Les Maîtres de l'Affiche - 15 - 7e Exposition du Salon des Cent (bgw20 0313)
The pattern
This still is filed under Event symbol poster.
Define
A symbol or allegory that makes an event feel like a destination. Not a timetable. A magnet.
Mechanism
Attraction by emblem. Date and venue ride under a picture that already means come.
Verdict
We are filling a room, a night, or a run of dates
Why it works
The poster advertises an exhibition by showing its audience rather than its contents, which flatters the reader into wanting to be in that room. The caricatured profiles are the argument: recognition of the two sitters does the qualifying, so the piece self-selects an in-group and ignores everyone else. Typographically the swan-S turns the lettering into an illustration and welds heading to image, while the price is set small and low, after the desire has been created, not before.
Steal this when
Use this when your event's pull is the crowd rather than the programme, and your target audience can recognise the people you would be putting in the room. It is also the right structure when the offer is cheap and easy, so the poster's whole job is establishing membership and the price can be a footnote.