Creating an Authentic Festival Brand that Celebrates Music, Comedy & Pop Culture Fandom

ID10T Music + Comic Conival was a first-of-its-kind festival concept we collaborated on with comedian and television host Chris Hardwick, as well as concert promoters Live Nation.  Chris was a pleasure to work with, an incredible collaborator and intimately involved in every creative aspect of the festival.  He really was the best possible partner we could have had for the event.

Equal parts music festival and comic con, ID10T was an authentic, memorable entertainment event that celebrated the collective passions of pop culture fandom.  Creating and producing this festival was an amazing experience and something I’m still incredibly proud of to this day. 

Because ID10T was such a multi-faceted event, the big design and marketing challenge was educating the consumer on what exactly the festival was.  There were comic convention vendors, comic book artists, interactive games, entertainment panels including the casts of shows like Futurama and Portlandia, a dance tent, and a-list music & comedy talent like Weezer, TV On The Radio, Demetri Martin, and Michael Che.  I feel we effectively achieved this through extensive multi-pronged messaging via social media channels.

Collaborating on the festival artwork with one of my favorite comic book artists Nick Dragotta and my co-producer Lee Loughridge, a legend in comics coloring, was a dream come true.  Nick contributed an impactful piece from his Image Comics title East of West, which gave us a rich visual palette to work from and instantly gave the festival credibility among comic book fans.  We also developed a limited edition poster series and merch line with some of the comic industry’s most talented creators including Nick Dragotta, Becky Cloonan, Matteo Scalera, and Andrew Robinson.