Tiger Chilli Crab Festival. Sounds great…but what the heck is it?? A dipstick poll resulted in dumbfounded answers as varied as ‘an animal exhibit featuring tigers and crabs?’ to ‘a random celebration of a naturally spicy crab?’ Needless to say, when tasked with marketing the event to achieve some awfully lofty numbers for footfall and revenue at the event, we realised we had a few challenges on our hands.

Our enemy against this event was twofold:
1. Lack of awareness of the concept/product of chilli crab
2. Even if you did know, why was there a festival around this product?

To complicate things, the audience was also split:
1. Family during the day
2. A more pub-type crowd for the evenings.

Our creative approach sprung from the insight that Dubai lacks any real, authentic ‘festivals’ that most expats are used to at home. We all know of the tiny little festivals that hark from our hometown’s (shout out to Poquoson Seafood Festival, Austin Hot Sauce Festival, the Smithfield Pork, Pine and Peanut festival) and are familiar with the cheery, graphic posters and adverts that usually accompany them.

We decided to capitalise on the gap of any true festival spirit in Dubai and create a simple, bold graphic that succinctly defined what the Tiger Chilli Crab Festival was all about – a happy crab heroing a chilli in front of a shining sun. Fun + food = a festival worth attending.

This simply described exactly what the festival subject was whilst connoting the outdoor, exciting festive spirit that comes along with this new event. All the interactive elements of the festival (magician, band, face painting) were shown much like a circus, proudly displaying all the exciting acts on offer.

The execution is bold, bright and recognisable. It attracts both the young with its simplicity and vibrancy and the older crowd with a bit nostalgia for the quirky, home-grown festivals they’re familiar with.

The four day event left everyone grinning as much as our happy crab. Thousands attended the Tiger Chilli Crab Festival and revenue across every night of the event exceeded the targets, achieving between 200 and 300% of the expected revenue. Our favourite part? The groups of people finding their inner Chilli Crab and spontaneously doing our crab’s Singaporean Sway all night. Yah!