INSPIRATION FROM THE COLOUR AUTHORITY FOR BRANDING
SPECIAL EFFECTS
A 134-year-old institution gets a makeover
MIAMI NICE
Box office records for Miami City Ballet
HI, I’M PHIL
How we made music beautiful with NY Phil
MESSIAH COMPLEX
Shaking up a classic worked miracles
We love music deeply, but why? Put simply: music makes lives, shapes lives, expresses all shades and stages of lifeand even saves lives.
— Rasheed OgunlaruHaft2 Inc. is a full-service digital and branding agency committed to providing our clients with simple, superior-quality communications solutions.
Our work spans many not-for-profit sectors, but we have a special passion for the performing arts, as you’ll see on these pages.
Established in 2004, Haft2 Inc. set out to become the colour authority for branding. Eighteen years later, we’re still rooted in brand strategy and design, but we’ve grown and our services have diversified. Today our work spans branding, social media, SEO,
digital, research, marketing communications and naming, and often involves highly complex strategic planning and project management. Yet colour – and its strategic use in marketing a brand – is still at the core of everything we do.
If you’re looking for an agency that listens before it acts, an agency that gets why you’re different, an agency that cares about artistic expression as much as you do while understanding the importance of getting results and meeting KPIs, look no further than Haft2 – The colour authority for branding ® in the arts.
We
colour.
You are invited to explore our world of colour. Read on!
Haft2 is excited to share our seven+ years of brand and marketing experience in the performing arts category. Our relationships have grown along with the variety of our work.
2014–2017
As Agency of Record (AOR) for the TSO, we helped define their brand strategy and positioning. That led to a complete overhaul of the website, concert experience, season guide and marketing campaigns.
The NY Phil’s then CMO noticed the TSO work and invited us to pitch for AOR. We started as a projectbased agency and then were awarded AOR for the 2019/20 Season.
2019–2022
The NY Phil’s CMO moved on to Miami City Ballet; having worked with Haft2, she called us in 2019 and we’ve been their brand agency ever since.
An RCM SVP who had worked at the TSO contacted Haft2 in 2020 to take over their marketing campaigns. Haft2 continues to work on their digital marketing campaigns.
From 2015 to 2018, our innovative work helped propel TSO box office sales to record heights. Professional portrait photography, whimsical illustrations, practical subscriber and listener guides and a youthful reimagining of the brand were just some of the tools we used to attract new audiences while pleasing loyal listeners.
We resurrected the moribund program guide as Key. Our research-based changes included enticing headlines and practical colour coding that made subscribing intuitive, with impressive results.
We put the spotlight on the musicians in this limitededition coffee table book for subscribers. Informal photographs by Christopher Wahl captured the off-stage personalities of the music makers.
2015/2016 Season Brochure
Our Messiah illustration dialled up the magic with an enchanting angel that proved as popular as the performances. The multimedia campaign –encompassing bus wraps, inserts and video –drew the highest ticket sales ever.
TORONTO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
2015 Christmas Campaign Poster
We adopted classic elements of the rock concert – wild postings, t-shirts and lanyard passes – in an integrated campaign titled “Turntables & Symphony” to attract a young, hip audience to the New Creations Festival.
New Creations Festival Pass and Website
TORONTO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
New Creation Festival Wild Postings
Our redesign of the Noteworthy newsletter adopted a magazine aesthetic with a new size, new stock, strategic use of colour and sumptuous professional photography.
For three spectacular seasons, we have helped MCB bring their unique, Miamiinfused style to a wider audience. Original photography art directed by Haft2 takes dancers out of the studio and into the sun-drenched city, inviting audiences to live the brand promise and “leave ordinary behind.” Invitation accepted. Performances of The Nutcracker and Swan Lake sold out in record times.
Photography by: Gary James
We welcomed back home-bound audiences with evocative stills of ballerinas in breezy palm groves and lush tropical forests.
2021/2022 Season Brochure Cover
MIAMI CITY BALLET
2021/2022 Season Brochure
Front & Back Cover
MIAMI CITY BALLET
2021/2022 Season Brochure
Inside Spread
MIAMI CITY BALLET
The 35th Anniversary Season called for an approach as bold as the company. One-word headlines. A pas de deux – in the sea. A solitary dancer against a boldly coloured backdrop. Pointe made.
Brochure
MIAMI CITY BALLET
2020/2021 Season Brochure
Inside Spread
MIAMI CITY BALLET
2020/2021 Season Brochure
Inside Spread
MIAMI CITY BALLET
2020/2021 Season Brochure
Inside Spread
Our “Beauty Unfolds” theme showcased luxurious photography draped across panoramic spreads, creating an immersive 2D experience.
MIAMI CITY BALLET
2019/2020 Season Brochure Cover
MIAMI CITY BALLET
2019/2020 Season Brochure Inside Spread
MIAMI CITY BALLET
2019/2020 Season Brochure
Inside Spread
Dancers are experts at pivoting – and so are we. When the company re-imagined The Nutcracker in a pandemic-friendly park-turned-theatre, our out-of-home campaign elicited record sales.
Nutcracker in the Park Billboard
MIAMI CITY BALLET
We began our work with this illustrious orchestra in 2019 by solving an important challenge: creating a framework for all subscription and acquisition campaigns. Based on our insight that many New Yorkers use the abbreviated name, we answered the question “What is NY Phil?” with a simple yet nuanced answer: “We are NY Phil.”
