DocksFest.
Ever wondered what goes into launching a brand new music festival?
DocksFest.
In 2024, we were approached by a long-standing client with an exciting new venture and concept – launching an exciting new live music festival at an outdoor music venue in Cleethorpes.
Why was this such a brave concept?
Well, Cleethorpes is a busy seaside town and has a good outdoor venue, but no one had previously had the vision to put on an event that could attract the type of big-name acts previously only found in UK cities or established festival scene.
DocksFest was launching with major acts, including Razorlight, Frank Turner, and Feeder and needed to hit the scene and ticket sales with a bang. They needed a full design and marketing package from us, including a comprehensive brand identity, marketing assets and digital presence that would capture the energy and excitement of a premier music festival while driving ticket sales.
Creating a standout brand identity.
The visual identity for DocksFest needed to be fun and reflect the excitement of a music festival.
For the logo, we used a bold 3D style font and a vibrant colour palette of yellow and magenta and integrated the year date into the logo.
We then introduced a broken typewriter-style font for key messages, information and call to actions.
As this was the first DockFest, we had the added challenge of having no imagery or video from past events, which is the usual way these types of events are marketed. So we went ‘all in’ with a bold, graphic style rather than relying on the use of stock imagery.
Creating a ticket sale website.
Rather than directing people to a third-party ticket platform, we created a new responsive website, docksfest.co.uk, to promote the festival and push ticket sales.
Our web team seamlessly integrated ‘See Tickets’ into the site so people could buy their tickets through the DocksFest site, rather than be taken off to a third-party website.
The website design echoed the lively, bold brand style and was optimised to ensure an excellent user experience across all devices.
Marketing and promotional materials.
Digital assets:
Custom graphics for use across social media and digital advertising, which were drip-fed around artist announcements to build excitement and anticipation.
Print advertising:
Posters, leaflets, banners, out-of-home media, stage banners and hoardings.
Merchandise design:
Part of the revenue opportunity was the sale of branded merchandise, which Sourcefour designed, including a hand-illustrated t-shirt design and bucket hats.
“Sourcefour have delivered an outstanding, all-round creative service for our music festival, DocksFest.
Managing Director, DocksFest
A successful event.
DocksFest 2024 was a huge success and a boost to the local visitor and domestic economy. It put Cleethorpes on the map for future artists and events, proving that the area could fill a stadium.
This project showcases the benefit of working with Sourcefour.
The client was able to put the end-to-end marketing of this event in our capable hands. We were involved from the very start, when it was just a germ of an idea, and we worked closely with the client and their team, not only on the front-end design and marketing assets but also on back-office needs such as ticket sales. We even set up a print-on-demand store for the merchandise so that it could be sold prior to the events and gain early revenue in addition to the merchandise sales on the day.
Sourcefour is more than just a design and marketing partner; we’re a business partner, with our eyes firmly fixed on how we can help our clients’ businesses and ventures be as successful as possible.
DocksFest 2025.
After the success of the first DocksFest in 2024, 2025 saw a bigger and better DocksFest, with acts including The Charlatans, Ash, and Maximo Park, plus an array of local talent and even a silent disco.
We took what we learnt from 2024 and went even bigger in 2025, using photography and video footage taken from the 2024 event to promote across social media and the DocksFest website with highly engaging content.
With the 2025 event another resounding success, it looks like music festivals are firmly established on the Cleethorpes calendar!
DocksFest photography by Emma Gibbon and Sam Sharp
What the team says:
“DocksFest has been a real passion project for me. As a lover of live music and a craft beer geek, this was a dream job!”
The fact that we were able to control the design, website development and marketing from the initial concepts through to the banners on site and even the festival merchandise was extremely satisfying. I attended the first DocksFest with some of the Sourcefour team, and the atmosphere was electric.”
Kirk, Creative Director
