Leading European electronic music festival gets a graphic campaign designed by AI

2022 appears to be the year where AI-powered art takes off big time. There have been fun tools which allow users to dabble with AI art, such as the DALL·E software, which recently took social media by storm. But for a clearer idea of AI's artistic potential and where it might be going, Dentsu Creative's campaign for Jardim Sonoro could be the best indication yet.

Previously known as Lisb-on, Jardim Sonoro is one of Europe's leading electronic music festivals. The three-day event is a unique blend of heritage and music, tourism and culture, leisure and pleasure. Like most festivals, it took a hit in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic, but now it's back and ready to entertain music lovers with the biggest names in electronic music.

To herald its return, the festival has collaborated with long-time partner Dentsu Creative Portugal to create a series of eye-catching graphics that capture the festivities' mood. The result is 'Jardim Sonoro: Blended with Nature', a campaign which blends music and nature with the help of AI.

It's a suitable spin on the idea of promotion. After all, who better to spread the word of an electronic music festival than artificial intelligence? Powered by Mid Journey, an advanced visual artificial intelligence platform which responds to keywords provided by the agency, the campaign features graphic output which merges the headline acts with birds, butterflies, leaves and trees,

The surreal result is both beautiful and disturbing. Inspired by the images, the agency designed font mix typography and 12 unique and unrepeatable posters. The campaign is running in print and OOO in Portugal, on social, and online internationally with a film that includes a soundtrack created by two of the acts: Who Made Who and Hi & Low.

Gil Correia, creative director at Dentsu Creative Portugal, said: "We knew we had to make a special campaign for the festival; something that would mark its return, without abandoning the legacy of recent years. We could never have imagined that the result would be so surprising!"

She continues: "Was it a challenge too humanly complex even for the most avant-garde technology? We leave it to the viewer to decide. As each piece shows, there is only one well-rooted certainty: 'You can't imagine Jardim Sonoro Blended with Nature'."

Jose Diogo Vinagre, director of Jardim Sonoro, added: "As a music event promoter and an active agent of Culture and Art, it's crucial for Jardim Sonoro to communicate its role in the music and event industry to the community it has built over seven years. Dentsu Creative Portugal has collaborated very closely with the festival since the start and is not only the best agency we could work with but now a very important part of our team.

"Edition after edition, the creative and design team accomplished the unimaginable, exceeding the expectations built in the previous year. We truly believe every single award Jardim Sonoro has won comes from Dentsu Creative's input on the festival Mission."