• PROJECT

Search Festival

Transforming a humble New Year’s event into a leading music festival revered for adventurous sounds and community participation.

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Key takeaways:

  • Co-founded Search Festival, a storied independent music festival in South Africa.
  • Evolved Search from a gathering to a grand showcase of music, art, and community.
  • Led creative and strategic vision, brand identity, digital presence, and marketing.
  • Built and managed a communications team (copywriter, graphic designer, social media manager).
  • Conceptualised and implemented a festival-themed video game (award-nominated).
  • Directed communication plans and digital marketing campaigns.
  • DJ’d at the festival most years 😊.

Search is a pioneering South African music and arts festival that pushes adventurous sounds and participant collaboration. Over the course of ten years it has grown from a small New Year’s party into one of the best music festivals in the world.

As one of its co-founders, my role is to head up all aspects of internal and external communications, including creative direction, digital strategy, brand development, community management, PR and editor-in-chief. Through the teamwork of the comms team, fellow co-founders and the plethora of incredibly dedicated volunteers, we make Search Festival happen year after year, come drought, flood or even a pandemic (and we’ve experienced them all). This makes Search uniquely amorphous, moving with the times and often against the traditional expectations of the music festival format.

2013–2018
The Formative Years

Search started as a friendly word-of-mouth event wanting to challenge New Year’s Eve expectations without overpromising things. It was a low-key gathering that focused energy on lineup curation, infrastructure co-creation and childlike antics. The event grew from around 80 friends to 700 attendees during this time, raising questions around what form Search should take to keep up with this rising popularity without losing its storied lore and feeling.

2015 – Caledon. We established the very first visual identity for Search using a colourful scratched-in aesthetic that mixed performing artists’ photos with my own travel footage.
This distinct style set it apart in South Africa’s festival scene, focusing on discovering emerging artists and sounds through persistence.
At this point, Search was a growing event with around 350 attendees, yet most still close to the organisers and easy to manage. Unfortunately, this would be the last year at Caledon.
2016 – Redhill. After losing our original venue, Search moved closer to Cape Town. We simplified our communication to a shiny search bar motif that was shrouded in mystery.
Despite the intentional vagueness of the marketing, the festival attracted double the previous year’s crowd, prompting a year off for some soul searching and to plan for the festival’s future.
2017 – Hiatus. We took some time off for a roadtrip from Cape Town to Johannesburg to research other festivals. We also scouted for venues around the country.
2018 – Utopia. We found a new home at Utopia farm near Swellendam, hosting a smaller event for 450 people to test the venue and trial run legalities for a larger festival.
Foregoing all social media to invoke the original lore of the festival, we built a brutalist website featuring the lineup, FAQs, and ticket sales, essentially the rehearsal for the modern Search Festival communications.
Our internal communication also marked a shift towards transparency and more functional information, a reflection of the increased level of planning that has started going into Search.
2019
Modernising The Festival

With the introduction of a distinctive logo and style, Search Festival became an instantly recognisable event in the music and arts festival circuit. We implemented strategies to deepen engagement, adopting digital campaigns, volunteer programmes, and a habit of documenting our events. The total number of attendees came to over 1200 people, with a non-stop music lineup of 57 acts on 3 stages over 2 days.

2019 – Utopia. The focus on this idea that we bring the building blocks for creativity led the thought behind our new logo. Our icon references box scaffolding (the temporary structure around a building under construction) stylised into an “S” for Search, symbolising the relationship between our input and the festival’s participants.
A much more modern and minimal approach was adopted in our identity. Despite being small and relatively DIY, we wanted to elevate the feeling to a world-class festival.
Hundreds of assets were made for print and digital use, no topic left unturned in what we could communicate, including these individual artist posts.
Facebook banner add for the festival.
Lineup release videos.
Map of the venue.
Performance schedule per stage.
2020–2021
Navigating The Pandemic

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic forced Search Festival to deprioritise the main event. In an effort to keep momentum going, we decided to rethink and innovate on what Search could be from a distance, bringing our community together once again in a time of no contact. For two years, this was what we were up to with Search.

1. Search Questival

Search Questival is first-person psychedelic fever dream about a music festival that was supposed to happen. The “game” explores a stimulating, stylised landscape that captures the liminal nature of a live festival and features exclusive mixes by a variety of noteworthy South African producers. The game later went on to be nominated for an A MAZE. award! Completing all the quests added players into a raffle to win lifetime tickets to Search Festival.

2. Search Radio

By 2021 the worst of the pandemic still wasn’t over. We continued to challenge ourselves with the creation of Search Radio, a 12hr online broadcast (in partnership with The Other Radio) that kept the festival’s essence alive through music and community engagement, something people could feel part of from the safety of their homes.

2022
Bouncing Back

Search Festival made a triumphant return to an in-person format. Expectations were high and we felt the pressure – people were starved for parties. We introduced our first ever theme to help with direction and planning. This edition focused on recapturing the magical essence of live gatherings. What do people want after years of inactivity? Are younger people even aware of the festival? We endeavoured to find out.

2022 – Utopia. Although not named as such, internally we settled on this idea that Search is a rock – a strong foundation, a reliable source of connection, a solid experience after so much instability.
The narrative is that a nameless geologist (it’s actually me in the video 😂) has unearthed evidence that Search has not been lost to the ages and is indeed happening again. Rejoice!
The successful return underscored the festival’s enduring appeal, yet introduced a slew of new challenges in the wake of such a universal shared trauma of isolation.
2023
A Return to Form

The 2023 edition of Search Festival represented the most coherent and successful execution of the project to date. Building on the lessons learned and momentum gained in previous years, this edition showcased an unparalleled level of artistic curation, community involvement, and operational excellence. The festival not only celebrated its rich history but also set new benchmarks for future editions. With the highest attendance and engagement levels yet, it underscored the festival’s significant impact on the independent music scene and its capacity to create empowering environments for attendees and artists alike.

The official Search Festival 2023 lineup video.
Festival grounds map of 2023 Search Festival.
Look and feel of 2023’s Search Festival social media.

The ripple effect of Search Festival is profound. Beyond the bounds of its music stages, the festival has nurtured a culture of respect, understanding, and mutual support that extends into the wider community. It’s a catalyst for change, encouraging sustainable practices, social responsibility, and a deeper connection to the arts. The legacy of Search Festival is not just in the memories it creates but in the movements it inspires, championing a future where festivals serve as pillars of progress and unity.

Key takeaways:

  • Co-founded Search Festival, a storied independent music festival in South Africa.
  • Evolved Search from a gathering to a grand showcase of music, art, and community.
  • Led creative and strategic vision, brand identity, digital presence, and marketing.
  • Built and managed a communications team (copywriter, graphic designer, social media manager).
  • Conceptualised and implemented a festival-themed video game (award-nominated).
  • Directed communication plans and digital marketing campaigns.
  • DJ’d at the festival most years (😊).