Some fresh air on 2013-2014 brochure of the Théâtre du Châtelet

Some of you living in France may have received the new season brochure of the Théâtre du Châtelet. The Théâtre du Châtelet is one of the most important theatres in Paris. If you want to learn more about this magnifiscent Italian-style theatre located in the very centre of Paris, feel free to have a look on the Théâtre du Châtelet Wikipedia page.

My first reaction was the brochure was quite unconventional because it shows very unusual dimensions  : 8,5 cm of width & 21,9 cm of length. Therefore it is quite narrow and long.  It is as if a regular A4 paper sheets was more or less split into 4 equally stripes.

2013-2014 Season Brochure ot the Théâtre du Châtelet

2013-2014 Season Brochure ot the Théâtre du Châtelet and a few tickets

So this new season programme saves paper ! A good point for environment and perhaps  a first step toward a zero paper season brochure ?

Another point I noticed was its will to promote social networks in the paper brochure. The Théâtre du Châtelet is present on several social networks : facebook, twitter, You tube and even Instagram. What particularly pleased me was the way the Theâtre du Châtelet communicates about its youtube channel using a QR code on page 101 of the brochure !

The Théâtre du Châtelet promote its social network presence in its paper brochure

The Théâtre du Châtelet promote its social network presence in its paper brochure

Some American Opera such as Florida Grand Opera had been using QR codes even on large billboard for years.  However in France, amongst opera houses, it remains still quite rare to see a QR code or a flash code in a programme or in a billboard.  So the Théâtre du Châtelet uses a QR code to get directly to the Youtube channel showing how important mobile phones have been used to  watch videos ! More than 1 out 3 mobile phone owners watch videos on their handsets !

For those of you that don’t know what a QR code is, please read the Wikipedia article about that. In a nutshell a Quick Response Code is a kind of two-dimensional barcode which let user access a destination site without having to type manually a complicated and URL link in a his or her browser. The more common device to read QR codes is a smartphone. If your mobile handset is equipped with a dedicated application (for instance QR Droid, Mobiletag, QR reader, i-nigma etc…), it can scan, display  the code and convert it to some useful form (such as a website url or an automatic launch of a video) !

To conclude, I hope it is the beginning of a more widespread usage of QR or flash codes in printed communication materials of French Opera houses ! Museums in France seem to lead the dance of digital for instance regarding NFC technologies. Opera houses and theatres have to follow !

Licence Creative Commons
“Some fresh air on 2013-2014 brochure of the Théâtre du Châtelet” by Ramzi SAIDANI in under terms and conditions of the licence Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 France.

About Ramzi SAIDANI

Ramzi SAIDANI is fond of classical music (abooove all opera) and new technologies. He particularly likes digital, the web, Puccini, Massenet, Domingo, Alagna, Netrebko & Gruberova (Grubi for the closest friends :). He has been working as digital marketer and strategy consultant for 15 years. He has funded Lanoramax a consulting company focused on cultural industries that helps the start-ups (of which Sonic Solveig) and the incumbent musical institutions to achieve their digital transformation and strategies. He has created and animated the Meet-up Music and Digital (#MusikNum) in the CentQuatre Paris since septembre 2016. Ramzi is a also a tenor. He has studied lyric singing with Pierre VANHOENACKERE in Tourcoing Conservatory and Robert Expert and Sonia Morgavi in Bobigny. He is also president of the Association Cavatine et Rondo (dedicated to lyrical music promotion) and he wrote a book of short stories ”Nouvelles Russes”, in which of course music play a major role :)

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