SF Ballet

Even AI loves the ballet

• Campaign Development
• Media Strategy & Buying

Challenge

Ballet felt distant to younger, tech-savvy audiences — admired, but rarely considered relevant or accessible. San Francisco Ballet needed to invite this new generation in without diluting the art form or alienating loyal patrons. At the same time, its immersive production, Mere Mortals, explored society’s evolving relationship with artificial intelligence, a tension deeply rooted in San Francisco’s cultural landscape. The challenge was to make the work feel immediate and approachable, while preserving what makes ballet timeless.

Solution

We turned the tension into the idea. Instead of relying on traditional marketing, we built a campaign that let AI itself review the ballet. We trained ChatGPT on the narrative, themes, and production details of Mere Mortals, then surfaced its unfiltered critiques as the creative centerpiece. Those AI-generated “reviews” became bold headlines across digital, social, and OOH executions, supported by QR codes, guerilla activations, and targeted placements designed to spark curiosity and debate. The result reframed ballet as provocative, relevant, and culturally fluent. Even to the machines.