When the Migros Neuchâtel-Fribourg Cooperative Society contacted our agency, it was to make its cultural prize more attractive and more popular. This was a great challenge.
A prize becomes a competition
Every year since 2005, the orange giant’s regional cooperative has rewarded an artist selected by a college of professionals of the arts. Each year, the winner is chosen from a different artistic field.
Recently, the organizer decided to open the prize to a wider public, and, as of 2023, turn it into a real competition. Most importantly, they wanted to make this known, and reach future participants. This is where we came in.
Creating a visual identity
Our first initiative was to come up with a distinctive graphic identity for the award to underline the change in direction. We wanted a straightforward approach.
We created pictograms symbolizing each of the five arts concerned by the prize: music, literature, cinema, dance and visual arts. Combined with the instantly recognisable orange “M”, these became logos that would immediately convey the link between the Migros and the arts.
Keeping in line with national communication
After a year of work, our client asked us to modify our concept in order to keep it in line with the visual communication of the “Cultural Percentage”, Migros’ entity that supports culture on a national level. A capital “M” and a stylised heart are its main elements. Responding to this new paradigm, we integrated these elements into our new graphic approach.
To subtly illustrate the artistic fields concerned by the prize, we chose details from allegorical engravings, which we could use on posters and flyers. Simultaneously, we carried out a photo and a video shoot of the members of the jury. With this, our objective was to launch the promotional campaign… If the cultural prize were to become more popular, the announcement had to be loud and clear!
External skills for PR
We also called upon the creative associates, a group of PR and content creation specialists, who contributed their skills to the creation of this bilingual campaign. Virginie and Patrick prepared a communication plan which started with the launch of the call for projects for the prize in September 2022. This revolved around a cross-media campaign that combined traditional media, such as posters and mailing lists, with digital media and social networks.
Among the services we were meant to provide was the organisation of a press conference; however, owing to circumstances beyond our control, we had to abandon it at the last minute. Media communication was then carried out through individual contacts and via direct contacts with different editorial staff. Feedback was satisfactory, and many mentions of the competition appeared on various digital and traditional supports
An avalanche of projects
What would the impact be? At this stage, nobody knew. After two weeks, only a couple of submissions had reached the cooperative’s secretariat; but by the end of the two-month deadline, 111 projects had been submitted on time. More than half of these met all the requirements, and could be submitted to the jury!
It is safe to say that the new communication strategy, and the launch of the new prize, were a resounding success!
So, who won?
In May 2023, the Migros Cultural Prize Neuchâtel-Fribourg 2023 jury met to evaluate the 5 finalists’ submissions and choose a winner.
After two rounds, Guillaume Brandt’s project “Les songes du filmeur endormi” received the most votes. He is the winner of the Migros Culture Prize Neuchâtel-Fribourg 2023 and will receive 50,000 Swiss francs for his documentary on the life of his grandfather, the Neuchâtel film director and photographer Henry Brandt, a major figure in Swiss cinema from the 1950s to the 1980s.
