On 30th July, the National Theatre launched its ground-breaking new application National Theatre Backstage at Adobe’s launch of its totally re-imagined Adobe Digital Publishing Solution (DPS) in New York.
This new initiative will provide significantly enhanced functionality, usability and creativity compared to the National Theatre’s current application, while also opening up new revenue streams, and will run on smartphones and tablets across iOS, with Android release to follow shortly.
The National Theatre application has been built by multi-channel publishing experts Evolved Media Solutions using Adobe’s new DPS platform and software firm WoodWing’s new cloud-based HTML5 authoring tool, Inception, to create stunning content. The multi-featured app will contain an exciting array of magazine-style content augmented with frequently updated news, videos, photography, editorial and other content. By using the new features of both these new content tools, the app will provide users with a curated view of the National Theatre’s rich content offering.
With its new tooling, DPS 2015 has made it possible for Evolved Media Solutions to profile the NT’s existing high-end digital products and extend their designs and implement them in the app creating a joined up, highly creative look and feel. The National Theatre will also be able to add new content areas including exclusive videos and articles from its archives. Finally, the app has analytics built in so that consumer information and ROI can be measured.
Toby Coffey, Head of digital development at the National Theatre, comments, “People understand that the National Theatre brand is a sign of quality, we push boundaries and are keen to innovate in the digital sector. The app needs to live up to that and deliver something our audiences would really appreciate. Evolved Media Solutions have created something for us that is an exciting extension to our brand, giving people real reasons to come back and ‘visit’ us again and again. We believe it creates a completely new customer experience as the app is no longer just an information provider moreover it is something that satisfies people’s passions and interests in theatre.”
“Evolved Media Solutions has embraced the evolution of digital publishing and we’re thrilled to see them working with DPS on new client apps,” said Gerald Farro, head of worldwide business development for Adobe Digital Publishing. “The new DPS has enabled Evolved Media Solutions to create a modern, rich, and relevant content experience for the National Theatre of Great Britain. We’re confident that they will continue to impress and help more clients realize their digital publishing goals.”
By utilising WoodWing’s Inception tool with the app, Evolved Media Solutions is ensuring that it is easy for the National Theatre to create responsive HTML5 content that not only looks superb, but which is reader-friendly and optimised according to the device on which it is being viewed. As soon as the content is designed on Inception, it can be published directly in the app via DPS.
Russell Pierpoint, Managing Director of Evolved Media Solutions, adds, “The National Theatre’s new app is transformational, delivering high-impact, interactive content in an intuitive way, with audiences able to get instant access to the content they want. At the same time, the app provides the National Theatre with real flexibility – both in terms of ease of delivering new content, plus also it makes it simple to have a mix of both free and paid for content within the app.”
Roel-Jan Mouw, CEO at WoodWing, concludes, “Adobe, WoodWing and Evolved Media Solutions have worked closely for years to push the boundaries of how publishers and brands can publish their content on smartphones and tablets. With the National Theatre, we have been able to develop an app that, while much easier for both consumers and staff to use, will create much higher and deeper levels of engagement from its content.”
Both Evolved Media Solutions and WoodWing have longstanding relationships with Adobe and were part of the team at the DPS launch that presented the National Theatre app to the world for the first time.