Creamfields: 10 años de fiesta/ 10 years party

"10 años y aún el mejor" es el último slogan de Creamfields. Este festival es quizá uno de los más grandes (sino el más) y cuenta con varias franquicias por todo el mundo: hay CF en el Reino Unido, Argentina, Brasil, Chile, España, Malta, Mexico, Perú, Polonia, Rep. Checa, Rumania y Rusia. Funciona como una marca genuina para la tribu electrónica y hasta incluso vi gente con el símbolo de las tres gotas tatuado en algunos brazos. Es un caso de branding!

Y por qué es tan relevante? Creo que por algunas razones: es abierto, por lo que incluso si no eres parte de la tribu igual estás invitado. Es una red social que reune a gente real (como una flash mob que dura toda la noche). Acerca las últimas tendencias en música, iluminación, sonido y video. Los mejores shows y DJ's por supuesto, pero quizá la principal razón de su éxito es porque es realmente consistente. Cada evento se supera por lo que si te perdiste alguno no te debiera desilusionar el que viene. Hay muchos eventos que intentan imitarlo, pero cuando llega la fecha de Creamfields la escena se revoluciona.

En términos de diseño CF tiene una de las identidades más simples, pero hay algo divertido en esto: el logo es muy corporativo por lo que Creamfields se muestra a si mismo no sólo como un evento, sino que asume que es una corporación. La Corporación de la Fiesta.

Las empresas debieran aprender de este caso? Que opinan?

De paso, miren este video que cuenta sus 10 años.

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"10 years and still the best" is the last Creamfields slogan. This festival is maybe one of the biggest (if not the biggest) and has several franchises all over the world: there are CF in UK, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Spain, Malta, Mexico, Peru, Poland, Czech Republic, Romania and Russia. It works like a genuine brand for the electronic tribe and I've seen even some guy tattooed with the three drops symbol. It's a branding case!

Why it is so relevant? I think for some reasons: It's open, so even if you're not from the tribe you're invited. It's a social network gathering real people (like an all night long mob). It brings the last trends in music, lightning, sound and video. The best shows and DJ's of course but maybe the main reason is because is really consistent. Each year event is better than the last one so if you missed one you won't be desappointed. There are tons of events trying to imitate it, but once the event is closer the scene simply explodes.

In terms of the design they've got one of the more simple identities but there's something funny in it: the logo is truly corporate so Creamfields shows itself not only like an event, they assume they are a corporation, the Party Corporation.

Do the companies have to learn from it? What do you think?

BTW, check out their 10 years video teaser.

Comments

written on 26-Aug-2008
volckmann [http://www.webjam.com/brandintegrity] says:
Hello Julio... Creamfields looks like an interesting case study in terms of visual identity.

(A) I see several problematic issues graphically:

(1) Inconsistent wordmark type treatment;
(2) Inconsistent placement and size of logo;

Evidence of this is the difference between the brand and wordmark as shown on the current Creamfields website, vs. the video on YouTube, vs. the wide variety of logo & wordmark treatments on their merchandise. The inconsistency in mark delivery seems the worst offense, however it could be that Creamfields recently updated their treatment. It's good to occasionally update & reinvent! That said, the current web version on creamfields.com also shows flaws:

(3) Wordmark (Helvetica Neue?) overshadows the graphical mark to the extent that I did not even notice it upon first inspection.
(4) The inconsistency in mark delivery amplifies issue #3.

(B) In terms of branded product offerings, a central youth message permeates product distribution throughout several countries--basically a "Monolithic Brand" which in itself is fairly unique for the music festival theme. And so far, it appears to be working for them as evident by growing numbers. In the short term, Creamfields success was likely built on the lineup up artists & interesting venue comforts. In the long term, a worldwide "corporate" brand can have sweeping implications for brand growth in more product & service sectors. Fairly brilliant!

In contrast, most music festivals often operate as "Product Brand" or "House of Brands", where the "House" is a promoter or promotional company, and the brand prominence goes to the individual Event---such as the event brands "LOLLAPALOOZA", "AUSTIN CITY LIMITS MUSIC FESTIVAL", "HOUSE OF BLUES DALLAS". Audiences know these brands by the event name, but the sponsoring brand (in this case, C3 Events) gets very little or no prominence.
written on 26-Aug-2008
julio.ferro [http://webjam.com/heydesign] says:
100% agree with you. BTW, do you remember these days?

Do you know what I still don't understand? I think the symbol is really an avatar. I mean, showing just the symbol to the tribe should be fairly enough. Instead giving more relevance to the symbol they just blow up the name. Weird.

Regarding logo consistency maybe they think they've got to give it a twist each year (e.g. the Helvetica Rounded version). IMHO is such a mistake...
Thanks for the brilliant comment, Volck.
written on 27-Aug-2008
volckmann says:
Agreed. LOL... the Helvetica Rounded really freaks me out in a bad way. Also agreed, the visual identity would be much better served with logo/ avatar/ tribal totem prominence over the wordmark. Instant recognition in any situation. The mark itself is interesting to me, too, because it seems a bit Asian and resembles the totem of some of the ancient Japanese samurai clans. I know I've seen it elsewhere. Back in those days, you would not get sued for infringement, you would just get your head lobbed off. Also, I'm sure you recognize if we had two "cream droplets" instead of three, it might appear as the chinese/zen buddhist yin/yang symbol. Russell (wish I could change my account name to russell.volckmann !!!)
written on 27-Aug-2008
julio.ferro [http://webjam.com/heydesign] says:
Great discovery! Look at the second samurai family crest!
written on 27-Aug-2008
volckmann says:
Thanks! ... I lived and worked in Japan for awhile... so it really vibrated something when I saw the Creamfields "logo"! ~ Russell
written on 27-Aug-2008
julio.ferro [http://webjam.com/heydesign] says:
Another lesson from Russell San.
written on 27-Aug-2008
volckmann says:
どうもありがとう !
ラス (Russell)
written on 27-Aug-2008
volckmann says:
Could not resist... here are a few "Cream" or "Creamfields" treatments together. These people really need some serious brand architecture & visual identity work...

Finally, I think this is not perfect (nasty type again), but on the right track in terms of product brand extension. Arguments could be made against the organic mutation in terms of "Brand Integrity.

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