Sydney Film Festival

Verbal Identity and Campaign copywriting thanks to Frost*collective.
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In recent years, the immersive experience of cinema has been lost to streaming at home. When a movie is projected up on the big screen, and we’re in the dark surrounded by top quality sound, we don’t just see a movie - we feel it all over.

Our new rebrand, brand platform and campaign for the Sydney Film Festival celebrates everything wonderful about seeing and feeling the emotion of movies at the cinema. It strikes a rare balance. Centred on simple word play, it has endless potential to be extended and customised across genres and languages, making it accessible to diverse audiences.

This was about reigniting the Sydney Film Festival brand for growth, getting a broad audience back into cinemas and building on the core foundations to set the course for a resonant brand for 2023 and beyond. In post-event analysis, Sydney Film Festival reports first time attendees (+17% YoY) and brand recall (85%) are at an all-time high, with an impressive 73% of those surveyed preferring the new branding to the year previous.

"That sigh of relief when an agency just, ‘gets it’, has been followed by jolts of excitement when seeing how cleverly and invitingly they are reimagining the way we can present Australia’s most preeminent Film Festival.

"Following a highly competitive tender process, we were thrilled to appoint Frost* to partner with us on our upcoming 70th Festival and beyond. Even from their initial pitch, it was clear how well they understood our ethos, and the full potential of SFF.”

Joshua Forward, Head of Marketing, Sydney Film Festival

“As SFF’s new CEO I was blown away by the thought-provoking design presented by Frost*, I’ve worked with designers around the globe but instantly recognised this innovative campaign as matching Sydney Film Festival’s vision. It presents a dynamic call out to Sydneysiders to come and experience cinema in community, as it was originally intended, and reignites the energy of a crowd connecting to stories on the screen. Thanks Frost* for wholeheartedly capturing SFF’s vision.”

Frances Wallace, CEO, Sydney Film Festival