Creating a swanky new bar in Melbourne’s south-east

The Challenge 
Rivoli Cinemas, the beautiful Art Deco icon in Hawthorn East, is one of Melbourne’s most loved heritage-listed treasures. It features an open rooftop that was being under-utilised considering the area is a popular hub of bars and restaurants. With rooftop bars enjoying great popularity in recent years, a new bar was proposed for this space.

Hive’s brief was to develop a brand for this new bar that would appeal to a target audience of loyal Rivoli Cinemas customers, young local couples, and urban media followers. The brand should be youth-oriented, trendy and fun.

The Solution
We did extensive research into the naming of the most popular Melbourne bars and restaurants, identified patterns and trends, and came up with concepts for the new bar. We developed a selection of options and worked closely with the client, discussing the pros and cons of different naming styles. The name settled on was nineteenforty, 1940 being the year the complex first opened.

We developed a fun and trendy visual style for nineteenforty, combining retro photos with bright colours and bold type to create a contemporary but playful look. A quirky, informal tone of voice and some unusual way finding concepts added some unique personality to the brand.