The 2013 Fashion-Led Rebrand

Read the campaign story

English National Ballet announced a new identity and fashion-led campaign in January 2013 under Tamara Rojo’s artistic leadership. The Beautiful Meme developed the brand work, with dancers photographed in Vivienne Westwood garments. Contemporary accounts credit Guy Farrow for photography, George Williamson for choreography and Dalton Maag for work on the customised wordmark.

The launch combined imagery, identity and website communication. It aimed to express a contemporary creative direction while maintaining a relationship with ballet’s traditions. These are documented intentions and production choices, not evidence that the campaign alone changed attendance or audience diversity. The 2012 leadership appointment is context, not the date of the 2013 public identity launch.

Editorial interpretation: collaboration can reveal qualities that a category’s familiar imagery hides. Fashion, choreography and photography each bring a different way of noticing movement, personality and form. The strategic value is not simply the prestige of the partner; it is what the partnership helps the audience see. If the collaborator becomes the entire story, the institution may gain attention while leaving its own offer less clear than before.

Editorial interpretation: a new visual tone makes an implicit promise about the experience behind it. That promise needs to connect with programming, access information and the way first-time visitors are welcomed. Contemporary imagery alone does not remove practical or social barriers. A responsible adaptation should therefore test whether the work makes the offer understandable and inviting, not merely whether viewers recognise that it looks different from a conventional ballet advertisement.

Define what each collaborator contributes

Write down the creative role of every partner before planning the shoot. Distinguish artistic contribution from endorsement, wardrobe supply and promotional association. This makes credit more accurate and helps prevent a prestigious name from becoming a substitute for a coherent idea. The collaboration should produce something that neither party would communicate in quite the same way alone, while still leaving the institution’s purpose visible.

Challenge a category convention with a clear replacement

Identify the assumption the new work is intended to change and decide what understanding should take its place. Removing a familiar symbol can create freshness, but it can also make the category harder to recognise. Test the concept with both regular and unfamiliar audiences. Ask what they think is being offered and what kind of experience they expect, rather than judging the work only by its difference from competitors.

Connect the image with the visitor journey

Ensure that the next page explains the programme, price, access arrangements and practical choices in ordinary language. A visually confident campaign can feel unwelcoming if the information behind it assumes specialist knowledge. Review the full path from image to decision. The promise of openness should be supported by concrete design choices, not left as an aesthetic impression that disappears when someone tries to plan a visit.

A small test for another brief

Proposed adaptation: create a fictional local performance group’s poster through a collaboration between an illustrator and a storyteller, using original characters rather than reproducing fashion or dance imagery.

Measure whether viewers recognise the offer, understand the intended creative character and can find practical information. Compare the collaborative concept with a conventional poster. Ask which partner they remember and whether that memory helps or distracts from understanding the event, without treating visual novelty as proof of audience growth.

Stop if the collaboration obscures the institution, implies an unapproved endorsement or makes an inclusive promise unsupported by the practical information.

• Agree roles, credit and reuse terms before production.
• Provide a plain-language event page with complete fictional access details.
• Use no physically demanding performance test or body-image judgement.