irock Entertainment | Ivy Thursdays “Neon Arcade”

I was privileged to be asked to rebrand Australia’s biggest weekly clubbing event Ivy Thursdays a second year in a row and commemorate their 10 year anniversary, developing a new Neon Arcade’ theme with it’s ‘Retro Futuristic Gamified’ vibe.

Background

I was privileged to be asked to help rebrand the newly relaunched Ivy Thursdays weekly event by iRock Entertainment and Merivale’s Ivy nightclub in it’s new ‘Neon Arcade’ theme for 2024. The Neon Arcade theme is best described as having a retro futuristic gamified vibe mixed in with current digital trends of the modern era like emoji’s such as their mascot the melting 3D smiley face, which resembles the giant smiley face that hangs above the main dance floor inside the club for the Ivy Thursdays events. Boasting 3k people through the doors every Thursday the event is Australia’s largest weekly clubbing event, affording patrons all the bells and whistles in extra novelty entertainment such as choreographed dancers in costume, advanced sound, smoke and lighting, Visual Dj’s (VJ’s) projecting bespoke animated content live for the crowd on their ceiling high screen arrangement and excessive decor across the venue, all cohesively tied into the ‘Neon Arcade’ theme. Upon creating the static key visual artwork that served as a visual style guide for all collateral to follow, the key visual was then animated to be incorporated in various moving content. I also created promotional social videos, an animated asset package of videos for the VJ’s to use live on their large screens inside the club as well as DOOH animated posters inside the venue as well as unique bespoke animations of their Ivy Thursdays logo.

Neon Arcade - Live LED Screen Animations

This reel showcases footage taken of the live LED screen animations and motion brand assets I created for Ivy Thursdays Neon Arcade displayed on screens around the venue for over a year. I created a bespoke motion brand systems that brought the Neon Arcade theme to life cohesively from digital campaign to live event, managing the jump from digital content, marketing and advertising collateral pre event to various live LED screen animations onsite at the weekly event itself. I provided the VJ’s with Key Visual elements supplied as individual motion brand assets to project and mashup on the large multi-screen arrangement at the main stage surrounding the dj booth including Ivy’s ceiling high main screen.

My work inside the venue included various digital collateral including:

Suite of animated ‘key visual’ motion brand assets for VJ visual projection
3D Neon Boombox animation often played to support the dancers
Drink Menu screen animations
Red Bull Vodka Screen Animations
Ivy Entrance Animation
Headline Artist Animations
Monothly DJ Lineup Animations
Thurs Tea Drink Animation
As well as some printed elements such as Posters, Bartender T-Shirts, Drink Cards, VIP wrist bands and printed tickets

[KV Concept / Design / 2D & 3D Animation / Logo Design & Animations / Editing / Sound Mixes]

Ivy Thursdays Neon Arcade - Key Visual Promo Teaser Reel (9:16)

After creating the Ivy Thursdays Neon Arcade logo and Key Visual artwork, I developed into an animated Key Visual Poster (seen at top of page) which was the visual cornerstone of the newly rebranded event that dictated look and feel, as well as brand behaviours in the realm of motion. I then incorporated the Key Visual Animated Poster into a reel with footage from the event as seen above, which became the first piece of marketing collateral to advertise the rebranded event and launch date.

I designed and animated the key visual from scratch including all reusable brand assets such as Ivy Thursdays ‘Neon Arcade’ logo, neon Ivy logo, ’10 years of’ logo and 3D Neon Smily Face Mascot, which I incorporated into various marketing collateral as well as a wide range of animating assets displayed on screens live throughout the club every Thursday.

Ivy Thursdays: Neon Arcade - Key Visual Venue Entrance Animation

This animation shows off all of the key visual elements of the Neon Arcade theme and is played inside the venue every Thursday night at the entrance to the venue over 3x vertical 9:16 screens and spans roughly 4x2 metres. The purpose of this animation is to draw attention to the Ivy Thursdays branding as soon as patrons enter the venue at the top of the stairs enticing them with a ‘cheeky discount’ CTA on next weeks’ tickets by scanning the QR code.