Refreshed brand approach to Freedom Festival 2024

For the Freedom Festival 2024, I am going to refresh the brand identity to suit a more contemporary audience through the use of more modern stylisation and by taking inspiration from current and trending events similar to the Freedom Festival.

The agency who designed the current Freedom Festival brand are Sowden & Sowden, based in Hessle. Their website shows a range of promotional and branding materials for the Festival, such as brochures, logos, mobile and website designs. Their style worked but could be updated to feel more fresh and less family-focused, and instead more ‘cool’ or ‘progressive’. 

Freedom Festival branding designed by Sowden & Sowden
Freedom Festival current visual language

My Proposal

Mood board 1, showing ideas and inspiration for a refreshed Freedom Festival brand.
Mood board 2, showing ideas and inspiration for a refreshed Freedom Festival brand.

My proposed idea for the Freedom Festival is one which is vivid and designed to be loud and creative. Since the festival focuses so much on creativity and the arts, I think a style similar to either of the mood boards I have made above would be effective in showing this, and presenting the festival as something fresh and exciting.

A breakdown of the elements in my mood board
A breakdown of the elements in my mood board

The typography could be expressive and bold,  which would make it stand out. I think the logo could be updated, but still be kept strong to draw in attention. The colours should stay bright and vivid to show creativity and positivity. The illustrations would also be expressive and loose to show the idea of being ‘free’ but also shouldn’t be too childish or cartoonish. This could be achieved by some stylisation and the use of singular flat colours. Finally, the tone of voice should be optimistic but still centred around the community, similar to the current tone of voice that is used.

Ways to promote the event

I think the Festival could explore some different ways of marketing the event also.

Paragon Arcade is known for its local cafes, restaurants and shops.

One method is to work with local businesses, artists and retailers to appeal to people in the area of your event. Collaborations through social media helps to advertise your event and who you are working with, which is beneficial to everyone. Locals will then be drawn to your event and it can bring in a larger audience and interest.

 

For Freedom Festival in particular, there are many local artists and businesses in the Hull area to work with. An example of this is Paragon Arcade, or Humber Street – areas in the city centre known for their local businesses. Advertisements could go on social media, in shop windows, or even be given to customers in the form of leaflets or flyers

M&M's pop up event in New York used to market their products

Another way to promote the festival is to create experiences that are ‘instagrammable’, or can provide photo opportunities that visitors can share onto their own social medias, or show to colleagues, friends and family. Having your audience show themselves having fun at your event can inspire others to attend, as it seems more reliable and authentic to see people they know at your event. Word of mouth can also feel more natural and less-forced, so more people would be curious in attending.

An example of unique and immersive experiences is M&M’s, who set up ‘Flavour Rooms’, an immersive experience in New York City. The event was visually fun and helped M&M’s reach a larger audience through their attendees social media pages (Becker, 2023)

Synapse have used a countdown to give a sense of urgency to their users, encouraging them to sign up for the event.

In the lead up to the festival, I think that creating a mailing list and allowing users to sign up for updates could create excitement for the festival.

Emails send a notification to users, reminding them of your event and keeping it fresh in their minds.

An example of this is a company called Synapse, who sent emails out to users with a countdown to their event, with a call to action telling the user to ‘register now’. This creates urgency and the countdown emphasises how close your event is. When paired with the call to action, users are more likely to join or register to attend your event out of a fear of missing out on the fun.

This technique is called urgency marketing, and has been proven to work. (Rafalson, 2018).

References

Becker, Braden (2023) 13 Examples of Experiential Marketing Campaigns That’ll Give You Serious Event Envy [Article] Available online: https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/best-experiential-marketing-campaigns [Accessed: 01/11/2023]

 

DEANDREW PHOTOGRAPHY (nd) Paragon Arcade, Hull [Image]. Available online: https://www.creativetourist.com/venue/paragon-arcade/ [Accessed: 1/11/2023]

 

Rafalson, Brandon (2018) 10 Creative Examples of Event Email Promotion [Article]. Available online: https://www.campaignmonitor.com/blog/email-marketing/10-creative-examples-of-event-email-promotion/ [Accessed: 1/11/2023]

 

Smith, Ellen (2018) Interactive Crunchy Chocolate Pop-Ups [Image]. Available online: https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/mm-popup [Accessed: 1/11/2023]

 

Sowden & Sowden (2018) Freedom Festival Hull [Webpage]. Available online: https://www.sowden-sowden.co.uk/work/freedom-festival/ [Accessed: 1.11.2023]

 

Synapse (nd) Synapse Countdown Email [Image]. Available online: https://www.campaignmonitor.com/blog/email-marketing/10-creative-examples-of-event-email-promotion/ [Accessed: 1/11/2023]