Theatergoers Sit Through 'Live Ads' Before Plays

April 11, 2006 — -- The show must go on, .. but first this commercial message.

When theatergoers at Piccadilly's Comedy Theater settled into their chairs last week to catch the comedy, "Steptoe and Son," they first witnessed a unique pre-performance "live advertisement."

The commercial, which took the form of a mini-play, got just one run, but it will live on as the cast hits Dublin, Madrid and New York theaters in the spring.

The new marketing gimmick -- which promotes London tourism, not the latest BMW or household cleaner -- seemed to garner a positive reaction.

"I'm so bored of the normal ads we see everywhere and usually I ignore them but I couldn't ignore this one and there was no escape -- I couldn't switch channels!" said one American tourist in the audience.

Finding a novel way to reach a captive audience is exactly what motivated London tourism promoters to finance the mini-play.

"Theatre is one of the last bastions of non-commercial zones so this is breaking new ground," said James Bidwell, chief executive of Visit London. "We wanted to do something which would create excitement, some inspiration and attract people to London and also to focus on theatre."

The live-ad idea came from a previous campaign when Visit London marketers drove five London cabs on a promotional tour across the United States. They liked the idea of taking something to different places around the world.

The mini-commercials, however, offer much more flexibility.

"We can make changes up to the minute, adapting the script," said Ken Kelling, Visit London's communications director. "You cannot do that with a normal advertisement."

Before "Steptoe and Son" began, a young woman stepped out on stage to remind the audience to turn off all cell phones. She stressed that it was especially important because it was the world premiere of the first theatrical advertisement.