EXPERIENTIAL
Afrolicious.
An Afrodyssée pre-event.
BRIEF
MAC Cosmetics was joining the team of sponsors of the Afrodyssée African Trends Market to be held in May but wanted to announce the happy news in December with the reveal of the artwork for that year's festival edition.
Athénée 4, an 18th-century church converted into a music bar located in Geneva's old town, was looking to refresh its image and diversify its client base. The two were brought together through the African fashion show "Afrolicious" held in Athénée 4, with makeup by MAC.
CLIENT
MAC & Athénée 4
LOCATION
Geneva
SERVICES
Experiential strategy / experience design / PR / art direction / live event production / influencer strategy
MY ROLE
I was the Experiential Strategist of this event.
CONTEXT
Athénée 4 had never hosted a fashion show before and the majority of its usual clientele were unfamiliar with African trends. Therefore it was essential for the Afrolicious event to take ownership of the space in a way that demonstrated and explained what African fashion is. Similarly, for fans of the Afrodyssée market who were discovering the venue for the first time, it was important to provide the freedom to explore many areas of the venue.
STRATEGY
To achieve these goals, a fashion show which made use of the entire venue space was designed. Models snaked through Athénée 4's galleys and corners, arriving at a center podium where they posed for photos. A curated menu and cocktails were devised to match the event.
LIVE PRODUCTION
There was no space in the venue to construct a runway. Existing backstage artist loges were not large or light enough for hair and makeup for dozens of models. We had to find creative solutions to these logistical issues.
RESULTS
The event was an enormous success with a packed venue of 350 people and max capacity reached after only 30 minutes. Based on the results, MAC went on to do two more pre-events in other cities, inspired by the concepts developed in the first show. Afrolicious also contributed to the 2018 Afrodyssée festival selling out its 3K tickets in record time.
