Delivering an extraordinary experience for the Special Olympics World Games 2019
Project Overview
The Special Olympics is the world’s largest humanitarian sporting event, featuring a variety of Olympic sports for people with intellectual disabilities. Fostering the inclusion of all people, it provides opportunities to develop physical fitness, skills and abilities. In 2019, the Special Olympics were hosted in the Middle East for the first time, with Abu Dhabi as the host city.
This was a landmark event not only because it marked the Games 50th anniversary but also making history with more nations and more female athletes competing than ever before. Playing host to over 7,500 athletes and 200 national teams, the Special Olympics World Games 2019 were truly set to be the biggest Special Olympic Games yet.
Our team’s mission was to effectively express the identity of this exceptional event through a monumental branding and wayfinding programme at all the competition venues and across the host city.
Branding & Wayfinding Signage
Embedded within the High Committee for Hosting the Special Olympics (LOC) since October 2018, our management team aimed to produce an optimal stage for all the athletes, as well as creating an unforgettable experience for the spectators.
Firstly, the opening Ceremony kickstarted the Games in epic style. Thousands of fans, families and many heads of state attended the show to support the competitors and enjoy entertainment. Our work on the opening ceremony, awarded to our UAE team by FLASH, was all-encompassing: from scoping to design, production and delivery of all event branding, wayfinding and signage at one of the most iconic stadiums in the Middle East – the Zayed Sports City stadium.
As to the main event scope, we delivered a comprehensive look and feel programme, including wayfinding, signage and branding for the 10 competition venues as well as other key locations in the city such as airports, hotels and more. This amounted to a colossal branding programme with over 20,000 individual pieces and over 55,000 square-metres of print (the equivalent to 8 football pitches) being delivered.
Yet, our scope was not limited to delivery since we were involved from design, artwork, management and installation.
Furthermore, the project proved to be incredibly successful for our team’s partnership with Prolab digital, as a close collaboration between logistical management, printing and installation resulted in slick execution and impressive outcomes.
Outcome
The Special Olympics World Games 2019 left a legacy of once-in-a-lifetime experiences for the athletes, fans and families involved.
By bringing to life the unmistakable identity of the Games, our team was at the forefront of the inspirational event and its success, with over 30 billion media impressions recorded and an overwhelmingly positive sentiment created.
If you are interested in learning more or would like to see how we could help you enhance your event please get in touch.
