DQ Connect 2024 Event Branding & Art Direction

Every two years, Dairy Queen leaders, suppliers, and franchisees from around the world come together for three days of learning and inspiration at DQ Connect. Business development, networking, brand evolution, and product samples are key areas of focus at the event. DQ Connect 2024 took place in Nashville, Tennessee at The Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention center. Keynote speakers included Will Guidara and Walter Bond, and the event ended with a concert at the Grand Ole Opry.

Specific goals for DQ Connect 2024:

Modernize and elevate the event’s look and feel
Tie in the event theme “Elevate to Grow”, as well as highlight the spirit of it’s location in Nashville, TN
Showcase DQ’s latest brand activation, the DQ Freezer, in a unique way
Design four tasting booths with a rotating menu that clearly communicates the current menu offering

I developed the event’s visual branding, art directed and designed countless assets, and constructed all tasting booths on-site. Deliverables included logos, magazine ads, an event style guide for vendors, wayfinding signage, four different product tasting booth designs, digital communication graphics, slide deck templates, name tags, and more. For over a year, I worked cross-functionally with DQ corporate teammates, print vendors, and the venue to bring everything together and ensure all event branding was consistent.

Event Branding

To capture the excitement of the event and Nashville’s musical soul, I used DQ’s brand colors in multicolored gradients and created movement with undulating bars of music notes and stars. The Connect logo changes slightly from year to year, with just the icon in the letter o changing to reflect the next conference location. I used a guitar to further tie the logo in with Nashville’s roots.

Ad and Article Layout in World of DQ Magazine

Venue Wayfinding, Registration, and Entrance Signage

Food and Treat Tasting Booths

Tasting new DQ products is one of the main attractions at DQ Connect every year. In 2024, I designed a dynamic layered structure for seven different booths, including one specialized structure for the DQ Freezer to promote DQ’s newest promotion. Each booth had to have signs that could be changed to advertise each product being tasted at different times. The product squares on each booth were swapped twice each day.

The DQ Freezer booth was set to sample much-loved past products. I designed the booth to look like the doors of the DQ Freezer and had the idea to pump smoke out the door vents so it looked like vapor coming from a cold freezer upon opening. With fire marshal approval from the venue, we worked with our printers to create the structure. It was a hit and drew lots of attention to the booth. Attendees and staff enjoyed it so much that the structure was moved to another location to be used as a photo op for guests once the booth closed that day.