Cow Parade – Largest outdoor public art event

The Brief

Cow Parade is the largest and most popular outdoor public art event in the world. It features life-size reinforced fibreglass cows that are painted by local artists and community groups, sponsored by local businesses, and displayed throughout streets, parks, and other public places.

Cow Parade has taken place in South America, Asia, Europe and the USA. Our challenge therefore was to introduce the world’s largest public art event to a regional community.

Our Solution

We wrote down several keywords that we thought best described what Cow Parade would mean to Northern Ireland. These included: quirky; creative; culture; carnival and community. In our search for a theme that would visually project the multiple ingredients of Cow Parade, we researched Victorian ephemera – including circus imagery – and deemed it to be outrageous, arresting and unusual.

Mingling colourful cows and comical Victorian characters with an outlandish sense of humour, worked a treat!  The event was embraced by the communities throughout the region and the lively graphic styling that portrayed the Cow Parade NI brand reflected the colourful extravaganza of quirkiness and creativity of this wonderfully zany event.

The social media campaign, Facebook and Twitter, was key to the success of Cow Parade: at a time of peace and reconciliation in a previously troubled Province, the branding story of Cow Parade NI began by confronting and unlocking political stigma.

By addressing previously contentious issues in a light-hearted manner, the potential for creativity and humour offered by hosting a parade of cows was introduced to decision-makers and community leaders.

Famous landmarks were used as a focal point for presenting the fun side of Cow Parade, serving as a curtain-raiser to the main event.

The quirky website served as the main focus by way of information on the various events that took place over the three months of Cow Parade. Social media cohesion created a real sense of togetherness for the whole event, and the ‘tribe’ of followers quickly adopted the name of  ‘the cow-munity’.

Marketing material involved extensive press & poster advertising, and promotional printed material including information brochures, leaflets and forms.