From festivals to conferences: 11 ways to elevate events with a newspaper

Planning an event and want to add that extra touch to engage and inspire your guests? Look no further than an events newspaper!

There's something special about the tactile feel of newsprint that brings imagery, articles and stories to life, making it a practical, exciting addition.

From jazz festivals to pop-up events and more, see 11 creative examples below from companies that have embraced the power of print to create a tangible accompaniment for their event.

The music venue programme

Music venue Cobalt Studios in Newcastle celebrated the return of live events with a refreshed print programme. They changed the format from a small booklet to our traditional tabloid, which was “a gamble,” says designer Jake Hollings. "But it’s been very successful and people have commented that it’s unique compared to other music programmes in the area.”

“A tabloid gives you so much space to create interesting layouts,” adds Jake. “Newsprint felt right for the attitude and aesthetic of our venue — it has an immediacy and isn’t too precious.”

The awards event

The Webby Awards celebrates “excellence on the Internet”, focusing on social media to newsletters to podcasts and everything in between. The event’s programme has been printed on our digital minis since 2013.

It’s “compact and easy to design,” says production director Emma Whitfield, who adds that they love “seeing all the fun ads from our partners” come to life in print.

The brand event

Drinks brand innocent added a quirky touch to a brand event with this newspaper, written in their characteristically playful style. Alongside practical product and brand details are fake horoscopes and fun headlines – like “flamingos consider copyright claim” above a snippet about their new pink smoothie.

''Little touches like this can make a big difference!''

The team “got a kick out of bringing the innocent look and feel to the newspaper format,” says copywriter David Kay, and worked with designer Abby Hudspith to bring the print to life. The digital tabloid was a hit with customers, too.

The trade show

Seltzer and snack brand Hal's New York used newspapers as part of an immersive display at a recent trade show. Evoking their Brooklyn deli origins in the 1940s, they crafted a vintage-inspired setting to showcase their products – complete with a neon sign and newspaper dispenser stocked with digital tabloids:

“It's so fun to be able to design a physical piece in an increasingly digital world,” says creative agency Suite9c. “And the team at Hal's loved seeing their brand come to life in a new way!”

The cultural event

Philly Story Fest brings journalists and locals together for a celebration of art, music and storytelling by and for the people of Philadelphia. For the inaugural event, organisers Back Pocket Media used our tabloids for a programme that doubled as a souvenir poster.

"We love exploring creative program designs for our shows and as soon as we saw Newspaper Club, we knew we had to use y'all for Story Fest,” says executive producer Tay Glass. Designed by Myth.

''People loved it! We received lots of comments about how well the newspaper matched with the programming as a whole.''

The film festival

The Oska Bright Film Festival, the world's largest film festival showcasing the works of individuals with learning disabilities and autism, celebrated its biggest year yet in 2024.

The accompanying programme, printed in a compact 'retro' style using our digital minis, features film stills from Oska Bright submissions as backgrounds, providing a sneak peek into the films alongside their synopses.

''We hosted a programme launch and everyone loved the format of the newspaper. It got people excited to see how many amazing films will be shown at the festival this year.''

The jazz festival

For their 2024 event, Bristol Jazz Festival wanted to create a functional and memorable print programme that gave festival-goers more than just a typical booklet. As a "long-time fan of Newspaper Club", manager Chris saw the opportunity to create a festival newspaper!

The resulting digital broadsheet features an illustrated weekend programme on one side - by local Bristol Illustrator and Animator Con McHugh - and a full-sized poster on the other.

The unique format of the programme "struck a chord with many of the associated sponsors, venue and partners", he says, with several additional sponsor requests coming in since the festival!

"Witnessing the moment thousands of festival-goers opened the programme fully and saw the poster on the inside was so heart-warming. We had many of festival goers come to us saying they had never seen anything like it!"

The conference event

Wistia, a video platform for marketers, wanted to stand out from the sea of swag at Hubspot’s INBOUND conference. Instead of their usual 1-page handout, they produced this zine-style takeaway to better capture the creative spirit of the brand.

Featuring interactive activities like bingo and a Mad Libs video recording script, the digital mini was a hit with attendees. “It was fantastic being able to flex our creative muscles while bringing the Wistia brand to the printed page,” says designer Tiffany Chu.

"Conference attendees commented on how fun it was to have an interactive takeaway!''

The children's event

The Hay Festival, an annual literature celebration in Powys, Wales, aspires to inspire and entertain through sustainable events. In collaboration with Liz Price of Chipper Designs, the festival used our traditional tabloids to create The Hay Festival Scribblers Tour Newspaper.

This bilingual tool plays a vital role in supporting Festival outreach initiatives, helping to facilitate connections between authors and students across Wales.

Crafted to be a takeaway from the festival, the newspaper is designed to serve as more than just a keepsake. It also functions as a handy interactive worksheet, aiding learning both during and after attendance at the festival.

The exhibition event

Change is the subject of this digital mini, which explores moments of transformation in the lives of 8 young artists (aged 16 - 19) who took part in Modern Art Oxford's Young Creatives programme. The limited-edition zine accompanied the exhibition 'Change, What is that Anyway?'.

"The zine and launch event went brilliantly," says Sophie Blagden of Modern Art Oxford. "The group was really buzzing and so excited to share the zine with their friends, family and teachers!"

The Modern Art Oxford Young Creatives are: Alex Panejko, Alina Hu, Armin Csizmadia, Arina Colun, Benjamin Henning, Isabel Elsner, Lina-Maria Marrow, Lonnie Saragih, Mia Annesen-Wood and Ly Veerakul.

The pop-up event

If your brand has invested in top-quality product photography, why not make the most of it? For a recent pop-up event, shaving brand Flamingo showcased fresh campaign imagery in a super-sized digital broadsheet. “The goal was to make something fun, high-impact and beautiful to leave on display,” says Victoria Lam, Head of Creative Operations.

"Newsprint is super tactile and something you want to pick up and flip through, or roll up and throw in your bag to look at later. We've heard great feedback and seen nice engagement with the piece!''

"We liked the idea of a large-scale printed piece that would act as a 'billboard'  while being read out in the world,” adds Victoria. Designed by Emma Reed.

 Make your own event newspaper with Newspaper Club. Print runs start at 1 copy!

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