OUR ENGAGEMENT

Branding • Website Design & Development • Social Media Management • Email Marketing • Signage • Media Relations • Photography • Videography • Event Facilitation

We’ve long worked with Haymaker Productions for their Music at Maymont series, and know that owner Tom Beals has vast experience in supplying event infrastructure and offering event production services. Haymaker has had a hand in everything from Bonnaroo to signature NFL events and presidential inaugurations. When Tom approached us about helping to get a world-class RICHMOND music festival off the ground, we leapt at the chance.

“When do you want to have it,” we asked. “This summer,” he replied.

While Tom brought in experienced partners like Starr Hill Presents, IMGoing Events, and Lovely Day Presents, planning for an event of this scale normally takes years, and it would be up to us to create iconic branding, facilitate media relations, and manage ongoing queries from artists, vendors, the media, and the concert-going public. Quickly.

GOALS

Tom’s original vision for his festival was to host it in Richmond’s Monroe Park, the city’s oldest public park. The centerpiece of Monroe Park is an ornate cast iron fountain, and the scrollwork on the fountain gave Tom his name: “Iron Blossom Music Festival.” Haymaker also puts a strong emphasis on sustainability for his programs, and both of these things created cues for our branding work. The logo implies sunshine, fun, and a lyrical flow of blooms and blossoms.

As the organizers began getting commitments from artists, it represented a who’s who of folk, Americana, roots rock, and alt-country: Hozier, Noah Kahan, Lord Huron, Elle King, and more. It was clear that Monroe Park wasn’t large enough for the crowd that was buzzing with anticipation from early announcements, so a strategic decision was made to move the event from Monroe Park to the nearby Bon Secours Training Center (the former training camp for the Washington Commanders). We leapt into PR mode to keep the media and festivalgoers apprised of new developments and new artist announcements.

STRATEGY

As plans for Iron Blossom began to firm, we drafted a press release to be sent to every local and regional outlet, and contacted select national publications. Modern artists rely on a robust social media presence for communicating with their loyal legions of fans and followers, and we relied heavily on social media for artist announcements and festival news, tagging artists, commenting on threads, and maintaining a consistent stream of Iron Blossom content. We made certain that the festival and pertinent details were included in every local and regional events calendar.

In addition to the music portion of the event, there was also a food component and a craft village full of makers and artisans. We established brand guidelines for signage and included them in our social media outreach.

In the leadup to Iron Blossom, we facilitated the vetting of press access requests, reaching out to some and examining the potential reach of others to ensure the quality of both images and reporting. During the two days of Iron Blossom, we coordinated our photo and video team with a roster of other photographers to document the event.

The response to the inaugural Iron Blossom Music Festival was overwhelmingly positive, and while some lessons were learned by the production team and organizers, plans are already in the works for the next iteration of what will now be an annual Richmond event.

Rocket Pop
Richmond, Virginia