Branding the new economy.
Established in 2018 by Michael Bloomberg, the New Economy Forum is a community of global leaders engaging with the world’s most significant changes and challenges. The event happens yearly and brings together business, government and social leaders such as Bill Gates, Henry Kissinger, Janet Yellen, Arianna Huffington and Bloomberg himself.
The Forum was set to compete with well-established events and gatherings, such as the G7 and the World Economic Forum. But from a branding perspective, the New Economy Forum needed to look like something new, representing the new economy that it represents.
So we collaborated with VSA Partners on an identity that is unique, but has room to grow so it expands with the editorial mission of the Forum.
The ambitions goal for year one of the event was to establish the brand boldly, in front of the world’s most influential audience. So we relied on an anthemic campaign for the leaders of the new economy.
Our best performing ads took over Singapore’s Shangi Business Class and Private terminals two weeks prior to the event.
We designed a very elastic brand, that could live as small advertising or digital collateral, but also as huge bits of signage, bringing brand cohesion to the event also. The most epic manifestation of this was a landscape 32k screen on the main stage at the event, with custom graphics that expanded across 3 days of panel discussions.
Following the success of the Forum’s inaugural year, New Economy expanded to become a brand new media vertical for Bloomberg Media, as well as a solutions think tank gathering quarterly to tackle the world’s biggest challenges.
We were tasked to develop new brand campaigns to promote editorial products and drum up interest for the annual event in Beijing. We collaborated with artist Matt Murphy to create custom illustrations for event and editorial promotion. Inspired by his editorial style and conceptual approach we brought to life abstract topics, such as inequality, automation, new energy and the economic shift from West to East.
Year after year, the ambition of Bloomberg New Economy grows. Last year, the event pivoted and became a virtual event due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The identity evolved once more to make room for a 100% digital content platform that expands across year-round virtual conferences, digital video and Bloomberg TV programming.
The identity that my team develops year after year contributes to establishing a very strong brand for this content vertical as it grows. And works globally since it takes into consideration transcontinental aesthetics.
400
World leaders from 51+ countries attend the New Economy Forum every year.
+3 million
Average social media impressions of key assets.
83%
of the Global GDP represented.
$4.14 trillion
combined market capitalization among Forum’s attendants.
Role: Creative Director, Brand. Strategy generator, art and design direction.
Team:
Courtney Nicholas and Mikell Fine Iles — Design Directors
Justin Malko — Executive Producer
Derek Bonvillain, Kylan Larson — Art Direction
Stuart Whitmore, Michael Fetsko, Chris Voigt — Copywriting
John Luisi, Alex Israel — Editor
Lisa Ly, Brooke Goodspeed, Ari Pavlakis — Project Management
Jeaninne Wyman — Digital Production
Erin Kennedy — Operations
Nathan Jones, Weiwei Zhou — Design
With the help of VSA Partners, RAA International, Handsome Frank and Decibel Sound.
Awards:
Global ACE Awards 2020
GOLD, Print Advertising
SILVER, Craft, Art Direction
In-house Agency Forum
GOLD, Print Advertising
