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The Anthem band is going on its European tour, starting this week! We'll be leaving Cleveland, Ohio, then we're off to Dublin! One week later, and we'll head to London. Each band member is looking forward to facing new experiences and exploring new environments. See what Erica, Meghan, Arbrion, Rachael and Odun are most excited about. Tour Dates
Dublin: May 15-22 London: May 22-30
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By : Rachael Denny
Live from New York, it’s Saturday Night Live! These are the iconic words spoken every episode of SNL. Saturday Night Live features different sketches about comical satire. From politics to entertainment, they cover it all. Some of the greatest comedians have started at SNL; Will Ferrell, Eddie Murphy, Amy Poehler, Mike Myers, Tina Fey, Kristen Wiig, the list goes on and on. Every week, there is a celebrity host along with a musical guest. The first episode aired in 1975 and continues to make people laugh while confronting controversy four decades later. Recently, the show broadcasted “SNL 40” which celebrated 40 seasons of Saturday Night Live comedy.
Some of SNL’s most recognizable sketches were spoofs or parodies off of advertisements. One of my favorites is the Calvin Klein ad featuring Kate McKinnon as Justin Bieber. Some other memorable skits include the Lincoln ad featuring Jim Carrey as Matthew McConaughey and the Chanel No. 5 ad featuring Taran Killam as Brad Pitt. (Click on the links to watch the spoofs!) Along with product advertising, there is a lot of parody promotion for political campaigns. Tina Fey as Sarah Palin never seems to get old. Now are parodies good or bad publicity? Comment and tell me what you think! Some SNL actors have participated in real advertising campaigns believe it or not. Kyle Mooney was featured in a campaign for Sprint to promote their family plan and Cecily Strong starred in a commercial for Jeep. Advertising plays a huge role in SNL’s inspiration for content. Like the title of the show, SNL is performed live with a studio audience. These comedic actors transform into several different characters a night. “Poking fun” at the contemporary culture of today’s society seems to be working for Saturday Night Live. Lorne Michaels, the producer of the NBC show has seen SNL grow into something iconic. Whether it is “Weekend Update” or a sketch with a cow bell, Saturday Night Live will continue to make us laugh one skit at a time. 
By: Odunayo Ishola
Ah, Coachella! You might call it the modern-day Woodstock, and you would pretty much be right. With people barefoot frolicking through the open field, sensational live music blaring throughout the day, amazing company and great vibes all round, what’s not to love about Coachella?
If you didn’t know what Coachella is before this year, you most certainly do now! Thanks to Snapchat, those of us who weren’t lucky enough to make the festival this year were able to live vicariously, and almost in real time with the people who were lucky enough to attend! In my little room in Ohio, I was filled with so much life as I watched the entire festival unravel on my Snapchat feed. Of course this isn’t the first time Coachella has been televised. It isn’t even the first time it’s been televised live. Since 2011, YouTube has always live streamed the opening weekend of Coachella. However, this is the first time we’ve experienced it through the eyes of the audience. The mishmash of different people recording their experiences gave the festival a three dimensional life of its own. We were able to get a very real feel of what it would’ve been like to be there. It wasn’t just about the music and the live performances. This year, for the first time, we got the full effect of what it would’ve been like to be at Coachella. We watched as people enjoyed the company of their friends. We watched as they did yoga, played frisbee, and danced alongside strangers, just simply having a good time. And we also saw raw moments of performances. From the incredible butterfly stage to the super awkward kiss Madonna and Drake shared on said stage, everything was laid out for our viewing. All captured in ten seconds or less, by a million different people. 
Snapchat isn’t one to disclose its usage data, however, CEO Evan Spiegel, shared that over 40 million people viewed the Coachella story over the weekend! 40 million! If that isn’t brilliant media planning, and buying, I don’t know what is. It was rumored that the tickets for Coachella sold out within 20 minutes this year. I wonder, with the publicity Snapchat garnered for the event, how much more tickets will be sold for next year.
By Rachael Denny It all started in 1972 when the Cleveland Ballet was formed. The School of Cleveland Ballet is filled with talented students, faculty and artists who are committed to perfecting the art of ballet. I got the chance to interview Leslie Schurman, the event coordinator for the Cleveland Ballet. As the event coordinator, Leslie gets to experience event planning along with administrative work.
