Why else would he think that the best way to promote a comedy festival was by focusing on possibly the glummest bunch of buggers in the North West?

However, Mark’s (both the agency and the man’s) reaction to the brief for Manchester Comedy Festival was simple.

The team wanted to create “something a bit different,” avoid the clichés and steer as far away from “Vanilla Land” as possible.

A sad solution...

“Initial research suggested that comedy as a sector and particularly comedy shows and festival branding is on the whole pretty bad.

“There seemed to be an oddly depressing comfort zone of zany/gurning/chattering teeth logos everywhere we looked.”

Mark, which won the brief to brand October’s multi-venue, ten day long festival after a three-way pitch, decided to counter this with an eye-catching solution that featured the pictured cheery cast of characters.

Lester explained: “We came at it from a completely different angle and commissioned and art directed a range of photographic portraits of people looking miserable or ‘fed up’.

“This forms the signature ironic idea behind all the marketing communications.”

...for a funny old job

The motivation is to draw people, both customers and sponsors, to the event (taking place from the 16 to 26 October) and engage their curiosity.

As Lester surmised: “They (being the city council – the main financial contributor to the event) wanted an eye-catching, cool and clever campaign that would elevate the festival.”

Mark, it seems, is delighted to have produced the miserable response that you see here.

This year’s festival runs across venues including The Comedy Store, The Frog and Bucket and The Opera House, featuring performers such as Dylan Moran, Jason Manford, Jimmy Carr, Paddy McGuiness, Phil Nichol and Richard Herring.
 

www.manchestercomedyfestival.co.uk

www.markstudio.co.uk

Did you enjoy this article? Please share it!