The Muny in Forest Park
The Muny in Forest Park is America’s oldest and largest outdoor musical theatre, bringing lots of music (and a little bit of magic) to the people of St. Louis. Dive in to learn how Paradigm delivered creative web design and development for the brand.
Role
- Website Design
- Website Development
- Content Creation
Industry
- Entertainment
Challenge
After more than 100 summer seasons, The Muny had become a St. Louis cultural institution. Grandparents brought grandkids. Couples met for first dates. Young children discovered lifelong passions. But despite its rich history and enduring popularity, The Muny’s theatre marketing fell flat at showcasing its visual splendor. They needed an entertainment marketing agency to help revive their website.
With Paradigm’s experience with marketing in the entertainment industry, we pitched a website redesign that would capture the magic of The Muny in Forest Park and rejuvenate patrons’ excitement for years to come. From there, our creative web design and development team got to work.
Our Approach
Web Content
The Muny is built on the belief that theatre is for everyone. So naturally, its website had to be for everyone, too. With our experience working as an entertainment marketing agency, we know how to market to The Muny’s audience. Pages are light and easy to read, with catchy headlines and clever calls to action. Theatres may feel intimidating or uninviting to non-theatre buffs, so we used simple, friendly language in our theatre marketing to make The Muny feel open to all.
We also added a new key page: Visit. Most people think of The Muny as part of a night out on the town, but there’s enough to do to make it your whole night. This page introduces you to a variety of food, drink and pre-show entertainment options. So be sure to get there early.
Web Design
Shows at The Muny in Forest Park have the same level of production you’d expect from a Broadway show. Intense choreography, beautiful set design, stunning costumes — it’s all a work of art. Our creative web design and development team wanted to bring that artistry into The Muny’s website. Marketing in the entertainment industry must be just as powerful and enthusiastic as the shows performed.
We relied on The Muny’s deep archive of show photography, placing it at center stage whenever possible. Choosing the right photography helped create a visual narrative of larger-than-life productions, talented casts and an enchanting night under the stars of Forest Park. Our abilities as an entertainment marketing agency allowed us to determine which photos would best emulate the hard work The Muny puts into every detail of their shows.
As you browse the site, animated elements create the whimsy and liveliness that you’ll find during a night at The Muny in Forest Park. Headlines subtly pop in from the background, photos in the navigation change as you roll over pages and sliding reels accent certain pages. From our past work in theatre marketing as an entertainment marketing agency, we know that subtle touches go a long way toward making the website feel as custom and theatrical as a Muny production.
Web Development
Marketing in the entertainment industry goes further than just making sure the design and copy match the creativity of the industry. While bringing The Muny’s website to life, there were a few technical considerations our creative web design and development team noted. For starters, no two seasons at The Muny are alike — so the site needed to be easily updated with new shows. It also needed to accommodate The Muny’s growing education programs, which bring theatre classes to students across the community. We opted to build the site on WordPress’ Gutenberg platform. This provided an intuitive, highly visual way for The Muny team to add pages and update content whenever needed.
We also baked in e-commerce functionality for The Muny’s online gift shop and donation portal. As a non-profit theatre, The Muny in Forest Park relies on donations to keep the magic alive for St. Louisans. We designed a donation experience that easily lets patrons choose a meaningful way to donate to their favorite theatre.
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