Alt & Pepper
Client | Pepper House
Organisation | Aum-i Artistes
My Role | Concept, Creative Strategy, Brand Strategy, Campaign Management
What happens when artists, musicians and curators from all over the country come together for 2 days to evoke the cultural history of a city in a 16,000 sq.ft warehouse?
Background.
A melting point for art and culture in the city, Pepper House is home to the internationally acclaimed Kochi Muziris Bienalle (KMB), the largest art exhibition in India and the biggest contemporary art festival in Asia, assembled by a panel of prominent artists and historians to inspire an ongoing dialogue among artists, curators, cultural practitioners and the public. In 2016, Pepper House partnered with Aum-i Artistes to create a 2-day on-ground experience that celebrates the culture and heritage of Kochi, and the stories of the world’s most talented artists and musicians and poets and activists who flock there every year for inspiration.
Strategic unlock.
Alt & Pepper became India’s first and largest art-music-and-culture festival organised on such a massive scale. Where artists, musicians, curators, comics, photographers and even street poets come together to explore what connects them. We started from the insight that creativity is the art of stringing different worlds/genres together, for everything is connected.
The inspiration for the brand draws from the spirit and heritage of Kochi, the land of creative combinations, which explains the name Alt & Pepper.
'Alt’ for seeking the alternative. 'Pepper' as a nod to the cultural history of Kerala, the land of spices. And '&' as a motif for cross-pollination.
In essence, we were bringing some of India’s biggest creative talents, including Susheela Raman, Spud in the Box, Jhanu, When Chai Met Toast, Suraj Mani & The Tattva Trip, Oorali, Parvaaz and many others together under one historic roof.
Creative brief.
As the Creative Strategist on this project, I approached the work with inspiration from the city, the spirit of artmaking, and culture at-large. Armed with this insight, my brief to the design team was to celebrate the coming together of many worlds in one place: from musicians playing a mixture of rock, pop, indie, dub, reggae, soca, soulful house, and everything in between, to writers finding stories from the street, to photographers watching the city respond to change.
Brand language.
To interpret the brand, we incorporated elements such as visual noise, grainy texture and loud type to bring a sense of depth and meaning to the brand, and applied a bold typographic sweep of local Chilli Powder red against a black and white canvas.
The heart of the brand.
The sheer joy of bringing different worlds together (the ampersand of the art life) opened the floodgates of creative possibility. ‘&’ is an emblematic mark that’s curious, collaborative and timeless, doubling as a graphic device that holds imagery, text and colour. It is the heart of the brand, building equity in the logo with every application.
The creatives included daily artwork from the campaign, carrying event details and typographic mantras evocative of the ‘&’ mark (e.g., Soil & Soul & Alt & Pepper, Music & Muse & Alt & Pepper). To further promote the festival in print and OOH, we also designed and wheatpasted posters outside music cafes and art colleges throughout Kochi during the week of the event.
The ampersand of
the art life.
The 2016 launch edition of Alt & Pepper was held at Pepper House from 10-11 September. Every artwork, performance and workshop was framed in a unique design language that abstractly interprets the cultural history of Kochi and creates a narrative arc for the audience over the course of the weekend. Footage from the event is still preserved in the Kochi Muziris Bienalle archives, and is available for use or exhibition by the Pepper House museum curators.
Pepper History.
Lastly, in keeping with my Account Management role, I also worked with the design team to deliver a set of brand guidelines to facilitate the continued creation of assets after client handoff. Rather than a strict set of rules, the guidelines are meant to inspire the Pepper House business, their partners, and the press, with the story behind the brand, and empower future creatives with the resources they would need to create effective, on-brand assets.
A waterfront heritage property located on Kalvathi Road between Fort Kochi and Bazar Road, the Pepper House building consists of two historic ‘godowns’ (an Indian word for a dockside warehouse), one facing the street and another overlooking the waterfront. In its heyday, spices from far lands were brought into it across the waters, sorted and packaged in its ample courtyard, and transported out for sale through its front door. This 16,000 sq.ft complex was renovated and currently houses a courtyard cafe, visual arts library, gallery, studios for artist residencies and event spaces.
As part of our collaboration with Pepper House, we also made a short film capturing the quiet magic of this Kochi Muziris Bienalle home, a cornerstone event of the art world.
The campaign made a splash with Alt & Pepper’s target audience, delivering 100K+ social impressions, a click through rate (ticket purchase via Book My Show) of 5.3%, and more than 3,500 people in attendance over the course of 2 days.
Just like magic.
With Alt & Pepper, we pulled off a one-of-a-kind cultural moment that captures the essence of what makes Kochi so special, to so many people; allowed us to both celebrate the city’s contributions to the art life while also deepening Pepper House’s brand story in a way that would resonate with young, old, hardcore, and casual fans alike because they could ALL see themselves playing a role in this endlessly vibrant community around music, culture and the art life.
Just like magic. /poof