2025/26 SEASON

Multiple Sold-out Performances

A Visible Shift in Audience Demographics

SERVICES

Social Media Strategy & Content, Video Production, Photography, Audience Growth, Brand & Communications Strategy, Creative Direction, Environmental Design

The 2023–24 season marked the arrival of Music Director Carlos Miguel Prieto at the North Carolina Symphony.

At the time, the symphony's digital footprint was relatively modest. Square Productions was hired to help introduce the new Music Director to the public and build a modern social media presence that would ultimately reach new audiences, drive ticket sales, and improve audience demographics.

What began as a focused social media initiative quickly expanded in scope. As the work proved itself, we were asked to take on additional projects across the organization's marketing and communications efforts, a role that continues to evolve today.

THE PRINCIPLE

Talk about how the music feels, not how it's constructed.

When messaging is rooted in emotion, curiosity, and human experience, it doesn't have to choose between audience growth and audience retention. The same content attracts new audiences while reminding longtime concertgoers why they fell in love with the music in the first place.

A world-class orchestra with untapped digital potential.

How do you attract new audiences while deepening the loyalty of existing ones?

The North Carolina Symphony possessed a loyal audience and a long-established reputation for artistic excellence. Digitally, however, the organization lacked a unified long-term strategy. Social media was inconsistent, storytelling was isolated, and there was no coordinated system to introduce the orchestra, its musicians, or its new leadership to the broader community.

Building the foundation required a fundamental shift in strategy.

Instead of fracturing the brand by creating different approaches for younger demographics and longtime subscribers, we created a single, unified narrative where both the visual language and the written word resonated easily and equally with both.

We spark curiosity for those unfamiliar with classical music while deeply anchoring the emotional connection for audiences who already understood its power. This core principle shapes the tone and rhythm for the symphony's social media.

INVITATION

EMOTION

DISCOVERY

Building the Machine

SOCIAL MEDIA

Instead of treating social media like a digital bulletin board, we built a curiosity machine.

We follow the stories that excite us and use that excitement to bring audiences along for the ride. As outsiders to the classical music world, we aren't trying to explain the music. We're discovering it. Every question leads to another. Every story opens a door and then another. The deeper we go, the more fascinating this world becomes.

The goal is not only about announcing concerts.

It's about creating a feed worth returning to. A place where audiences learn more about the music, satisfy their curiosity, and get excited about the experience long before they step into the concert hall. It’s also where they find out the Who, What, and Where so that they can purchase tickets.

The relationship begins months before the concert.

For many people, social media becomes their first introduction to the symphony. Long before they purchase a ticket, they encounter a musician, a story, a performance clip, or a piece of music that sparks curiosity.

Over time, those moments accumulate.

A New Visual Language

Over three seasons, we produced concert films, season announcements, advertising campaigns, interviews, photography, and social content. More importantly, we spent time inside the organization, with musicians, audiences, staff, and leadership.

The result wasn't just a library of content. It was a deeper understanding of the people the orchestra serves and the role it plays in the community.

That understanding shaped everything. The stories we told, the audiences we targeted, and the creative decisions we made all came from the same place: making the orchestra more visible, more familiar, and more relevant to the people around it.

RESULTS

This is what happens when you show up for your audience.

It works.

Attendance grew. Performances sold out. New audiences discovered the orchestra, and longtime subscribers found themselves sitting alongside people experiencing classical music for the very first time.