Little Shop of Horrors, My Dead Mum's AI Boyfriend (HT26), The Resistable Rise of Arturo Ui, A View From The Bridge (MT25), The Great Gatsby (TT25), The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals (MT25), or one of even more Oxford student shows, the chances are that Moore is to thank. On a very warm afternoon in the mad rush of our final weeks at uni, she joins me on the grass in Christchurch Meadows, and I get the chance to interrogate her on how marketing for student/fringe theatre works, why she loves it, and the specific strategies that have helped her raise so many productions to sell-out popularity. What we're really here to talk about, however, is her marketing campaign for On Some Far Shore, a new musical that premiered recently in Oxford and is now on its way to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
As with my past interviews, questions/comments from me are in bold, and Moore's responses are italicized.
Just to start us off, tell the readers who you are, what you do, why should we care about Izzy Moore as a practitioner?
Hello, I'm Izzy! I love everything theatre/creative/arts-related. I think if anyone knows me in Oxford, it's probably OUDS [Oxford University Drama Society] related, because I love marketing shows. I've been the Marketing Manager of 10, I think, and then I've done other things in a few: a couple co-directing with Mr. Loynes, and I've also tried producing, set design – just doing a bit of everything!
So, we will get into On Some Far Shore, the musical you're marketing currently. But, before we get into that, can you explain to our readers what actually goes into a marketing campaign? What does a Marketing Director actually do?
Yeah, I think it would be different for an OUDS show as opposed to a professional show, but at least for OUDS, there are a few things that lots of people will know of: the OUDS takeover, getting on the OUDS Term Card, that sort of thing. Being a Marketing Manager is a lot of planning, a lot of organisation, and having deadlines and schedules for things. I've loved the shows that I've been able to be a bit more creative on, but there's also been shows I've really enjoyed where I was more keeping track of things like social media, or the poster, or getting interviews etc. Overall, a marketing campaign is trying to raise awareness for a show so it can sell, but that also involves figuring out exactly what you can do to make someone want to come and see your production, even during show week.
The work of Izzy Moore
So there's really two sides of the job, aren't there? There's one side which is an extension almost of the Producer role where you're organising deadlines, invitations, posting schedules, press releases etc.; and then there's the creative side involving things like making posters, graphics, and so on.
Yes! You can survive with just one person on marketing, but it's really cool that this year in OUDS marketing there's been more of a team focus where you have graphic designers or even a videographer, multiple photographers, that sort of thing. That change definitely means that the Manager role involves a lot of chasing up those team members and, ultimately, if something doesn't get done, it falls to you to sort it.
Okay cool, so it's a bit more of a managerial/leadership role, I suppose. Now, we want to talk about On Some Far Shore, which you marketed already in Oxford and are now continuing that campaign for the show's Edinburgh Festival Fringe run. To introduce that, can you just tell us about the show – what's it about, what is it?
On Some Far Shore is an original 1-hour musical written by Louis Benneyworth; it's a 3-hander all about grief, relationships, and what grief can do to a relationship. It's really beautiful, with incredible music, and our performers for the Oxford run were amazing.
Talking specifically about the marketing, how does the content of a show (let's say, On Some Far Shore) affect and inform the way you design and promote things like posters, graphics, and everything else you do?
What I find useful, and I've done it on several shows now, is a first meeting with the Director and Producer. It’s really good fun deciding the core story or message that you want to share. I love telling stories and I love how marketing can do that. The process involves trying to find a language, especially visually, that can communicate the story that the Director wants to present. Animators at Disney from the very, very beginning have had sheets of rules to follow as they draw. In the same way, a marketing team has to present a cohesive visual language.
You also want to appeal specifically to the audiences that might want to come to your show, so for On Some Far Shore you want to bring the musical lovers of Oxford, people who like new writing, people who want to support student performances going to the Fringe etc.
As we've mentioned, the show is obviously going to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. How do you plan on marketing to that huge festival environment with 3,649 shows going, and how is that going to be different from what you did in Oxford?
I mean, it will be a world away marketing-wise, as you can imagine. I'm happy that I've had some experience at the Fringe that helps me to understand the kind of incredible, insane world that it is. I think it will take a lot of research and organisation over the summer beforehand. We've got some nice plans in the works for that. There's definitely not a one-size-fits-all approach to marketing at Fringe. Plus, if there's anything to remember about marketing, you can have the most organised schedule in the world, but it needs to have an element of flexibility to actually survive. You need enough wiggle room to respond to new challenges and demands as they appear.
The work of Izzy Moore
Now, in what ways is your work on this campaign (for On Some Far Shore) similar to or different from your previous work on other shows?
