Melbourne International Jazz Festival Brand and Campaign

At its core Jazz is a genre for everyone; it is about improvisation, interpretation and experimentation. Despite the origins of jazz and those that play it, jazz can often be seen as exclusive. With an audience in Melbourne spanning different cultures, tastes and socio-economic backgrounds we wanted to ensure the brand was reflective of all those who enjoyed jazz. This was a changing of the guard moment, a time to welcome in the new age of jazz musicians and attract new audiences to this dynamic and diverse genre of music.

A key objective for the festival brand was to eliminate the stigma of jazz being an exclusive and stuffy style of music. At this moment in time there’s an undercurrent of exciting fusion jazz happening globally and the goal was to capture this and build a new, youthful audience and direction for jazz in Melbourne and across Australia. The brand encourages people to take part in the evolving genre of jazz, no matter their background, taste or experience. It’s been incredibly rewarding as a studio to be part of this transformation phase of one of this city’s great events.

Melbourne is a city full of culture; art, food, sport and of course music. The Melb Int’l Jazz Fest hosts some of the world’s best musicians at this truly global event, and internationally it helps put this great city on the map. The brand identity plays an important role in presenting Melbourne as a premier music destination to the world. The investment in design and creativity through the brand identity flows throughout the festival, presenting it as a high-quality cultural event for the city.