When World Famous V.I.P. Records and the VIP Family Foundation set out to bring Long Beach the World Famous Block Party: Juneteenth Edition, we led the branding and marketing behind it. Rooted in Black music, culture, and community, built by Long Beach, for Long Beach.
VIEWS
digital
campaign
RSVPs on
Eventbrite
Organic
We started an Instagram from scratch, with no existing audience and no paid spend, and the community carried it. Nearly 2 million views, 82.7% from people who didn't already follow the page, and accounts reached climbed over 3,500% in sixty days. All organic.
Big shout out to Visit LB, who backed the campaign with a video series featuring influential voices across the city. And V.I.P. Records' iconic following, of course, gave it a foundation few brands ever get to build on.
Real faces and real partners, never a faceless brand talking at the city.
So locals felt invited and safe to show up, not sold to.
Get it in front of people who didn't already follow V.I.P. Records.
Local and familiar, never polished into something that felt corporate.
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The voice was local, confident, and real. Every caption and every reveal spoke straight to the city, so each post landed like an open invitation instead of an ad.
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The tagline we wrote to carry it all.
The goal was a visual identity rooted in culture, recognizable year to year, and distinctly Long Beach. The patterns resemble music and sound, a reflection of freedom celebrated through Black music. The palette mixes colors inspired by Juneteenth and V.I.P. Records. The imagery lives outside, in the sun, mid-celebration.
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One of the most intentional moves was filming the partners and organizers behind the event. Short, friendly intro videos showing exactly who was making this happen. It made the whole thing feel human, and it reminded everyone that this was built with the community, not just for it. Because they were part of it, they are the event.
All of it grounded in the legacy of V.I.P. Records, a Long Beach institution since 1978, and carried forward by the people who make the city what it is.
Community partners & collaborators: Wiggins Hunter Consulting Group, Hunnibuzz, Time & Space LLC, LBC Park Jam, Urban Society Long Beach, Soul Cypher LB, The CRay Project, Dreamz into Goals (DIG), NiceGuyxVinny, Love Peace & Spades, Visit LB, Abba’s Caring Hands, Pedal Movement, DRIVER + more
Then the day came, and the city showed up.
Sun out, energy high, everyone out celebrating together. It was the biggest campaign we had taken on, and watching it all come together in real life, right alongside the partners and people who built it with us, was the best part.
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