Crunchyroll Expo Australia
One of the biggest initiatives at Crunchyroll was the Australian execution of Crunchyroll Expo - my involvement was in creating and adapting exciting design and video assets across many different mediums, including; print, video, motion graphics and stage.
The marketing portion of the project included a mix of owned, earned and paid media and was targeted firstly at fans that had attended Anime Festival previously, as well as a vastly expanded audience of gamers, students, pop culture enthusiasts and event-goers.
The marketing portion of the project included a mix of owned, earned and paid media and was targeted firstly at fans that had attended Anime Festival previously, as well as a vastly expanded audience of gamers, students, pop culture enthusiasts and event-goers.
One of the biggest marketing goals was to increase brand awareness and impressions in the Australian market - with a target of around 3 million marketing impressions as well as aiming for a sold out show.
The assets I produced contributed greatly to the event totally selling out approximately 1 week prior to the event, despite the fact that we hadn’t announced our full guest lineup at this point. All this together with organic marketing from the social team and other creatives culminated in a total of over 14.5 million impressions across all metrics, completely smashing the aforementioned target.
The assets I produced contributed greatly to the event totally selling out approximately 1 week prior to the event, despite the fact that we hadn’t announced our full guest lineup at this point. All this together with organic marketing from the social team and other creatives culminated in a total of over 14.5 million impressions across all metrics, completely smashing the aforementioned target.
Style guide
I was given a style guide to use with some flexibility on how those guide elements could be used with sensible restrictions.
Primary and secondary colours
Fonts
Motion graphics and video content
Crunchyroll Expo announcement
The brief: Use the media package and style guide we were given to create a a suite of announcement videos, in multiple different sizes and formats. They were expected to be "exciting", "fast", a "feast for the eyes" and needed to appeal to the new Australian audience. It was also important to produce them in such a way that they could be adapted for multiple platforms.
My method: I appropriated assets created previously for the American event and used them as a base for our video. Many animations needed to be remade or adapted for our messaging as well as provide additional flair and style elements. To do this, I primarily used After Effects with some motion and transition plugins while tweaking camera tracking to create fluid framing and flow to the animated transitions.
My method: I appropriated assets created previously for the American event and used them as a base for our video. Many animations needed to be remade or adapted for our messaging as well as provide additional flair and style elements. To do this, I primarily used After Effects with some motion and transition plugins while tweaking camera tracking to create fluid framing and flow to the animated transitions.
The result: The video was a hit, being posted across many social media platforms and contributed to achieving upwards of 1.1 million paid social Impressions across all relevant media.
Assets for stage and AV direction
As a result of my past work with Madman Anime Festival, I was asked to spearhead and manage the creation of stage assets such as; panel slides, ad reels and holding animations and subsequently executing them on the weekend with the assistance of AV engineers and representatives of the talent. This was a huge undertaking and included hundreds of slides to be used across 2 days.
The result
The collective effort between myself, the talent, the technicians and producers culminated in an incredible offering for fans and resulted in main stage being packed to capacity for much of the programming.
Info/ticket booth design
This design was printed and applied to the info/ticket booth, positioned in the front lobby at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre - this booth was the first branded installation attendees were exposed to on their weekend journey.
The brief asked that the booth design be highly noticeable, inviting and state its purpose clearly.
Maid Cafe
One of the key attractions of this and other convention I've been involved with is the 'Maid Cafe'. It's a place that serves food, puts on performances and gives people an excepting place to enjoy themselves.
The design of the booth needed to reflect these values while still identifying with the general CRX style-guide.
Manga library
Media background
This design was printed and used as a backdrop for interviews, photos, performances and filmed guest activities.
It needed to be all purpose and focus on the branding while still being indicative of the general flavour of the experience.
It needed to be all purpose and focus on the branding while still being indicative of the general flavour of the experience.
Welcome wall
This wall was one of the first thing attendees would have seen when entering the exhibit hall.
IchibanKuji wall
IchibanKuji and Madman/Crunchyroll have been partners for quite some time in the Australian region, We wanted a wall to pair the two brands together and draw in customers into the IchibanKuji booth to try out the game.
Static digital ads
Funimation banners
Announcement images
Email/EDM banners
Maid Cafe Banners
