Pitch perfect: Music festival rebranding wins at Cannes Lions

Cannes – The Bergen International Festival's in-house design agency Anti won the Grand Prix for Design at Cannes Lions for its innovative rebranding of the Norwegian cultural institution. 

Anti's rebranding of the classical music festival centres on an F-shaped logo based on a motif of three notes. The elegant black pattern was extended across traditional print and digital formats such as posters and calendars, as well as items that reference Norway's geography and culture, such as a rain poncho and a knitted pullover. 

The agency also organised guerrilla stunts to promote the festival, including the night-time lighting of a building in the shape of an F logo. By incorporating heritage elements, the campaign celebrates the Festival's six-decade history while retaining a clean, forward-thinking feel that appeals to younger audiences. In 2013, the year the campaign was launched, the Festival experienced its best ticket sales in seven years.