Photography by: Brad Trent
Peekaboo letterforms frame the brand story, told in photos. “We” are the conductor and the musicians – and also audiences old and young, from near and far.
We named a series of newly commissioned works “Project 19,” illustrating the program with a portion of each of the 19 composers’ faces.
Our season guide brought the programming alive with captivating copy and fresh visuals that appealed to returning subscribers while enticing new and younger audiences.
6,000 new subscribers in 90 days
We reached New Yorkers in their natural habitat with a series of out-of-home ads that included subway posters, billboards and a Times Square digital banner.
Lincoln Centre Banner
NEW
When we began working with this prestigious, 134-year-old institution in 2021, we coined the term The RCM Effect. The concept conveys the power of RCM’s approach to teaching and learning music, and repeats, like a musical motif, in all our campaigns together.
For the launch of the new Violin Series, 2021 Edition, we used The RCM Effect to differentiate them from competitors, while appealing to a wider market of teachers, parents and students.
Our multilingual, multi-platform social media campaigns used forward-panning piano keys – brightly coloured to reflect the brand’s youthful spirit – and animated type to capture the idea of sending kids forward, not back, to school. Optimized CTA buttons encouraged parents to take the desired action.
The silhouetted head of a music teacher frames a video of hands at the keyboard to convey that music is alive in every teacher. Because brand recognition is higher in Canada, we retained the traditional RCM fonts.
THE ROYAL CONSERVATORY
Back to School Teachers Acquisition Campaign, Canada
For the U.S. market, where we had latitude to improvise on the brand guidelines, we used handlettering to reflect the individuality of teachers. The Back-to-School Teacher campaigns hit a high note, with a 15% increase in accounts.
THE ROYAL CONSERVATORY
Back-to-School Teachers Acquisition Campaign, U.S.
U of T Presentation Materials
Noteworthy Summer 2017
Holiday Campaign
2016 Program Guide
TSO Canada Mosaic Wordmark
Program Book 7
Jerusalem Tour Insert
Noteworthy Spring Issue
TSO Video Project
TSO Program Book
Lobby Sign
TSO Year-End Infographic
2016–2017 Season
Annual Report 2016
2016–2017 Season Extension
Noteworthy Newsletter
Annual Report Folder
Canada Mosaic Brochure
Christmas Campaign
Christmas Ornament
Christmas Elevator News Sizzle
Noteworthy 2017
2015 TSO Email Assets
TSO Indicia
Sponsorship Deck – Manulife
Gala Auction Website Assets
TSO Studio Project
Brand Strategy
Case for Support
Winback Program
Customer Experience Project
60-sec video
Save the Date and Evite
TSO Gala Photoshoot
TSO Gala Microsite
TSO Gala Invitation
TSO Other assets
TSO Gala Event Take Away
RBC Signage
TSO Gala Posters
Scrim Vinyls
Competitive Review
Thank-You Email
Photography
TSO Alliance Case for Support
Foundation Board Case for Support
Berman Donor Print Ad
Education Case for Support
Goodyear Program Insert
Case for Support Fulfilment
TSO Email Strategy
TSO Season Booklet
Symphony Book
Exposed Flyer
Tel Aviv Leave-Behind
Subscription DM and Campaign
Subscription Paid Digital
Subscription Wild Postings
Subscription Social Media
TSO 40th Anniversary Special Gift Email
Year-End Giving Email
Opening Night Oversized Poster
Program Guide Redesign
Devo Note Cards
Impact Report
2015–16 Single Ticket Launch Campaign
TSO Recognition Card
TOSCA Email
New Founders Circle
Student Concert Study Guide
Single Ticket Launch Campaign
Opening Night Program
Christmas Campaign Concept
Annual Report
TSO Website Redesign
TSO 2016–17 Subscription booklet
Program Guide Books
Noteworthy Winter Issue
2022/2023 Season Brochure
2021/2022 Season Brochure
Supporting animation to the season
Annual Report
Key Art Production
Fall Acquisition Brochure
2019/2020 Program Covers
2019 Fall Brochure
2020/2021 Season Renewal Brochure
OOH Billboard
2019/2020 CYO Brochure
2019/2020 CYO Pull Out
2019/2020 Subscriber Ticket Mailing
Fall Gala Invitation
2019/2020 Season Guide
Box Office Open Campaign
Broadway Banner
2019–2020 Renewal Brochure
2019–2020 Photoshoot
2019–2020 PR Invitation
2019–2020 30-sec video
2019–2020 Representation naming project
2019–2020 Key art for HotSpots festival
2019–2020 Teaser postcard
2019–2020 Sizzle Reel
2019–2020 Key art for 19th Amendment
2019–2020 Priority Acquisition Brochure
On Campus Signage
Program Guide Research
Millennial Project (Foreign Bodies)
Campaign Creative Celebration Series
Violin Series Book Launch Digital Ad
Campaign
• CA Teachers Acquisition
• U.S. Teacher Acquisition
Back to School Digital Ad Campaign
• CA Teachers Acquisition
• CA Parents – English
• CA Parents – Chinese
• U.S. Teacher Acquisition
6th Edition Piano Book Covers Production
Print Ads Celebration Series Launch
Thank you for taking this journey with us. I’d love to share more — and hear about your own story.
