Brand activation signage for The Independent

Fast turnaround custom branding signage

As well as being an extremely high quality publication in itself, behind the scenes The Independent is doing great things for British culture. One of those things being their support of British music talent through their association with Brighton’s The Great Escape Festival which took place from 10-13 May 2023 – the headline act on The Independent stage being The Pretenders.

The Independent approached Carousel Lights – thanks to a recommendation – to ask us to produce their brand activation signage that was to be suspended above the stage for the music festival. We’ve produced a lot of brand activation signage over the years, and have recently been asked to produce live brand activation signage for Bowers & Wilkins sponsorship of the British music talent stage at SXSW in Texas.

With all of our signage being made here in the UK we’re always able to turn things around pretty fast, but due to various factors the time we had to produce the brand activation signage for the Independent was 2 working days – just under that in fact. The results were incredible, as can be summed up by the feedback we received from The Independent;

Ben and the team at Carousell Lights were an absolute dream to work with. They were able to turn around our request really quickly and made the whole process incredibly easy without feeling rushed or having any corners cut. The sign looked fantastic in the music venue and we look forward to using it many times in the future. Wholeheartedly recommend!

Marketing Manager, The Independent

Working consultatively with the The Independent’s marketing team, we quickly agreed on the specification of the brand activation signage.

Neon SuperFlex (neon-effect LED flex) was fixed to clear acrylic which was contour-cut to the outline shape of the design. Even though the sign was 2m wide, due to the landscape aspect of the ratio it meant that the 6mm Neon SuperFlex wouldn’t bend sufficiently tightly to maintain the brand integrity of the eagle element of the logo. We therefore printed the design in red and white vinyl and fixed it to the reverse of the acrylic, meaning the logo was replicated in its exact form, with the white neon flex around the eagle then serving to illuminate the design.

Another challenge with this brand activation signage was the serif nature of INDEPENDENT. It meant that the neon flex had to be spliced in an unusual manner in order to represent the logo exactly as it should be.

The team at Carousel Lights have senior backgrounds in Marketing and Licensing for large blue chip organisations, meaning we absolutely understand brand integrity and the need to get it right.

Once the main elements of the brand activation signage were agreed, we then discussed the finer details to ensure that the sign would serve the exact live brand activation requirements that it was being commissioned for. We were aware that the sign was going to be suspended above The Pretenders on the stage at The Great Escape, but considering the fact that we’re very focussed on our planet and re-purposing, suggested we also put keyholes in the acrylic so that it could be installed at The Independent’s head office once the main sponsorship of the stage had finished. We also wanted to make sure the live brand activation signage looked equally good in photos in the dark and light, as well as to the naked eye, so installed a dimmer which would allow the brightness levels to easily be adjusted in situ.

Once the final specification was agreed, the artwork was sent to the marketing team so they could check all of the final details such as sizing, suspension/fixing points, cable lengths and of course the overall size and design of the neon.

We absolutely love working on signage projects like this and a HUGE thank you to The Independent for trusting this project with Carousel Lights.

If you ever need any help with your live brand activation projects – whether it’s illuminated or non-illuminated signage, then we look forward to helping.