de warme winkel
If something is for everybody,
it’s for nobody
THEATRE
How can a theatre brand be both extreme and accessible, appealing to die-hard theatre lovers and a mainstream audience at the same time?
PROBLEM
De Warme Winkel (roughly “The Steamy Store”) is an acclaimed theatre collective; beloved by insiders, but often too complex for mainstream audiences. They also thought that their name was too niche for a larger audience.
STRATEGY
To bridge that gap, we created a new identity and a provocative name change: the group temporarily adopted ITA, the abandoned name of their competitor: turning the rebrand itself into theatre.
If you can’t choose who to talk to, talk to both. An advertising no-go. But a(nother) risk worth taking.
IDEA
The new identity positioned Toneelgroep Amsterdam (the new name) as “extremely accessible theatre.” Extreme for the insiders. Accessible for the masses. With the ultimate goal of making the extreme accessible.
Execution
The identity reflects the extreme/accessible tension by pairing short, punchy statements with TL;DR-style copy: simple on the surface, complex and obscure underneath.
Hijacking one of the most notorious theatre names, getting sued, and making our own name famous in the process.
RESULT
The system worked beautifully across every show. It also fueled a provocative name-change campaign that created serious buzz. So much buzz, in fact, that DWW was sued and eventually returned to the original name. Which, thanks to the controversy, is now more famous than ever.
CREDITS
Client: Toneelgroep Amsterdam
Agency: Kesselskramer
Creative direction: Gijs van den Berg
Strategy: Ronald de Vreede
Copy: Sophie Rijnaard
Design: Tristan Roques
