A festival-wide brand system and interactive attendee activation for Subaru Winterfest

—designed, manufactured, and delivered across five mountain resorts.

Stylized red text spelling 'American' with a black background and horizontal lines crossing through the letters.
A red silhouette of a leaping horse with a flowing mane and tail.
Red Ford logo with cursive lettering inside an oval outline.

[Services]

+ PRODUCT DESIGN

+ CREATIVE DIRECTION

+ MANUFACTURING

+ EXPERIENTIAL MERCHANDISING

[The Overview]

The ask was giveaways. Three tiers of product for a traveling winter festival running across five mountain resorts.

What Winterfest got was an identity—a brand system spanning posters, stages, signage, and social; roughly fifteen custom products built to match; and an activation that gave attendees a reason to walk the festival and gave every sponsor a guaranteed moment of contact.

Five mountains, coast to coast. Thousands of people walking between sponsor booths to get a postcard signed.

The merch didn't just show up at Winterfest. It moved people through it.

A person wearing a gray hoodie with a Mustang logo and graphic design on the back, standing in front of a display case with a silver sports car, possibly a Mustang, inside an exhibition or showroom with dark lighting and informational panels on the walls.

[The Insight]

Namebrand recognized that the merch wasn’t an accessory—it was the lasting touchpoint. The opportunity wasn’t to decorate products with Mustang logos, but to design a gift-shop-level collection that felt worthy of the brand’s history and future.

This meant rethinking the role of merchandise entirely:

  • From promotional → retail quality

  • From single items → cohesive collections

  • From logo placement → storytelling through form, material, and detail

Collage featuring racing themes, including a racing helmet with Ford branding, a young man in a red cap and plaid coat, and a woman in a blue jacket and cap, with various racing-related text and images in the background.

[The Approach]

Where Heritage Hits Hype

Namebrand took ownership of the vision.

Instead of flooding Ford with disconnected product options, the team organized the collection into three distinct but unified lines—each reflecting a different chapter of the Mustang story:

Vintage Mustang, Modern Mustang and American Icon.

[Vintage Mustang]

Heritage-forward pieces inspired by classic racing culture, Americana, and early Mustang design. Deep colors, traditional embroidery, varsity influences, and imperfect details that felt earned.

Collage of vintage and modern Ford Mustang images and related memorabilia, including cars, posters, a man walking, and a woman wearing a headscarf and sunglasses.
Motown logo in red cursive text.

[Modern Mustang]

Contemporary silhouettes, streetwear fits, bold textures, and materials that reflected innovation, performance, and the future-facing side of the brand.

Collage of Ford and Los Angeles Dodgers merchandise, including a woman in Dodgers outfit, a man in racing gear, a blue Ford jacket, a cap, and a racing helmet.
Close-up of the blue text spelling "MUSTANG" on a white background.

[American Icon]

A unifying layer—built around the event identity—blending modern and vintage cues into timeless, brand-forward pieces designed to anchor the entire retail experience.

A collage of Ford-related items including car images, racing helmets, merchandise, and models in Ford apparel.
The word "AMERICAN" written in large, bold, red letters with horizontal black lines running through it, creating a dynamic visual effect.

With the vision approved, the real work began.

Red animated horse logo with a stylized, aggressive stance.
Ford logo in red and black

[The Execution]

From project win to event day, Namebrand had eight weeks to design, source, manufacture, and deliver a collection spanning 60+ unique products—many featuring techniques and finishes the team had never attempted before.

Key execution challenges included:

  • Coordinating 23 suppliers and 29 total partners across apparel, hard goods, decoration, logistics, and on-site setup

  • Navigating minimal physical proofing time, requiring real-time approvals via FaceTime, video, and live production oversight

  • Introducing CMYK screen printing for the first time to enable photo-real imagery on apparel

  • Developing new silhouettes, decoration techniques, oversized prints, specialty tags, patches, embroidery, ceramics, metal goods, and textured materials

  • Manufacturing products before final creative decisions were locked to meet immovable deadlines

In the final days, the team was on site—tagging, staging, and building out the retail experience—often seeing physical products for the first time as boxes were opened on the floor.

It was high risk. High pressure. And exactly where Namebrand thrives.

Close-up of a tablet displaying an advertisement for 'American Icon: A Mustang Immersive Experience' with an image of a classic Ford Mustang car and a running horse logo, on a desk in front of a man.
Black and white advertisement for the Ford Mustang GT, featuring images of the car, a racing scene, and a logo of a galloping horse.
Collage of fashion concept art for Mustang and Ford clothing, including t-shirt designs, hoodie sketches, and photographs of models showcasing apparel and accessories, with handwritten notes and design annotations.
Black and white patterned jacket with a small uniform or shirt inside, laying on a flat surface with some other clothing or fabric nearby.
Close-up of hands sewing a white T-shirt with a Mustang logo, on a worktable, with a clothing tag reading 'American Icon' visible.
People collaborating on a branding project, with a man pinning images of clothing, logos, and products onto a whiteboard, while others sit at a table covered with papers, scissors, and printed logo designs, in a meeting room.
A young man wearing a backwards cap and hoodie shopping for t-shirts at a clothing store, with shirts on a rack in front of him.
A collection of car brand and model logos in white on a black background, including Mach 1, Ford Mustang, GT3, Boss 302, 5.0, and other Mustang-related logos.
Interior of a Mustang-themed clothing store with mannequins dressed in Mustang apparel, Shelves and racks with Mustang-branded shirts and hoodies, and automotive-themed posters and images of race cars and classic Mustangs on the walls.
Neon sign with the word 'Ford' in cursive inside an oval shape.
Three women at a merchandise table with neon-lit display in a dark event space, other people in background near a red sports car.
A man smiling, dressed in a denim jacket with patches, sitting at a table with a drink.
A black and white checkered pattern with alternating squares.
People standing and talking at a reception desk in a dimly lit room with a brick wall in the background.
People standing and talking at an event with a large screen displaying a race car in the background.
A woman standing on a black and red carpet, drinking from a wine glass, with a large black and white photograph of a street scene in the background. She wears a blue denim jacket with patches, green pants, and Adidas sneakers.
Group of five people talking at a night event, one person wearing a blue denim jacket with a Mustang logo.
A black-and-white checkered pattern with alternating black and white squares.
Red silhouette of a running horse with a flowing mane and tail.
Ford logo with red text inside an oval
Text graphic reads 'AMERICAN' in red, bold, italicized letters with black horizontal lines passing through the text.
A T-shirt with a graphic of a blue Ford Mustang car and text promoting the Mustang 5.0L V8 GT model, displayed on a hanger in a retail store.
A row of white travel mugs with red Mustang logo and signature, placed on a store shelf.
Retail store with clothing and automotive-themed decor, including mannequins dressed in casual outfits, a racing car mural, and various apparel on display.
Two sports cars, one red and one black, are parked on top of a cargo train container against a clear blue sky with power lines and a pole with lights in the background.
Logo for American Icon event featuring a red running mustang above the text 'AMERICAN ICON' and 'A MUSTANG IMMERSIVE EXPERIENCE' on a black background.
A person wearing a black jacket with Ford Mustang and American Icon logos, and a white cap, standing in front of stacked freight containers and miniature sports cars on top.
A baseball cap with the Mustang logo, placed on the dashboard of a vintage car, with the steering wheel and instrument panel visible.

When the stakes are high and the timeline is unforgiving, Namebrand doesn’t play it safe.

We make it happen.

Check out more of our work.