When the York Theatre Royal communications team were thinking up fun ideas to promote their new summer show Sherlock Holmes: The Hound of the Baskervilles, one idea for a fun social media campaign set their metaphorical tails wagging: #DogsInDeerstalkers. The idea was to ask members of the public to post photos of their beloved pooches wearing Sherlock Holmes’ iconic headgear, tagging the theatre’s @YorkTheatre Twitter account of @YorkTheatreRoyal Instagram account.
What began as a bit of a joke soon spread like wildfire online, with Mark Gatiss, creator of the highly acclaimed BBC Sherlock series getting involved, sharing a photo of his Labrador Bunsen with the theatre. His photo has proved to be one of the most popular ever posted by the theatre, with over 500 likes and 144 shares. The trend was then picked up by the Radio Times who commented:
#DogsInDeerstalkers is a thing and Mark Gatiss has joined in.
Many other comments soon followed, with showbiz and entertainment news website Digital Spy saying:
Isn’t the Sherlock-inspired #DogsInDeerstalkers the best Twitter trend EVER?!
Members of the public added:
#DogsInDeerstalkers is making this day so much more bearable
#DogsInDeerstalkers is a wonderful hashtag on here
#DogsInDeerstalkers this is the hashtag I need in my life
So far, tweets using the #DogsInDeerstalkers hashtag have brought awareness of the Sherlock Holmes: The Hound of the Baskervilles campaign to over 100,000 Twitter users, which is certainly nothing to shake (or throw), a stick at.
Sherlock Holmes: The Hound of the Baskervilles will take place at York Theatre Royal from Friday 29 July to Saturday 27 August. Performance times are 7pm with 2.30pm matinees (see yorktheatreroyal.co.uk for a full performance schedule). Tickets are on sale now priced £24 – £10 (£1.50 transaction fee per booking) from theYork Theatre Royal Box Office in person, by phone on 01904 623568 or securely online at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.