How We Helped the National Ballet of Canada Drive Record-Breaking Nutcracker Revenue

The Strategy: Invest in Lead Generation First

Each season, the National Ballet of Canada looks to The Nutcracker for sold-out performances and reliably high revenue. Capacity has historically run presale lead generation campaigns to build excitement for the ticket release. For the 2025/26 season, we repeated and expanded this 7-day Meta campaign.

The goal wasn’t immediate ticket sales; it was to create a pool of highly engaged users that could be retargeted later with bottom-of-funnel purchase messaging.

To align with Meta best practices, the campaign launched with two creative formats from day one: a carousel AND a video.

This allowed the algorithm to optimize quickly and identify which format resonated most strongly with potential patrons.

Click to see carousel ad

Click to play video ad

The Results: Lower Costs, Higher Intent, Bigger Scale

The lead generation campaign delivered standout results:

• Over 2,500 leads, nearly doubling the volume from recent seasons
• Lead response rate nearly doubled compared to 2024/25
• 7,000 more unique users reached year over year
  
• Cost per lead of just $0.75, with both carousel and video performing efficiently

Audience insights reinforced the success of the strategy: Engagers drove the highest volume of leads at the strongest rate, with Lookalike audiences following closely behind. Expanded family and holiday interest targeting also nearly doubled lead volume from interest-based audiences compared to last season.

Every one of these leads was then folded directly into the bottom-of-funnel targeting for the main Nutcracker ticket campaigns on Meta once tickets were on sale.

Turning Engagement Into Revenue

When the primary Nutcracker campaign launched on Meta, it was activating users who had already shown interest.

The payoff was clear:

• 8% more purchases YoY from the main Meta Nutcracker campaign
• 10% more revenue YoY from that campaign alone
• 3.3 million users reached, nearly double last season

13% of purchases and revenue came from a CRM segment that included the presale lead list.

The Takeaway: Lead Gen Isn’t a Cost—It’s a Multiplier

This campaign reinforced a critical lesson: early lead generation isn’t a nice-to-have—it’s a revenue accelerator.

By investing upfront in building engaged audiences, the National Ballet of Canada was able to lower acquisition costs, scale reach without sacrificing efficiency, and drive stronger results when it mattered most.

Why This Matters for Your Organization

If your campaigns rely heavily on short sales windows, early audience-building can dramatically improve outcomes. Capacity’s Digital Advertising strategic approach helps arts organizations design full-funnel strategies that connect early interest to real revenue, without wasted spend.