A rather unique rich media messaging campaign to promote the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre’s musical Sunday in the Park with George led to a record number of first-time guests visiting the venue.

A surprise performance at the Art Institute of Chicago to publicise the production was made interactive by a campaign from Iris Mobile. The actors performed in front of a life-sized replica of the famous masterpiece by George Seurat but some of the key figures were missing. After the performance, the audience was encouraged to join a mobile messaging campaign to discover the secret of the interactive mystery.

Opted-in audience members received a video explaining how the missing characters in the painting had come to life in Chicago Shakespeare Theatre’s new musical and encouraged them to buy tickets to see the performance.

The campaign generated more than 8m impressions in just 24 hours and the theatre had to extend the production for an extra week because to the demand for tickets. 17 per cent of participants also opted-in to receive future communications, while 14 per cent shared the rich content they received on their Facebook.