Manchester Jazz Festival
Campaign: Bringing harmony to the brand
The Brief
Much has changed at MJF since it staged its first event in 1996. Our brief was a two-parter: 1) introduce a new visual identity that is strong enough to incorporate different imagery and colour palettes in the future yet remains immediately recognizable as MJF and 2) find a way to convey the fact that MJF now offers far more than just one annual event.
Multi-channel approach
Brand refresh
Future-proofed solution
Increase in page views
“A massive thanks for getting us here. This is exactly what we wanted, although we didn’t know it!”
MJF now has a strong and versatile visual identity that is strong enough to have annual tweaks without diluting the overall impact of the brand.
Our first action was to shorten the name Manchester Jazz Festival to MJF to distance it from being just an occasional event. To retain the existing loyal fan base, we kept the existing font but introduced a completely new visual approach to resonate with a younger audience.
Putting images centre stage, our approach conveys the excitement and emotion of attending a live event.
Visual theme agreed, we then turned to the architecture of the MJF website. We brought greater clarity by grouping the many different things offered to artists, sponsors, supporters and visitors into distinct sections and giving each much clearer descriptors.
We also ensured the navigation was far more user-friendly, with all pages being accessible from a couple of clicks.
Sitting behind all of these, is a complex but easy to use, content management system that enables MJF to update events, gigs, artists biogs, etc, very easily.
The visual theme has also been applied to MJF advertising, merchandise, posters, social and all other marketing materials.
“You’ve taken our ideas about a rebrand and turned them into something brilliant. Everything looks amazing. THANKS A MILLION TEAM RMS!!!”
