Festival of Hope: creating a brand and digital home for a global social impact initiative

About the project

The International Baccalaureate (IB) is a non-profit, global leader in international education for over 50 years now, delivering high-quality educational programs to students worldwide. Their mission is to develop lifelong learners, who thrive and make a difference.

IB already worked with NoA Ignite on projects related to their online presence. That is why we were a partner of choice for the new initiative – launching a first edition of a festival that would bring people together to celebrate the power of hope, and support those who face difficult challenges.

The Festival of Hope is a global event that showcases inspiring stories of hope and resilience. It takes place in various locations across the globe, and is designed to spark change, create connections, foster a sense of community, and develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people.

The challenge

Creating a unique and recognizable branding for the festival

The primary goal was to create a festival’s unique branding, that would make the initiative reliable in the eyes of target audience, invited guests and potential partners.

The branding had to effectively communicate the idea and the vision of the festival. Moreover, it needed to be flexible enough to support it across different channels, formats, and platforms.

Design and develop website supporting spreading the FoH idea

Another challenge was related to designing and developing a website that could effectively present the idea to a global audience. The page had to be capable of fitting in a media library with different formats – audio, video, photo, etc. It also had to be visually appealing and easy to navigate, clearly communicating the message.

Meeting the 2-months deadline

With such a short timeframe, we had to put emphasis on speed and efficiency to deliver on time. We chose and utilized tools and methodologies that ensured we were on track. At the same time, we maintained open communication with the stakeholders to address any issues or roadblocks immediately.

Our approach

Close collaboration with the IB

We worked closely with stakeholders from Europe and the USA throughout the entire process. We used Figma to work on design, and Miro to workshop and brainstorm online.

Recognizing the importance of communication, we made sure that we were constantly in touch using Slack. As a result, we were able to quickly exchange insights, verify ideas and adjust as needed, to stay aligned with the customer’s vision and goals.

Symbols that stay in mind and convey the message

The butterfly symbol that the customer suggested became the central theme of the Festival of Hope branding. The team ensured that the symbol was versatile and adaptable, able to be used across different platforms and media, from digital to print. The Festival of Hope logo (butterfly) was a starting point to build additional graphical elements around that leitmotif.

Furthermore, we designed a HOPE sign that became an additional, often-used second symbol of the Festival. With both symbols in mind, we created various marketing materials – posters, t-shirts, leaflets, and other materials. To ensure the consistency, coherence and professionalism of branding across all materials and channels, we created a Brand Guide with instructions and details on use cases with examples. It included a complete CI, typography, logotypes, colors etc.

The visuals we came up with presented different logotypes in a variety of formats and channels, located in specific, real-life contexts such as outdoor public spaces, merchandise, digital campaigns.

A relevant Tone of Voice for the target audience

We understood that creating a relevant and resonating tone of voice will have a significant impact on the success of the Festival. The audience included students, educators and thought leaders, and we brainstormed to define the appropriate communication guidelines to reach them effectively.

During workshops, we worked out together a communication that complies with plain language principles, is short and avoids complex structures, uses active voice, and stays away from academic tones. It was important not to come across as patronizing but rather inclusive, enthusiastic, and respectful. The Hemingway app helped us to monitor the readability of our content and verify if we ticked all the boxes we needed.

Optimizely as a tool to create dynamic and attractive landing pages

The whole digital ecosystem of the client was already built on Optimizely. We used Optimizely CMS to create the page of the festival, which proved an excellent choice for a smaller page focused on time-to-market. It gave the page a great look and allowed us to equip it with marketing flows designed to convert users to perform desired actions.

Optimizely not only facilitated development of a dynamic website fueled with content but also is an easy-to-customize CMS.

Engaging end-users as brand promoters

The microsite of the Festival of Hope was designed to encourage visitors to share their positive experience of the initiative with others, thereby promoting it to an even wider audience. Since the website is easy to navigate and equipped with relevant information about the initiative, the idea, the event, how to participate and how to get on board, it helped to additionally turn the volume up for the festival.

Also, we included a media library with audio, video and photo content to share on social media. To increase the social impact, we added a section of the page displaying the most recent posts added by users on their profiles – this proved to be a great way to engage the audience.

The result

A collaboration based on trust, open communication, and mutual understanding, helped to work out a branding that effectively promotes the Festival of Hope across different platforms and channels worldwide. It is not only visually compelling, making the event stand out from the crowd and highly recognizable, but also is flexible enough to be employed in many different marketing and promotional contexts.

Additionally, in a short time frame, we came up with a modern and robust website that houses many materials in various formats and is continuously growing. The website is the core of the festival’s digital presence.

This combination of modern technology and well-thought-through, beautiful design helped IB to bring an idea to life and to reach students, educators, and thought leaders to promote an important concept – real change begins with hope. Thanks to that, the first edition enjoyed a multinational success.

If you’re curious to see how the landing page of the Festival looks like live, you can find it here: ibo.org/festival-of-hope