How to revitalise a brand that is almost 50 years old? Especially when previous attempts to do this have flopped? A recent example of how to do this comes from a world I am passionate about: musical theatre! The musical Evita has been a smash hit all over again in the West End of London, garnering the highest acclaim and no doubt headed to Broadway.
Post by David Nichols, Group Managing Partner and Head of Invention.
The brand revitalisation challenge
Evita first opened in London at the Prince Edward Theatre on June 21, 1978 with Elaine Paige in the title role as Eva Perón. It won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Musical and was the first British musical to receive the Tony for Best Musical on Broadway a year later. Attempted revivals fell flat on Broadway in 2012 and in the West End in 2017. So why not leave this ageing show to rest on its past glories and spend your production money on new opportunities? The same question can be asked about many brand portfolios that contain brands that were once great but have lost their shine.
The new production brought the show bang up to date and made it feel super fresh and relevant to contemporary audiences, many of whom will be seeing it for the first time. How did they manage this? We look at Evita 2025 using our KULA framework: Keep, Update, Lose, Add
KEEP: brand story and brand assets
The 2025 West End production at the London Palladium retains the core story of the original 1978 musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice. It still tells the rise-and-fall story of Eva Perón—from humble beginnings to national icon to tragic end. The principal characters remain: Eva, Che, Perón
It also preserves the distinctive brand assets, in this case sonic assets! The essential score, including hallmark songs such as “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina”, “Oh What a Circus” and “You Must Love Me” and the sung-through musical format are maintained.
Brand Revitalisation Lesson: be clear on the key elements of the brand that made you famous that need retaining
UPDATE: fresh creative energy
The key first step by the producers was to bring in fresh creative eyes in the form of director Jamie Lloyd. He is well known for breathing new life into old gems such as his recent West End revival of Shakespeare’s ‘Much Ado (about nothing)’ with Hollywood stars Tom Hiddlestone and Hayley Atwell. He clearly has no fear of ditching ‘sacred cows’ and to engage him demonstrates a commitment to the new.
In a bold casting move, lead performer Rachel Zegler brought a younger, screen-savvy charisma. Critics described her as a “pocket-sized powerhouse” whose presence bridges film and live theatre (1).
The 2025 poster also retains and updates some key visual codes from the 1978 production, especially Evita with the star behind her (below).
Brand Revitalisation Lesson: bring in fresh eyes and back them when they do things that make you feel uncomfortable
LOSE: ditch faded references
The production downplays some of the dominance displayed by the male characters in the original and focuses more on the power and autonomy of the central female character. This connects with current culture, raising relevant questions about gender in contemporary politics.
Brand Revitalisation Lesson: Look into your band and find what chimes with today’s issues. Cultural norms shift – so must brands.
ADD: contemporary codes and media
Instead of staying solely within the musical theatre world, director Jamie Lloyd has brought in codes from contemporary pop music. More specifically, from major gigs by big female stars like Beyoncé & Taylor Swift. These are the shows that today’s audiences have as their benchmarks, and so bringing in that inspiration breathed fresh new life into the show’s staging & sound. The songs are the same, as covered in the KEEP section earlier. However, the musical arrangements have been reworked to be utterly contemporary and sound more like a contemporary rock gig than a 1970s musical.
Evita has also been reimagined as if the current media world had been around at the time. So, Eva Peron steps out onto the actual theatre balcony and is filmed by cameras from all angles. This has a double-whammy of effectiveness: 1. Authentic media experience for those indoors and those standing outside to witness it 2. The crowd outside without tickets are broadcasting it on social media to all their friends – driving awareness, consideration and, no doubt, ticket sales.
Brand Revitalisation Lesson: It’s not enough to simply update your brand’s style, you must embrace your target’s contemporary culture.
Conclusion
Revitalising an older brand is tough. It requires commitment to the new and not being scared to let go of some things in order to become truly relevant to a new audience. The new production of Evita is a great example of this.. The core of the original is still there but has been presented in a bold, fresh new light that makes it feel like it was written yesterday.
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