Colston Hall is Bristol’s largest concert hall with a UK wide reputation for presenting major names in all genres. They approached us to create a new visual identity for their classical season. One that would attract a younger audience but, crucially, would not alienate their current loyal and older audiences.
Our extensive research and conversations revealed that classical music marketing globally tends to use uninspiring, performer-based imagery, which ignores the storytelling and complexity within the music itself.
We felt that this thinking needed to be turned on its head.
Mindful to give equal weighting to the audience and the music our response was to create a bold, impactful, ‘pop art’-inspired visual style that would instil nostalgia in their core audience, while encouraging exploration from a new, younger crowd.
The ongoing design suite was conceived with maximum versatility in mind – the pop art treatment could be ramped up or down depending on application and future requirements.
To give the artworks depth and unity we riffed around the themes of the music, drip feeding items from the 20th Century into the design to reinforce the music’s relevance to the modern world, and provide a further emotional connection to those who were familiar with classical music, without alienating those who weren’t.
We introduced a wide suite of collateral, from brochures to outdoor advertising, digital, UX and documentation.
Our classical re-brand is being hailed as an exemplar of classical music promotion with this industry and has resulted in Colston Hall enjoying a much wider demographic visiting the venue and significant increase in ticket sales.
We continue to push the boundaries with design.