Ooh. The tone of shows I've done have been pretty diverse. I marketed Translations by Brian Friel and then Little Shop of Horrors immediately after - both very, very different shows! Regarding the differences with On Some Far Show, there were less Reels used, for example, than with something like Little Shop of Horrors. Reels worked for that specific show where you could be a lot more playful and use online trends to make content. With any kind of video content we published for On Some Far Shore though, it felt like the beautiful music of the show needed to be at the forefront. There's not been as much content produced for On Some Far Shore, because time limitations necessitated that we be very purposeful with what we're putting out, whereas with some other shows you could have many more posts going out online.
I guess there's always a tension between two tasks: 1) raise the profile of a show among general populations, and then 2) actually convince the people who have seen your content to come to the show. If you're focusing on Task 1, maybe the instinct is to put out as many Reels as possible and get thousands of views on all that content you're putting out; but then Task 2 is maybe dragging you in the other direction where you want to come off as really professional with a few polished, good pieces of marketing that can be reused such that people believe your production has a lot of effort and talent behind it.
Yeah, and of course that's not to say that those two things sort of can't exist at the same time – having great marketing that feels professional but also being in a Reels format. Maybe I'm just old, but if you wanted me to make Reels following viral trends, I wouldn't have any idea what I was doing.
In terms of online marketing content, the question is always going to be, "how is it reflecting the actual show? Does it hold up to the show?" Do you get into the show and you think, "oh, I've just seen a load of really playful Reels online about what is actually a really gritty tragedy"?People generally know more about marketing than they think they do, and can recognise when there's a disconnect there.
Big question now: generally speaking, what direction do you think the theatre world or the fringe theatre world should be moving in, and how does your marketing work fit into that?
I think, for me, I love a whole range of arts. The Fringe is so marvellous for that because of course, it's the melting pot of all these different arts. There are different issues and identities and cultures coming together. For me, it's all about those unique stories and experiences, and that should always be at the forefront. I think I love marketing because it's really the prelude to what your experience is going to be in the audience of a show. Before they get into the auditorium, it's the only way anyone is going to interact with the kind of feelings and experiences they can potentially take away from your show. The baseline purpose is that you need to market a show to sell it. But, it's also its own avenue of being creative in itself. That's especially what draws me to it. You and I have directed a couple of shows together, and for The Great Gatsby, I got to market as well as direct. In that scenario, you can really intimately know a show and the story it's telling, and then extend that creative vision in the marketing. It's a creative way to invite other people to experience what has been created.
You're always trying to create a unique selling point obviously, and today's theatre world is completely oversaturated, but we're also in a time where the arts are under attack by seemingly everyone. Instead of going on for hours about the importance of the arts, I'll link that back to what I said at the beginning: art is always and will always be about stories and messages, and providing a bridge that can connect people.
One more off-topic question before we return to On Some Far Shore. What is next for you? What's next for Izzy Moore?
Well, of course we're taking On Some Far Shore to Fringe, and then in September, at the Wanstead Fringe I'm Marketing Greek Nightmare [Nick Samuel's new one-man play], which I'm so so excited to dig my teeth into!
[Because George is performing in the play] You have to say that in front of me!
I do have to say it, but it's also something I've very happily told everyone! This is something I love to do, and things like On Some Far Shore at the Fringe, and then working with you and Isobel [Glover, Greek Nightmare's Producer] and the rest of our team for Wanstead, will both be so fun and so exciting. Beyond that, I'm always hoping to do something creative career-wise and will hopefully have much more arts marketing ahead of me!
Now for the money shot: can you tell our readers why should they come and see On Some Far Shore?
Well let me get out my masterdoc of all the marketing hooks I have compiled! I think I'm gonna answer this in non-marketing-speak.
Please do, yeah!
There's a lot of elements in the show that everyone can connect to. It's really sensitively and lovingly done. I think the music is absolutely terrific, and that's a real central strength that everyone keeps talking about. The music's wonderful.
Also, in that hour, even though it's very character-driven and worlds away from your 3-hour tragedy, there's so many different highs and lows: so many different points at which to connect with the central character, Euan's story and his grief and how it's affecting his relationship with his girlfriend, Isla. The narrative isn't black and white, and there's so much complexity packed into an hour.
Perfect, well I personally cannot wait to see it! Where and when can we can catch it?
The Fringe run is from 7th-22nd August at 10:25am at the Mint Studio in Greenside's George Street Venue!
Huge thanks are due to Izzy for an incredibly interesting conversation and insights into her wealth of knowledge in marketing student theatre.
You can find tickets for On Some Far Shore in Edinburgh 7th-22nd August here.
The work of Izzy Moore
By George Loynes
The link to George Loynes’s review blog is: https://roomwithreviewblog.blogspot.com/?m=1&fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAadKaD9DWn-5mwBnPczPWh3KXF0Wm5MTE_D9WbXEiWAbpuhhg9yNdnyYWKaYSg_aem_MX4-paKRuQoHXi7vgFXpPw
