Dreamland

Experiential Brand
Campaign Development & Design
Idea Generation & Brainstorming

Agency: Hoot Design Company
Client: Veterans United
Copywriting: Abby MacKinnon
Photography: Emma Dorge

As a title sponsor for the 2021 Roots N Blues Festival in Columbia, Missouri, Veterans United needed to develop an extensive conceptual idea for the event to make sure their sponsorship was seen, heard, and talked about throughout the weekend. Their only ask was to align with the festival’s theme of inclusion. Knowing this idea needed to be extended into various different executions: an overall experience all the way down to small print pieces, I crafted a brainstorming technique and guided our creative team to generate as many high-level conceptual ideas as possible with one rule only: there are no bad ideas. By the end of our concepting phase, we brought multiple ideas to life, pitched them to the client, and landed with a hero concept for the event that was happening in 4 weeks: Dreamland, head in the clouds, heart in the stars.

This concept revolved around bringing dreams to life. On one hand, dreams exemplify our unique human experiences. On the other, they represent a vision for the future — in this case, one that is accepting and inclusive. Dreamland will feel larger than life, making it clear that no dream is too crazy or too big. We hit this idea home with activations that encourage people to make wishes and take leaps, after all, our dreams provide a window to who we really are.