Schroten gives Willisau Jazz Festival a new face
To mark its 50th anniversary, Schroten and Bop Communications are helping the legendary festival gain more visibility with a T-shirt campaign.
Willisau is cult. The jazz festival in the Lucerne hinterland has always stood for jazz in its freest and most radical form. There is hardly a big name from the jazz scene that has not played here. But it's not just the music, the festival's appearance is also world-class. Some of the posters by founder Niklaus Troxler are part of the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York and are now sought-after collector's items.
The combination of music and graphics has a long tradition in Willisau: Niklaus' nephew Arno has been running the festival since 2010 and his daughters Annik and Paula (together as Pank with partner Kleon Medugorac since 2019) have been taking turns designing the iconic posters for 15 years.
50 faces for 50 years of jazz
For this year's 50th anniversary, the duo Pank developed a radical design idea in the Willisau style: 50 different posters with 50 different faces, put together from elements of the last 49 festival posters - independent, experimental, surprising and tongue-in-cheek.
The anniversary campaign by the agencies Schroten and Bop Communications picks up on this idea directly and dramatizes the versatility of the musical cosmos that Willisau defines: dozens of Swiss musicians, DJs, promoters and organizers gave and give the festival a face on social media, but also on stage, behind the DJ booth, at the Migros checkout, at the hairdresser or in the swimming pool by wearing a T-shirt with one of the Pank motifs.
Heidi Happy, Anna Känzig, Jule X, Manillio, Dachs, Dabu Fantastic, The Young Gods, Long Tall Jefferson, Neal Sugarman, Sina, Okvsho, Jojo Mayer, Pablo Nouvelle and Fai Baba, among others, are supporting the non-profit festival with a fashion statement.
Responsible at the Willisau Jazz Festival Arno Troxler (Festival Director), Marco Sieber (Production Manager) Responsible at Bop Communications Marco Boppart, Tatjana Jäger Responsible for Schroten Adrian Schräder (overall responsibility) Design Pank (Paula Troxler, Kleon Medugorac).
