Discover the poster for the 8th edition of the WHAT A TRIP Festival, designed by our students!

ESMA x WAT : A second collaboration

Created in 2017 on the initiative of the Montpellier-based association AFIVAM, the “What a Trip!” festival aims to bring together all travel and adventure enthusiasts for four days of exchange and sharing. The festival, which drew no fewer than 49,000 visitors in 2023, is organised around screenings, debates, exhibitions and concerts, as well as a travel village where some fifty exhibitors will be on hand to advise visitors on the destinations to choose, share travel safety tips, present technological innovations for travellers, discuss the socio-cultural issues surrounding tourism, and provide information on eco-responsible travel practices.

Teams from the ‘What a Trip!’ festival came to meet ESMA students, with a view to them developing a real communications strategy capable of overcoming the specific problems encountered by the organisers: “The WAT has managed to build up visitor loyalty over the years, says Romain Tarrusson, founder of the festival. But although Montpellier is a dynamic student city, the WAT has not yet managed to attract enough young people.” ESMA students therefore took part in the project with a view to developing the festival’s appeal, reaching out to a younger audience, proposing innovative solutions and developing more appropriate communications.

Bold projects to meet ambitious demand

Students from the Multimedia Graphic Design programme worked in teams to create a virtual communications agency capable of meeting the festival’s expectations. In terms of communication objectives, the WAT carefully defined its intentions in order to come up with relevant ideas, in particular by aligning them with a number of expectations :

• raising the visibility of the event, to make WAT a must-attend event for the local population,
• building up the loyalty of a public likely to be interested in the theme of cinema, as well as the public attracted by previous editions,
• and finally, to attract a young and student audience, particularly for the concerts and projections scheduled to coincide with the festival.

To meet these objectives, the students were able to propose the deployment of three distinct communication tools. The first of these was the graphic design of the visual for the 2024 edition : here, students had to create a relevant, clear and attractive visual, which the festival organisers could use in print and digital form on all the festival’s communication media. To do this, they had to come up with “the idea […] of a sober, uncluttered visual, showcasing the brand block”, opting for both a graphic and photographic approach, “highlighting the notion of travel or adventure […] cinema and sharing”, as well as all the practical information.

They then proceeded to create an introductory video to be shown before each of the screenings scheduled during the festival. The students were instructed to use motion design, and to include both practical information and safety instructions for spectators. “The aim of the video, explains Romain Tarrusson, is to immerse the viewer in the world of What A Trip!” and to create a slight teasing effect just before the screening.

Finally, each group of students had to work on producing a 2024 teaser for the event, keeping in mind the importance of stimulating interest, creating excitement and providing sufficient information to ensure that interested persons are aware of the programme of screenings and the location of the event. The teasers from previous years (2021, 2022 and 2023) were available to help them with this task.

It was a major challenge, because as well as taking a real approach that raised real creative and communication issues, the students in the Multimedia Graphic Design section also had to take account of the environment in which the WAT takes place, and the various challenges faced by the festival organisers. In addition, Romain Tarrusson explains that, in previous editions, “most of the people who were exposed […] to our posters didn’t understand what we were, or what the purpose of the festival was”. This was obviously a issue that urgently needed to be resolved, by clearly and directly highlighting the theme of travel and adventure.

A project selected… 

Before the spring holidays, the students presented each of their proposals to the festival’s founder and the rest of the event’s organising team. In these reports, they discussed the strategic angle adopted, the suggested storytelling, the design of the 2024 visual for the event – and its many variations (print, digital, signage and goodies) – the introductory video and the 2024 teaser. All of which allowed WAT’s managers to project themselves into each of the options, and to consider the implications as well as the advantages.

After the holidays, Romain Tarrusson announced the selected project: the work by Camille Sanchez and Chloé Aubel was chosen by the organisers for its creativity and the relevance of its proposal.

Here is the poster designed by the winning duo, and in the next few days, the festival will be revealing a number of elements of the campaign, also designed by Camille and Chloé!

… and a bonus !

Another project, designed by Anais Derick and Océane Goyon, also caught the attention of the organisers, who appreciated the way it highlighted the festival’s commitment to the environment and its graphic approach. Their creations will be the subject of collector’s posters, which will be on sale at the festival.

Follow our social networks, we’ll be revealing them soon!

A big well done to both teams, and to all the students who took part in this great project, where everyone exceeded expectations with creative and thoughtful proposals.