“But what I love most about the job is the experience I’m getting with event planning,” Schurman said. “For example, right now I am helping to plan our VIP reception that will be held after our performance at Playhouse Square on April 27th. The VIP reception will not only give the community a chance to meet our two guest principal artists Carlos Lopez and Adiarys Almeida, but members of our Youth Company and staff as well.” Schurman mentioned how detail oriented event planning is and most people do not realize how much thought is put in behind the production. The Cleveland Ballet hosts a multitude of events, but one event stands out from the crowd. The Black and White Gala, which will be hosted this October. It’s a weekend long event featuring past dancers, teachers, parents and staff members. There are also spring and winter performances along with smaller performances such as shows at local nursing homes and meet and greets in Cleveland. Obviously, an event cannot be successful without accompanying promotion. “We have a marketing chair who is also a board member and she does a really good job of reaching out to people using a ton of different outlets,” Schurman mentions. “We advertise on the radio, we have articles written in the newspaper, magazines and of course, social media. We have a Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and we are working on getting a Pinterest. We also have an e-mail database to send out weekly e-mails. And although we do focus a lot on technology, we also advertise with things such as flyers and postcards that parents and students take and hang up in their community.” Go check out the Cleveland Ballet on social media or their website, clevelandballet.org.
By: Odunayo Ishola
On my 8th birthday party, my mum hired a clown to perform. He was over the top and did a great job at terrifying all the kids. All the kids except me. I loved it all; the makeup, the costume, the performance. I ate it all up! Since then, I’ve had a slight fascination with the circus, and performance artists in general. So much so, that for the better part of my childhood, I wanted to become a circus clown. All that to say, I was a little more than excited when I got the opportunity to speak with Jessica Minshall, founder of The Amazing Giants, a circus performing arts group based in Columbus, Ohio.
We spoke on many things, but I was particularly interested in the advertising and promotional aspects of the business.
Q: Who exactly are The Amazing Giants?
A: We are a performance arts company that can provide specialty entertainment for just about anything. We really focus on special events, which could be corporate parties, small house parties, community events, festivals, anything like that. Those are typically the kinds of events that we do. 
Q: What would you say your brand identity is? What sets you apart from other circus, performance arts group?
A: Well, we are called the Amazing Giants, and we did start as just a stilts walking company. I mean when we first started, I wasn’t even thinking about magicians or jugglers or anything like that, so I think the thing that stands us out above any other performance arts company is that we do have that stilt walking base and there aren’t that many stilts walking focused companies around the U.S. I mean, for them stilts is just kind of a secondary thing. But for us, the majority of our business is on stilts. Q: What’s the biggest promotional platform you use? A: Social media, definitely! We’re constantly posting pictures, videos, and updating posts on our social media page that usually generates conversation and inquiries about what we do. Most of our business for about two years was pretty much through social media. Q: What social media platforms do you use? A: We had our Facebook page for a while, even before we had our website. We also use Instagram and Twitter. Visuals definitely play an important role in what we do. People love to see our bright and colorful costumes, so we thought Instagram would be a great place to share those. However, Facebook is the most dominating platform we use so far. Q: What are the specific aspects of publicizing the Amazing Giants that prove to be challenging? A: Um, I don’t really think that it’s been challenging or anything. I think the most challenging thing for me is keeping up with our presence online. Trying to make sure that I’m posting things on a daily bases, and that sort of thing. Q: Who’s in charge of putting things online for you? A: I’m in charge of all that right now. Q: Why do you consider Facebook your biggest social media platform? A: I mean, I feel like on Facebook, we have a lot more the younger clients, a lot of the festival people, follow us. That’s where we post some of the weirder events that we’ve done where our costumes are a little crazier and stuff like that. I just feel a little freer to display everything that we’ve done on Facebook. Q: How would you describe your personality and presence online? A: I always try and make whatever I’m doing, fun and appealing to all audiences. I mean, we even work for a lot of churches, and stuff like that, so anytime I post anything, I want to make sure it’s okay for everyone. We also try and interact a lot with our audience. When someone comments, we reply, and try to keep a fun conversation going. Q: What do you look for when interacting with your audience online? A: We often get a lot of feedback from our audience online, so that’s always great. And that’s pretty much all I look for when I’m scrolling through the comments. What did we do right? What could we have done better? Q: What’s the best way to reach the Amazing Giants? A: Attend our shows, Facebook us, tweet at us, follow us on Instagram and if you want to inquire about booking us, just shoot me an email at TheAmazingGiants@Gmail.com that’s pretty much it. The Amazing Giants Promo from Thinking Eye on Vimeo. |
