Now that Brand Licensing Europe is finally done and dusted for the year, we thought we’d give you a roundup of our involvement with some of the biggest brands at this year’s stand-out show! As PowerStation Studios is a full-service agency, we’re heavily involved with all of our brands throughout the value chain. For BLE 2017, we were involved with our brands in various capacities. This included the creation of their style guides & sizzle reels to showcase their IP’s, designing impressive graphic solutions for their physical stand design, all the way through to ideating and implementing outstanding experiential on-stand activities.
If you visited BLE this year, you will have no doubt experienced the SYBO Games activation stand (located next to the gaming activation zone, Booth D132) and seen the visual prowess of both the Activision Blizzard and Blue Zoo Animation stand (Booth E40 & F14, respectively). What we really enjoyed from a creative perspective, was the diversity offered from each of these projects. Thanks to the contrast found between Blue Zoo Animation (Kids TV), Activision Blizzard (Videogame IP’s) and SYBO Games (SUBSURF® – a debut Lifestyle brand), each IP provided artistic variety and brought something new to the table.
Activision Blizzard
For the Activision Blizzard stand, we were tasked to design a graphic solution that incorporated multiple IP’s, whilst ensuring that each one had an equal show presence. The IP’s included a range of videogame franchises, including Call of Duty (confirmed by the Guinness Book of Records as the biggest game franchise in history), Overwatch, Destiny, World of WarCraft, Candy Crush & Crash Bandicoot.
The main challenge was to create a design that complimented the diversity of each IP. The design had to allow each brand to sit next to one another aesthetically, whilst avoiding any visual bias towards any one franchise in particular. From an approvals and bureaucratic standpoint, we were working with four very different stakeholders on this project – Activision, Blizzard, King & Bungie. Clear communication was imperative throughout the process to ensure that design elements were fully approved from each stakeholders’ brand team, whilst still considering the overall design implications of each stakeholder’s decision.
This is where our strong client relations came into their own and our designers came up with a brilliant graphical solution that made sure that each stakeholder loved the final result!
In addition to the stand design, PowerStation Studios was also responsible for the creation of the Activision Blizzard style guides and sizzle reels. These were designed to further communicate the opportunities for both licensing and retail partners alike. Our ability to fully understand each brand’s DNA is one of the reasons why our clients keep coming back to us. The designs we create not only look incredible, but are ideated with commerciality & retail prosperity in mind. This is primarily down to our strong focus on understanding fashion trends and using trend forecasting insights.
In fact, Activision Blizzard have recently published a press release that’s been featured in the Financial Times market wrap-up. The press release formally announces their official collaboration with PowerStation Studios on both the Call of Duty and Overwatch franchises (so watch this space – exciting things are coming your way!).
“Further bolstering its growth trajectory, ABCPG is also collaborating with PowerStation Studios on the development of a rich assortment of creative assets for both Call of Duty and Overwatch. In doing so, they will help support the expansion of product variety and range providing broader opportunities for licensing and retail partners.”
~Activision Blizzard (10th Oct, 2017)
The full Activision Blizzard press release can be found here.
SYBO Games
If you visited the show this year, you probably stopped by the SYBO Games stand (or at least heard about it!). You may have had your picture taken on the bullet-time photo experience, tried your hand at street art (via the digital graffiti wall) or even experienced the augmented reality element integrated into the stand design itself.
You may be surprised to learn that PowerStation Studios put together the whole SYBO Games stand package in just four weeks. We provided complete project management services covering all exhibitor requisites for our client including negotiating & securing stand space with the BLE organisers, activation ideation and execution, stand design (and graphic solutions), stand construction (through our trusted partner), plus all the less exciting behind-the-scenes bits (such as logistics, licenses, facilities management, staff, merchandise, branded staff shirts and all the required paperwork etc.).
So, why such a short turnaround? One month before Brand Licensing Europe was due to kick off, SYBO Games told us that they wished to exhibit but unfortunately they didn’t have a stand. Their intention was to announce the inception of their new SUBSURF® CP brand and formally introduce SYBO Games to the licensing Industry.
“SYBO Games, the maker of the most downloaded mobile game app on the market in 2017, Subway Surfers, is readying its rebellious entertainment brand franchise, SUBSURF® at Brand Licensing Europe, October 10-12, 2017.”
~ SYBO Games (10th Oct, 2017)
The official SYBO Games press release can be found here.
With no stand space booked or any stand design in place, we were briefed to not only get SYBO Games a physical presence there, but to also make it something that was truly memorable and kick-ass! SYBO Games wanted yell about their licensing debut and to include a social element that resonated with the new SUBSURF® brand. Fortunately for SYBO Games, we believe there’s always a creative solution to any obstacle, so immediately got to work.
To cut through the traditional trade show noise, we came to the conclusion that the stand itself should focus on augmenting the BLE visitor experience via interactive activations. Most importantly, the stand had to be fun, cool and social. As BLE is a B2B orientated show, we wanted to avoid formulaic design options and instead aim to disrupt and mix up the norm.
Examples from the bullet-time photo experience – Brand Licensing Europe 2017
This was achieved by introducing interactive experiences that would be more memorable than the typical meeting room and coffee machine setup! After numerous activation ideas, we settled on going for the digital graffiti wall, bullet-time photo experience, an on-brand Spotify playlist and AR integration – all which helped bring the brand to life. The digital graffiti wall was chosen as it resonated strongly with the brand identity. The SUBSURF® brand itself celebrates the culmination of skate culture, street art, dance and urban trends. The bullet-time photo experience was included to provide visitors with a lasting memory of their SYBO Games experience, including a branded print out of their ‘frozen-in-time’ photo. All of the activities included social sharing and, as a result, the SYBO Games stand was the most tweeted exhibitor at BLE 2017 (under the hashtag #SUBSURF).
This project was turned around in four weeks – just imagine what we could do in four months.
Blue Zoo Animation
As Blue Zoo animation’s creative partners, we created the style guide and sizzle reels for their hit kids TV shows ‘Digby the Dragon’ & ‘Number Blocks’. Due to our familiarity with each IP, we were then also asked to produce a graphical solution for their BLE stand design. Within a limited timeframe, we came up with a solution that combined both IP’s in an energetic & vibrant artistic direction. This design aimed to help illustrate Blue Zoo’s offering to both future retail and licensing partners. The design incorporated a variety of assets from the style guide which were generated specifically for product use. This had the added benefit of helping potential partners visualise the commercial possibilities of both ‘Digby the Dragon’ and ‘Number blocks’ within a relaxed environment.
If you’re thinking of exhibiting at an upcoming show or simply want to see what PowerStation can do for your brand, then we’d love to hear from you! Please get in touch with us via email: info@powerstation-studios.co.uk
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