MED 018 | Cream Flyer c. 92/3

This flyer for the nightclub Cream was part of a series featuring the clubbers themselves...groups of friends, regulars, faces about town...it shifted the focus from listing the (superstar) DJs to the actual fans who made the club special.

Cream wasn’t just about the music—that was the thing that brought the people together—it was about the community it fostered, and the flyers showcased this diverse bunch of different ages and styles, locals, students, reinforcing that everyone was welcome.

(fyi, I really didn’t want to use the word “community” here as it’s part of the marketing buzzword buffet that’s rendered it hollow and worthless, but what's the alternative?…)

People loved these flyers because they felt recognised and as though they were part of something bigger.

The campaign worked because it deepened loyalty to the club and the people on the flyers shared and talked about them, spreading the club's reputation even further. One of ours stayed pinned to the University noticeboard for months, and ok, people scrawled moustaches on our faces, but you get the gist.

Cream set itself apart by emphasising people over big-name acts, focusing on what made the club what it was—and what makes any club special: the crowd.

I could talk about Cream all day and there is a reason why it happened in Liverpool, but that’s another story.

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#MyEmpireOfDirt

MED 018: Cream flyer, circa 1992/3?
Featuring clockwise from the top: Mark, me, Charlotte, and Sarah.
📸 Mark McNulty.
I forget who the design studio was, but I will ask around.

This one’s for Mark, rip.