San Francisco Ballet Pirouettes Into Future with Bold Rebrand Leap

The famed San Francisco Ballet (SF Ballet) has launched a new campaign in partnership with fully integrated ad agency The Shipyard in honour of its sweeping new rebrand. The campaign is a deliberate, strategic shift, positioning the Ballet as a modern and culturally relevant brand.

SF Ballet has debuted this bold new brand with a citywide media blitz, overhauled digital platforms, and revitalised assets spanning messaging, visuals, and logo, marking the company’s first major refresh in 15 years. The new brand identity was developed through a collaborative process with design agency Burnkit and The Shipyard.

The new brand reflects the visionary leadership of SF Ballet artistic director Tamara Rojo and executive director Branislav Henselmann, and the organisation’s role as a catalyst for cultural transformation.

The new visual identity integrates an energised extended logo, clean yet expressive typography, and vibrant colourways, designed to stand out in both digital and physical spaces while reflecting the company’s commitment to classic traditions and boldly evolving for modern audiences.

To showcase the new branding, the SF Ballet tapped The Shipyard to share its new image in an integrated rollout. The striking new creative will run across a media blitz, spanning local SF OOH with Union Square billboards and ferry takeovers, to digital and TV placements during the Olympics and Warriors broadcasts, and radio promotions amplifying the excitement of San Francisco Ballet across every platform.

The Shipyard’s VP account lead, Amanda Moul, said, “Guided by the framework of “The Storied Pursuit,” this new positioning honours San Francisco Ballet’s legacy of storytelling through dance while signaling its relentless pursuit of what’s next. Supported by strategic market research, positioning, and media planning, our approach is about putting audiences at the center, not just through watching ballet but fully living its passion and wonder.”

“As we look to delight our dedicated audiences and engage new ones through our programming, our rebrand signals a similar desire to broaden our appeal, build excitement around SF Ballet, and connect with a wider range of local and global audiences,” said SF Ballet chief marketing officer Lisa Poppen. “We set out to translate the power and emotion of SF Ballet’s performances, and partnering with these dynamic agency teams to bring this vision to life was an incredible and truly energising journey.”