Swear Words rebrands High Country Harvest
Melbourne based creative agency Swear Words has recently developed and designed the website and visual identity for High Country Harvest; a new festival that brings together a series of independent food and wine wholesalers from Victoria’s North East region.
The festival runs over two weekends in May 2012 and functions as a showcase for theunique flavours of the high country. High Country Harvest aims to become one ofVictoria’s premier food and wine festivals and encompasses two existing events (TheHarvest Celebration in Beechworth and the La Fiera Festival in Myrtleford).
Swear Words’ brief was to create a visual brand identity that communicated a sense of adventure, indulgence and multi-sensory engagement. The project included the design and development of a website, brandmark, a brand style guide for the event producers,along with the design of an A4 festival pocket guide, print posters and event specificsignage, to promote the festival and the region.
Says Swear Words co-founder and managing director Adam Lana: “The brand identity reposition needed to be bold, playful and unique, while sympathetic to the aesthetic, personality and natural environment of the high country. It aims to celebrate local personalities and gives audiences the sense they’ve been extended a special invitation to share in some of Victoria’s best-kept secrets.”
“The long-term brand design strategy was to challenge existing preconceptions of the high country region, which in the past, has been perceived as conservative. “Our aim is to communicate a more fresh, adventurous destination to highlight the young brewers and wineries that are developing really interesting products in the region,” says Swear Words co-founder and creative director Scott Larritt.
He added: “We capture the area’s existing narrative but communicate it in a more energetic way with colour, typography, and dynamic online and print design layouts. Not wanting to ignore all of the region’s rich history, we encapsulated it within a more modern aesthetic to appease a socially aware, well-traveled demographic.”
The design is targeted at “lifestylers” – those that connect with getting out and about and who love new experiences, particularly in the food, wine and beer space, explained client Sara Quon, chief executive officer, North East Victoria Tourism Board Inc.
Says Quon: “The new branding is invigorating and draws you in, we feel it really makes you want to know more about the High Country and High Country Festival. We think the branding highlights the strong connection between produce and the land on which it’s cultivated, which is what makes High Country unique. The website works beautifully both in a creative sense and in terms of functionality.”
Whilst Swear Words’ strategic branding aims to attract an increased number of interstate consumers to the local food and wine festival, it also acts as an overall catalyst to drive further tourism trade to the wider High Country region.
Social media engagement has begun, with Twitter and Facebook dedicated to HighCountry Harvest.
The print program went into The Age and Albury Boarded Mail and additional advertising will feature in The Age Epicure.
The festival program can also be found in local businesses across the region.