Roll Over, Beeoven! eyeball Reacquaints New York with A Claic Pop Icon: Wolfgang Amadeus MozArt

Throughout November, WQXR 105.9 FM, New York's only classical station, will celebrate a musical genius with Month of Mozart, an immersive festival dedicated to one of classical music's most-beloved composers.

As with Beethoven Awareness Month, which launched in 2011, WQXR has once again turned to creative strategic design agency eyeball to brand and promote what has become a signature November event.

Mozarts arrival is signaled with the same flair and disruption as Beethoven, who took New York by storm when eyeball helmed the Shepard Fairey-endorsed OBEY THOVEN campaign in 2011. Led by Chief Creative Officer Limore Shur and Executive Creative Director Alex Moulton, eyeball is building upon their strategy of flipping expectations and recasting a classic composer as a modern cultural icon. Combing the aesthetics and language of contemporary pop culture and the full spectrum of modern art, eyeballs integrated multi-platform creative for Month of Mozart includes a wall mural in Williamsburg, posters, online ads, TV & radio spots, and social media.

The agency renewed its successful guerilla marketing tactics with wild postings featuring edgy, black-and-blue stencils of Mozart that resolve around the slogan I AM A DEUS, a clever play on Mozart's name and his reputed outsized personality.

Building on two years of success with OBEY THOVEN,' we teased this years campaign by bringing back the artwork everyone expected, but defaced by MozArts punk-rock graffiti, remarks eyeball's Moulton. Spray painting MozArt with the anarchy A symbol just makes it that much more fun. It sets up a great contrast to the real Month of Mozart' artwork, which was inspired by more refined stenciling techniques.

This years campaign also notably incorporates innovative social media initiatives in a more prominent way. Life with Wolfie is a present-day fictional Tumblr blog from the perspective of Leopold (Wolfgangs overbearing stage dad) who chronicles the Mozart Family Tour in Europe and what it is like to parent a genius; and two Instagram mosaics (hashtag: #MonthofMozart) engage mobile users by sharing a new tile in the days leading up to the launch and mid-way through the campaign to reveal a full image.

Our composer festivals - concentrated doses of classical's best-known composers - are WQXR's most direct play to the 20% of New Yorkers who are passionate about classical music but who may not yet be listening to us, and since the beginning, eyeball has been critical to this effort, said Noreen O'Loughlin, Vice President, Integrated Marketing at New York Public Radio, which includes WQXR. Through the energetic, brand-disruptive imagery they have brought to each of our festivals, eyeball has helped us immeasurably to break out beyond our current audience and reach potential new listeners. Through traditional advertising, street art, clever and engaging social media efforts, humor, and of course, great music, we are opening the door to a genre that has a lot of barriers, and making it accessible to everyone.

The immersive journey began on October 14th with graffiti-inspired key art sprinkling the city to tease the prodigal composers NYC visit. Other highlights include street-level window art at The Jerome L. Greene Performance Space, WQXR's street-level event venue and broadcast studio, as well as a striking mural of Mozarts profile in Williamsburg (at Bedford Avenue & N. 1st Street).

Pushing the Month of Mozart across traditional channels, eyeball created a graphic animated TV spot (:15) based on the Williamsburg Mural, which will air on WNET and online, and scripted cross-promotional radio spots for WQXRs sister radio station WNYC. Other campaign assets include a variety of digital banners for NYMag.com.

Fans of Mozart and his modern WQXR branding can carry their memories home with tote bags based on eyeballs wild posting art.

Devoted to the music, mystique and majesty of the legendary composer, WQXRs Month of Mozart celebration will feature Mozart-themed programming, including live broadcasts and theatrical productions (for all ages), film screenings, special radio programs and interactive festivities online. The month-long celebration is exclusively sponsored by NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. Further information may be found at http://www.wqxr.org.

We are having entirely too much fun working with WQXR, concludes Shur. Their deep trust in our process has allowed us to create wildly creative and innovative campaigns that have emboldened us to take greater and greater risks as the reward has been so plentiful.

Project: Month of Mozart campaign

Airdate: November 1, 2013

Client: WQXR

Ad Agency & Production Company: eyeball/New York, NY

Chief Creative Officer: Limore Shur

Executive Creative Director: Alex Moulton

Creative Directors: Mia Rockel, Joshua Kopeika

Executive Producer: Ben Spivak

Producers: Anne Verschoor, Danny Beaser

VFX Company: eyeball

Art Director: Jason Salo

Animator: Amber Kusmenko

About eyeball:

eyeball is a creative strategic design agency that shapes brands through powerful storytelling, stunning design and insightful problem solving. What began as designers leading the motion graphics revolution has evolved over the past two decades into a company that embraces the shared ethos of a visionary ad agency, a full-service live action production company, a motion design studio and a music and audio branding think-tank.

About WQXR:

WQXR 105.9 FM, which streams live at http://www.wqxr.org, is New York City's only all-classical music station, immersing listeners in the city's rich musical life. WQXR presents new and landmark classical recordings as well as live concerts from Carnegie Hall, Metropolitan Opera, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and the New York Philharmonic, among other venues. WQXR also b

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