Harvest Jazz & Blues Merch & Retail 2010

New Brunswick’s own Harvest Jazz & Blues Festival engaged o2creative through a board member and young marketing consultant, Laura Noseworthy, to redesign the retail space, merchandise and overall shopping experience for Harvest’s 20th Anniversary.

Working together with Laura, we started by developing a strategic plan that would increase merchandise sales for the season. From a series of marketing initiatives to store renovation, to updated merchandise both in terms of selection and design, we were able to more then double the expected sales goals for 2010.

While marketing tactics like twitter promotions, merch photos distributed on facebook, and print and street level advertising were all part of the plan, the majority of the focus went to the store space itself.

By establishing the target audience we hoped to attract to the store, we needed a simple and clean solution that conveyed the spirit of the festival but also worked within a limited budget and offered merchandising flexibility for future years. The concept focused on the Harvest with nature-inspired elements accenting the simple, wood furnishings and displays that could be used in various arrangements in the space.

A large part of the strategy that we felt was of great importance and would provide added value to the shopping experience, was incorporating green or eco-conscious elements whenever feasible to reduce the Harvest Festival’s footprint. This resulted in water-based inks used on our hand-silk-screened shirts, FSC certified paper and printing for the clothing tags, recyclable paper bags for the merchandise, rescued, or second hand decor accessories throughout the store and no illumination in our window display at night.

To celebrate 20 years of the festival the clothing line was rich and varied, but held together by the overall theme of the music experience and nature coming together. Graphic elements were pulled from the Harvest logo and reinterpreted in unique ways for a number of the designs. Each custom t-shirt added value not only because of the use of advanced printing techniques and multiple inks, but most importantly because it told a Harvest Festival story through it’s design.

Starting with the Harvest Twenty – a commemorative long-sleeve shirt designed for the anniversary – all designs were inspired by the original logo developed for the Festival. Each design was also branded with the logo subtly incorporated in complimentary colours at the back of the neck.